A lot of the things that we use everyday seem normal for us but in reality have been through many changes and been the center for world wide debate. One of issues seen in mapping is what is the “best” way to go about showing the world. At a very specific level there are many things that one person may leave our while another may include because it is important to them. The simple things that people may want to be included may be to complex or unnecessary to those creating it. The best way to look a something may just to build a model of it however even when doing something like that there may be issues. Google earth is in my opinion the best choice for someone who want to limit inaccuracies or bias from the creators due to its use of actual images. For example if I am looking at a specific place a map can show many things, depending on what it is made for, like how big it is, how to get around, etc. Google maps shows that as well but also allows multiple views of the area or how the area may have changed over time due to past pictures taken by google. I think a lot of issues arise when people forget that maps are not always accurate representations of the subject matter. They can be distorted or leave off a certain part and the ability for others to use it decreases. If a map is supposed represent a real location then the person viewing it has to carefully analyze it to understand the differences there may be. The Akerman and Karrow article covers many differences seen in mapping, especially over time, that many people may not look for when using a map. In comparison to maps made recently and those maps made long ago the one thing that has certainly changed is how things are represented due to bias from religion or nationality, among many other things, to a level that is significantly lower as our ability to represent the real would has improved. The map displayed below from the reading wouldn’t be similar to much that we create and use now for many of those reasons, and shows that maps allow us greater information on not just the subject they cover but also the society which has allowed them to be preserved all this time.
