Official Maps and Everyday Life Cartography: Tensions Movements of Experiences in Space

Abstract

Can the world be represented by point, line, and polygon? Are maps the world's mirrors? This paper starts with those questions in order to discuss some ways to study urban space in its complexity. Therefore, we tensioned the concepts of cartography into two aspects: as a discipline, which rules the production of the official maps and as a methodological process for the experience in the city. The first part is based on modern science to produce maps apparently impartial. It hides that maps are generalized representations and reductions of the space complexity. The second part approaches the concepts of cartography and the one of rhizome. The cartography, understood as a methodological process, opens itself to other inputs, combinations, and developments. We call it everyday life cartography, when this process is focused in everyday practices. In addition, we showed that is possible to use websites and applications of geo-visualization and geo-collaboration as virtual log books. This practice is adequate only when considered as a tool and not as a final product. It would be a deviationist tactic, as it appropriates techniques used by the strategy of producing official maps to construct other points of views about the city and to overcome stigmas broadcast by the official maps.