The Beauty of Maps

Documentary series looking at maps in incredible detail to highlight their artistic attributions and reveal the stories that they tell. The Beauty of Maps (Seeing the Art in Cartography) is yet another example of a BBC television series which focuses on matters concerning data visualization. It is another proof how visualization is becoming an interesting feature in popular press. We love maps. And we love data visualization, of which maps are among the earliest and most ubiquitous examples. As location continues to tickle the tips of trend analysts’ tongues and location-based applications take over the mobile landscape, it’s interesting – if not necessary – to understand the historical context of our relationship with location and geography. 1. Medieval Maps – Mapping the Medieval Mind The Hereford Mappa Mundi is the largest intact Medieval wall map in the world and its ambition is breathtaking – to picture all of human knowledge in a single image. The work of a team of artists, the world it portrays is overflowing with life, featuring Classical and Biblical history, contemporary buildings and events, animals and plants from across the globe, and the infamous ‘monstrous races’ which were believed to inhabit the remotest corners of the Earth.