It’s been about 14 years since my last school project, which was all about ‘Mapping the Invisible’. Honestly, I don’t remember much about how I developed that project using mapping techniques. But recently, I had the opportunity to attend a really interesting talk on Circulative Mapping, hosted by Hanoi Ad Hoc and RMIT Vietnam. The talk covered how Hanoi Ad Hoc’s research team collects data to create maps, and they introduced this useful tool called GIS (Geographic Information Systems). With GIS, users can input data to create all sorts of interactive, data-driven maps. It was quite informative!
So before join the session I also did my study on the term “Circulative Mapping”. It is a way of creating maps that focus on patterns and changes that happen over time. Instead of just showing static information, it looks at how things like traffic, the environment, or city development change and interact in a continuous cycle. It’s a great way to spot trends and see changes that might not be obvious with regular maps.
Two main knowledge that pull me back to idea of Maps & Mapping techniques I learned in school.
The concept of mapping
Mapping is all about representing data that isn’t physically visible or connected.
- Information can be anything like traffic flow, material flow, water, time,…
- Information can be collected by hand, by photo, by interview,…
- Information can be in both digital and analog data.
Invisible data
During the talk, I asked the speakers, “How do you collect invisible information and represent it on a map?” Here’s what I learned:
- Data Collection: For things that can’t be seen, like memories or feelings, one way to gather information is by talking to people and listening to their stories. You can ask them for “keywords” that describe their experiences or emotions.
- Categorization: Once you have these keywords, you can group them based on the context or stories they relate to.
- Visualization: To make these keywords more meaningful in a map, you can link them to physical locations like districts, buildings, or streets.