Ethics and map design. Six strategies for confronting the traditional one-map solution

Traditional, positivist approaches to map design usually yield a single map. These one-map solutions foster a highly selective, authored view reflecting consciously manipulative or ill-conceived design decisions about many factors, such as map scale, geographic scope, feature content, map title, classification of data, and the crispness or fuzziness of symbols representing uncertain features. Technology has aggravated the problem of one-map solutions by placing powerful mapping software at the disopsal of amateur cartographers who can generate convincing-looking graphics with little or no understanding of their data or the principles of mapping. But technology can also foster greater openness and more complete understanding of maps and their meaning, and thereby provide a more ethical approach to cartographic analysis and communication. -from Author