The Pursuit of "Mappiness" (Part 2 of 3): Mapping Yourself with GPS
December 10, 2020, via Zoom Deeper Dive Part 2 of 3: The Pursuit of "Mappiness" This three-part series will forever change the way you look at maps. We’ll use old maps, new maps, red maps, and blue maps to illustrate the ways in which scale, symbols, projections, and propaganda goals all influence how we perceive our world. We’ll peek behind the GPS curtain to understand the miracle of a global satellite network that makes our phones smarter and world politics more complicated. Do you associate local history with cutting edge technology? You may be surprised to see how dusty old maps from the archives are solving modern mysteries through online mapping tools. You will come away from our “Pursuit of Mappiness” as a more informed and discerning map reader seeing every map with new eyes. December 10: “Mapping Yourself with GPS” The who, what, when, where, why, and how of global navigation technology is a story of geography, science, politics, and power. While your GPS is finding the best route to Grandma’s house, it’s also monitoring worldwide nuclear detonations. When and why did the smartphone in your pocket start communicating with Russian satellites? We’ll take a glimpse behind the GPS curtain to better understand how our society relies on technology for mapping ourselves. The speaker: Kelly Johnston is a native of Missouri, earning his undergraduate degree from the University of Central Missouri and a graduate degree in Geographic Information Science from Indiana University. He taught mapping on the faculty at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and his maps have been published in the New York Times. Most recently he taught Geographic Information Systems at Drury University.
