Mapping Cyberspace

"In that Empire, the craft of Cartography attained such Perfection that the map of a Single Province covered the space of an entire City, and the Map of the Empire itself an entire Province. In the course of Time, these Extensive maps were found somehow wanting, and so the College of Cartographers evolved a Map of the Empire that was of the same Scale as the Empire and that coincided with it point for point. Less attentive to the Study of Cartography, succeeding Generations came to judge a map of such Magnitude cumbersome, and, not without Irreverence, they abandoned it to the Rigours of sun and Rain. In the western Deserts, tattered Fragments of the Map are still to be found, Sheltering an occasional Beast or beggar; in the whole Nation, no other relic is left of the Discipline of Geography."

'Of Exactitude in Science'
Jorge Louis Borges, from A Universal History of Infamy

"Journey over all the universe in a map, without the expense and fatigue of travelling, without suffering the inconveniences of heat, cold, hunger and thirst."

Miguel de Cervantes Don Quixote

Maps are a universal metaphor. The concept that it is possible to travel merely with the aid of a map, and without leaving the comforts of one's home has been acknowledged for centuries.

The late fifteenth century saw a great proliferation of map-making. Maps go hand in glove with exploration, and the early modern period was the time that the corners of the globe began to be charted. Maps were treasured possessions of the wealthy. They hung in their halls like works of art. They signified the owner's dominion over a territory. To map it was to own it.

Because, unlike Borges' perfect map, all others are pale imitations, they rely on a number of codes to convey their information. Some of these codes become fixed culturally over time, becoming part of the vocabulary of cartography. Most conventions (such as North located at the top) are arbitrary. Some of these arbitrary conventions (such as the Greenwich meridian set at 0 degrees) hark back to political and social mores of the past - a 'tattered fragment' of the British Empire marked by a line where the world's clock starts.

Now, in the late twentieth century, a new territory is evolving. It is a global territory, a new world, yet it has no physical features, no terrain. It is a medium, through which we can journey, discover and interact, and at the same time it is the space itself.

We use physical metaphors for our (inter)actions in this notional space: we 'visit' a 'website'. The site itself is a 'presence' in 'cyberspace'. We 'surf' the 'net'. The software vehicles (or web browsers) employ the language of the early discoverers (explorer, navigator) adding to the experience of a new frontier and a pioneering movement.

What happens when we 'visit' a website. Does a geographical dislocation take place? We are embodied, that is, we exist, in an actual space somewhere on the planet. This website we are 'visiting' or just downloading into our browser, also has a physical location. We know that a server, somewhere, is connected to the 'net. Does it matter to us where that somewhere is?

What should a map of this new space begin to look like? What features are important and must be included in order for it to make sense? Is the map of cyberspace that very space itself, a Baudrillardian hyperreality? Certainly, whatever form the map takes, it will not be passive. We will not be unfolding a large piece of paper to find our way to a fixed location with a unique grid reference. This map would be more akin to computerised GIS navigation systems installed in cars - but again, without the fixed point certainty.

There are many different universes in cyberspace. Each user has a different approach and will discover different things. Any map should be particular to each individual user; should offer a form of empowerment.

During my work placement year I redesigned an ISP's website. Around 60 pages in total , this was a site that took some navigating, especially for the naive user. I designed a clickable, graphical site map :it is now (theoretically, at least) impossible to get lost on this site. The ISP gathered stats on site hits, and they found that users, rather than going to the home page and working their way down the menus, would go straight to the site map, and navigate the site from there. A simple yet powerful tool, indeed. It was this realisation of the value of such a tool that inspired me to embark on this project.