Virtual worlds

We are now a point in the history of cartographic design and production where it can supersede all that has gone before, so why is it not doing so? When at last it has been released from the constraints of the past, it seems afraid to let go the apron strings of previous generations, slavishly reproducing computer imitations of styles developed some 50 years ago. Now is the time for maps to come alive, no need for symbology, the elements of the map can now be what they mean. Everything we have dreamed of for 1000 years is now at our fingertips, but our cartography is as torpid and barren as it always was. At the point of its rebirth cartography is playing dead. Like the Dodo, cartography has lost the will to fly, but fly it must, or be clubbed to death by progress. This paper looks at the philosophical basis of cartography, how this influences cartographic design through the emotional drive of expert centred problem solving. It then discusses the concept of 'Holistic Mapping', its outpouring into virtual reality, and how these images readily transform themselves into the 'Cartographic Visualisations'. Maps that have sky, and mist, and rain, and shadows, just like the real world.