The Cartographers

Cartography is a discipline that combines several different areas of study—such as geography, topology, earth science, and politics—all of which center on one thing: location. Put simply, cartography is “a confluence between practice, science, and art [...] [and] guides the principles and practical standards behind maps and map making” (“Modern Cartography - History, Tools & Applications.” Unearth, 2022). However, maps represent various perspectives of the world, and therefore are not “necessarily accurate to reality” (“Modern Cartography”). As Felix says to William during his interview, a perfect map depends on its secrets, but also its purpose (207).

Modern cartography—Felix’s area of study—includes many specializations: “geodesy, surveying, photogrammetry, remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), global positioning systems (GPS) [...] mathematics and statistics [...] multimedia and virtual reality” (“What Are the Cartographic Sciences?” Canadian Cartographic Association, 2019). While Felix’s original specialization is unknown, the Haberson Map is likely developed using GIS—computer data that layers several “maps” of information on top of each other that can be analyzed depending on the user’s needs. The maps can be put to a wide range of purposes, from an environmental or political focus to urban development or scientific research (“