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Cartographer’s Quandary
The Artistic Journey Behind A River Map
Maps are one of the most important tools through which geographers and cartographers tell stories about the world. One of the fundamental concepts in cartography is the idea that it is impossible to perfectly recreate the world on a map. For that reason, the map maker chooses which elements they decide to show or omit in their version of the world. In this map made by Robert Szuc, a GIS analyst, he decided that he wanted to show the public the many flowing rivers of the United States. Since there’s no map legend or even a title for each map, it’s difficult to tell what each color denotes. According to Szuc’s description, they represent different river basins that are separated across the country. While traditional cartographic standards would require that every map has a scale bar, north arrow, title, and legend, Szuc made the decision to throw away these elements so that the beauty of the natural world alone would be appreciated. As he stated in an interview with CNN, “I created the design. the colors, the width of the lines. But I did not draw any of the lines. It’s nature’s amazing work.”
The map depicts river flow in the continental U.S. Click the “Further Reading” link to read more about the artistic journey in creating the map.
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