Welcome to the web site of cartographer Zachary Forest Johnson. Check out my latest project, the World Freedom Atlas. Or, check out my blog. There will be more here soon. In the mean time, feel free to contact me at zach.f.johnson[at]gmail.com.
The act of mapping was as profound as the invention of a number system. The use of a reduced, substitute space for that of reality, even when both can be seen, is an impressive act in itself; but the really awesome event was the similar representation of distant, out of sight, features. The combination of the reduction of reality and the construction of an analogical space is an attainment in abstract thinking of a very high order indeed, for it enables one to discover structures that would remain unknown if not mapped.
Arthur Robinson, Early Thematic Mapping in the History of Cartography
It is just as important to study the proper and effective use of various forms of graphic presentation, as it is to study the values of different methods, treatments, grades, and forms of verbal presentation.
William Morris Davis
If we then make the obvious assumption that the content of a map is appropriate to its purpose, there yet remains the equally significant evaluation of the visual methods employed to convey that content. These graphic methods, together with the logic which binds them to their function and sets the limits of their utilization, constitute the cartographic technique.
Arthur H. Robinson, The Look of Maps
