kb/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-mapping-3.md

title	chunk	source	category	tags	date_saved	instance
Counter-mapping	4/4	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-mapping	reference	science, encyclopedia	2026-05-05T13:37:14.903817+00:00	kb-cron

=== Community mapping === Community mapping can be defined as "local mapping, produced collaboratively, by local people and often incorporating alternative local knowledge". OpenStreetMap is an example of a community mapping initiative, with the potential to counter the hegemony of state-dominated map distribution.

==== OpenStreetMap ====

OpenStreetMap (OSM), a citizen-led spatial data collection website, was founded by Steve Coast in 2004. Data are collected from diverse public domain sources; of which GPS tracks are the most important, collected by volunteers with GPS receivers. As of 10 January 2011 there were 340,522 registered OSM users, who had uploaded 2.121 billion GPS points onto the website. The process of map creation explicitly relies upon sharing and participation; consequently, every registered OSM user can edit any part of the map. Moreover, 'map parties' – social events which aim to fill gaps in coverage – help foster a community ethos. In short, the grassroots OSM project can be seen to represent a paradigm shift in who creates and shares geographic information - from the state, to society. However, rather than countering the state-dominated cartographic project, some commentators have affirmed that OSM merely replicates the 'old' socio-economic order. For instance, Haklay affirmed that OSM users in the United Kingdom tend not to map council estates; consequently, middle-class areas are disproportionately mapped. Thus, in opposition to notions that OSM is a radical cartographic counter-culture, are contentions that OSM "simply recreates a mirror copy of existing topographic mapping".

=== State counter-mapping === What has come to be known as counter-mapping is not limited to the activities of non-state actors within a particular nation-state; relatively weak states also engage in counter-mapping in an attempt to challenge other states.

==== Competing cartographic representations ==== East Timor's ongoing effort to gain control of gas and oil resources from Australia, which it perceives at its own, is a form of counter-mapping. This dispute involves a cartographic contestation of Australia's mapping of the seabed resources between the two countries. As Nevins contends: whilst Australia's map is based on the status quo – a legacy of a 1989 agreement between Australia and the Indonesian occupier of East Timor at that time, East Timor's map represents an enlarged notion of what its sea boundaries should be, thereby entailing a redrawing of the map. This form of counter-mapping thus represents a claim by a relatively weak state, East Timor, to territory and resources that are controlled by a stronger state, Australia. However, Nevins notes that there is limited potential of realising a claim through East Timor's counter-map: counter-mapping is an effective strategy only when combined with broader legal and political strategies.

== Criticisms == Counter-mapping's claim to incorporate counter-knowledges, and thereby empower traditionally disempowered people, has not gone uncontested. A sample of criticisms leveled at counter-mapping:

Counter-mapping fails to recognise that community is a constantly shifting, fluid process, too often relying on a notion of community as bounded and fixed. As such, the process of mapping communicates and naturalises who does, and who does not, belong within particular boundaries. Due to the power imbalance between indigenous claims and those of the state, the language and tools of the dominant society must be used by those under its control. The process of using another's tools can change the ideas represented, resulting in a map of unpredictable quality. Counter-mapping is in danger of becoming the 'thing to do'; a "magic bullet applied uncritically". There is a geography to the success of counter-mapping. In Tibet, counter-mapping is of limited political utility as mapmaking is not enfranchised and cannot be scaled up, for instance, to settle legal battles over land tenure and resource rights through the regulatory offices of the state. Counter-mapping projects utilising GIS require significant knowledge and computer literacy above that of lay individuals. Investment in specialised computers and software often results in prohibitive mapping costs for a large majority of local people, particularly in poor areas. As some groups prove more capable of adopting the technologies than others, counter-mapping projects can deepen divisions within communities along gender and economic lines. To summarise, whilst counter-mapping has the potential to transform map-making from "a science of princes", the investment required to create a map with the ability to challenge state-produced cartography means that counter-mapping is unlikely to become a "science of the masses".

== See also == GIS and environmental governance Deep map

== References ==

== Further reading == Cooke, M.F. (2003). "Maps and Counter-Maps: Globalised Imaginings and Local Realities of Sarawak's Plantation Agriculture". Journal of Southeast Asian Studies. 34 (2): 265–284. doi:10.1017/S0022463403000250. S2CID 145769245. Dodge, M. (2011). Classics in Cartography: Reflections on Influential Articles from Cartographica. London: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-68174-9 Poole, P. (1995). Indigenous Peoples: Mapping and Biodiversity Conservation: An Analysis of Current Activities and Opportunities for Applying Geomatics Technologies. Washington, DC: Biodiversity Support Program. Quiquivix, L (2014). "Art of War, Art of Resistance: Palestinian Counter-Cartography on Google Earth". Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 104 (3): 444–459. Bibcode:2014AAAG..104..444Q. doi:10.1080/00045608.2014.892328. S2CID 143748228. Sparke, M (1998). "A Map that Roared and an Original Atlas: Canada, Cartography and the Narration of Nation" (PDF). Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 88 (3): 403–495. Bibcode:1998AAAG...88..463S. doi:10.1111/0004-5608.00109. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-06-29.

== External links == https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/land/meaning-of-land-to-aboriginal-people https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2018/mar/06/counter-mapping-cartography-that-lets-the-powerless-speak Counter Mapping - Emergence Magazine Indigenous territory at The Canadian Encyclopedia, accessed September 7, 2019 http://www.aughty.org/pdf/community_mapping.pdf Archived 2018-07-13 at the Wayback Machine Grossman, Z (2004) Articles on native GIS and counter-mapping Parish maps in England