The Dark Side of the Moon

[The Cartographist]

Ravells.
It is an interesting image, but I would hardly call it a map. It seems to me that it violates one or more of the Five Principles that were listed in your other post. It seems to me, as well, to be too abstract to be considered a "map" in any sense of the word that we think of one.

[ravells]

Which principle(s) do think it offends?

I suppose a legend or key and a scale would be nice so we knew what the colours meant and the size of the area covered. Once we had that information, then the map would make sense to us?

I just found the use of colours very pretty and the fact that it stood up well as a design despite (or perhaps because) the shapes were naturally formed.

Also it's different, and it's nice to see the language of maps being pushed further out.

Ravs

[RobA]

Ravells.
It is an interesting image, but I would hardly call it a map. It seems to me that it violates one or more of the Five Principles that were listed in your other post. It seems to me, as well, to be too abstract to be considered a "map" in any sense of the word that we think of one.

Well - I don't think it is any "worse" than many of the false colour maps out there. As Rav's pointed out, the lack of a legend/key makes it less useful in conveying information than it could be.

The original Wired post is here:
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2...st-beauti.html

and it indicates that was made with:

colors correlating to geological materials and phenomena

-Rob A>

[The Cartographist]

Having thought about it for some time now, I guess what I meant was that it doesn't convey any information. It is an abstract image that, while pretty/interesting to look at, provides no utility.

[ravells]

Absolutely. If it was presented to you in the form shown (without a key, legend etc) - one would not think it was a map.

[su_liam]

Well, it does depict, pretty accurately, the spatial position of certain features on the moon. What those features are would be mysterious without the key, but even without the key there is some information content.

I have the original map in a book on terrestrial planets. It's a geological map, and quite informative if you have the key(and understand it ). Basically, as I remember, the different colors represent different ages and origins of surface materials. For instance mare deposits, younger craters and their associated ejecta fields, older craters, etc.