Analyzing Google Maps from a critical cartography perspective: How the map represents a commercially oriented representation of the world and is framed as a counter-mapping tool in the Local Guides community MA Thesis Anne Marte Gardenier Student number: 2045794 Online Culture / Department of Culture Studies / School of Humanities and Digital Sciences June 2020 Supervisor: dr. Inge van de Ven Second reader: dr. Ico Maly Acknowledgements Writing a Master’s thesis during the COVID-19 lockdown period has been an interesting occupation. There were no distractions; which was improving my efficiency, but also limiting my open-mindedness. I missed talking to other students and teachers about my research topic, and learning about theirs. A plus, however, was the endless solitary thinking-time. During my breaks, I went cycling by using my favorite map (which I will explain in the introduction), and while cycling I could empty my mind (which was completely full with map theories) and think about what exactly I admire about maps. I also read the book The Magic Mountain (Der Zauberberg) of Thomas Mann (1924). In this story, the protagonist Hans Castorp visits his cousin who resides in a sanatorium in the Swiss Alps. The visit was planned to last three weeks, but he stays there for seven years. The sanatorium guests live their repetitive, occasionally thrilling but mainly boring life shut off from the rest of the world. One day, Hans Castorp decides to go skiing. Without much practice, he floats off into the white winter world of the mountains. Then, a terrible snowstorm starts, which blinds him and he loses all sense of direction: his only reference is the feeling of the ground under his skis. Based on this feeling (his skis are either pointed up of downwards), he tries to find his way back to the sanatorium. He fails: he is only moving in circles, and has to wait for the snowstorm to stop. When I read this chapter, the first reaction that came to my mind was: how careless! Why would you go out skiing without a map! – and I realized that maps are ingrained in my life; more than I expected. That is why I wanted to find out everything about the map that I (used to) use the most: Google Maps. I hope that my thesis also ignites some map fascination in the reader. I would like to thank my supervisor Inge van de Ven for advising and inspiring me, my parents for unconditionally supporting me, and my boyfriend for being there for me, at all times. Anne Marte Gardenier, June 2020. 2 Abstract Technical developments in the practice of cartography have changed how maps are produced and consumed: now, maps can be interactive, and consist not only of geographic information but also of location and time based data. In this thesis, I combine the transformation of the practice of map making with the theoretical framework of critical cartography. I will provide a theoretical analysis of maps, which focuses on how maps are produced, framed, used and what they depict. This is followed by a critical analysis of the most used map in the world: Google Maps. I argue that Google Maps presents a commercially oriented representation of the world. This representation influences how map users experience and act in the represented space. Map users comply with the logics of the map, and by doing so, the maps’ commercially orientated representation of the world becomes naturalized. This is contradicting, given that Google frames its map as a counter-mapping tool that can be used for social transformation. 3 Table of contents Acknowledgements 2 Abstract 3 1. Introduction 5 1.1. Map example: the Fietsknooppuntennetwerk 5 1.2. What is a map? 8 1.3. Google Maps 9 2. Critical cartography 9 2.1. Example: The Mercator projection 10 2.2. Questioning a map’s ontological foundation 12 2.3. Example: Choropleth and navigation maps 12 2.4. How a map influences a user’s perception of the represented space 15 3. The new era of mapping 16 3.1. Technical developments: participatory mapping and counter-mapping 16 3.2. Technical developments: the mapping of geospatial data 18 3.3. Location-based knowledges: capture and addition 19 3.4. Example: optimized route suggestions 20 4. Analysis of Google Maps 23 4.1. Google Maps’ commercial orientation 23 4.2. Mapping platforms 25 4.3. OpenStreetMap 26 4.4. User participation on Google Maps 26 4.4.1. The Local Guides community 27 4.4.2. Trusted Photographers 27 4.4.3. User participation channeled as database maintenance 28 4.5. Framing: counter-mapping discourse in the Local Guides community 29 4.5.1. The problem of online invisibility 32 4.5.2. Online invisibility discursively constructed 32 4.6. Consequences of the commercially oriented representation of Google Maps 33 4.7. Possible solutions 34 5. Conclusion 35 5.1. Final notes 36 References 37 4 1. Introduction Before I start with my research, I will give an example of a specific situation of contemporary map-use to illustrate how a map can influence a user’s experience of the represented space. 1.1.Map example: Fietsknooppuntennetwerk My personal favorite map is the Fietsknooppuntennetwerk (bicycle junction network). The map displays a selection of roads that are especially suitable for cyclists in The Netherlands and parts of Belgium and France. Altogether these roads make up a network of cycling routes which are all interconnected with junctions. When added up, the length of all the routes make 33.500 kilometers. In a country like The Netherlands, this means that the network covers a significant part of the land, see image 1. Image 1: Screenshot of the bicycle network map in The Netherlands and Belgium. The blue lines indicate the mapped cycling roads.1 This map is accessible online and it is present at every junction in the physical space it represents (image 2). At the map, users can find their current position, the nearby junctions (indicated with a number) and the distances (indicated in kilometers) between them (image 3). Cyclists can plan their route by consulting the physical or digital map and memorize or note the numbers of the junctions they want to follow. While cycling, the route towards the next junction is designated with a small sign next to the road at eye height (image 4). 1 Image CC BY-SA 2.0 OpenStreetMap contributors. Retrieved from openfietskaart.nl/ at 10-06-2020 5 Image 2: The map at one of the junctions.2 Image 3: Detail of the map. The green lines indicate the cycling routes, the green numbers indicate junctions and the purple numbers indicate the amount of kilometers between them.3 2 Picture: own work, 08-06-2020. 3 Picture: own work, 08-06-2020. 6 Image 4: The green signs indicate the directions towards the next junctions.4 I use this map by starting to cycle in a random direction from home, without taking my phone with GPS or other navigation device, knowing that at one moment I will start to see a green direction sign alongside of the road. Then, I follow the sign towards a junction, where I will plan my route at the present map. I memorize the numbers of the junctions I want to follow and when I get tired I consult the map again to plan my way back home. For me, it is a great map because I can cycle as far and as long as I feel like, without having to plan a route in advance, without having to bring along a navigational device and without having to worry about whether the roads are suitable for cyclists. I know that the map displays the routes with the nicest scenery and I never get lost. This map has brought me many memorable days. And because I know that this map is always there, always accessible, this map offers me a sense of freedom. Obviously, not everyone uses this map in the same way. Others might find it quite annoying having to get off the bicycle all the time and rather plan their trip beforehand or consult the map on their phone. Similarly, the map might be used for other reasons than that for which it is intentionally designed. The organization responsible for the route network in my area (the province of Brabant) is a marketing company that aims to attract tourism. By providing the route network and by indicating local restaurants and cafés on the way, their goal is to increase the economic impact of the creation of cycling routes in Brabant. In other 4 Picture: own work, 08-06-2020. 7 words, they aim to increase the amount of visitors that are willing to spend their money at the local cultural and gastronomic industry.5 Since I do not spend any money during my trips, I do not use the map the way it is intended by the map makers. However, the way I can use this map is limited by the options presented on the map. Since I often pass through areas where I have never been before, I am inclined to keep following the displayed routes. I cannot know whether non-represented roads might have been a better option (in terms of nicer scenery) because I do not want to risk getting lost. Also, I trust the map to provide me with the best options because it served me so well in the past. The map mediates my experience of the represented space: it influences how I experience it and act in it; in terms of navigation, but also in terms of raising expectations about the routes.