The mapping project I decided to analyze was the timeline of the “19th- Century Caribbean Cholera Timemap”. At first glance I noticed the world map (focused around the Caribbean and the US) with lots of information keys. Along with this, above is a timeline that I was able to scroll through including the years from 1833 to 1872. Within these years, the information key displayed information about certain Cholera outbreaks and the specific location it occurred. Along with the Cholera outbreaks, you are also shown natural disasters such as hurricanes and tropical storms and you also have access to news articles during that time period. It is clear that Google maps is a main function within this website as it allows you to track these certain events through different time periods.
This map reveals a history within the Caribbean of natural disasters and disease wipeouts, along with the access to local articles, it adds a first person account to these experiences. The website itself has a feeling of travelling through time, with compasses surrounding the title and an old stained coloured map, it presents a travelling through time feeling. However, this map cannot provide us with information such as, how many citizens were wiped out do to cholera or natural disasters, it can just drop a pin on the specific location. This aligns with Turnbull’s argument that Cartesian maps are functional and allow you to analyze points of interest. As
Having a functional coordinate and mapping system was very important during the colonial days, this map is a great representation of the functionality of Cartesian maps.
This map is quite obscure in that the timeline and map are hard to navigate simultaneously. Along with this, the website didn’t have a lot of background information which made it hard to gather what the map was specifically trying to display. If I was to redesign this map I would of had a background information page, as well as each drop pin having information attached to it. This information could include, the effect of the outburst of cholera (if it was a result of something, for example colonization) or the natural disasters. This would also make this website more interactive as it is quite dull and boring to look at. Although by using news articles it provides us with first person accounts during that time period, some drop pins to include information, a few of the times it was difficult to read so I would suggest re-typing the article down the bottom.
Overall I thought this was a map that served its purpose for providing information of Cholera outbreaks and locating the exact location, however it could have done with some improvements to make it more user friendly.
By Teagan Micah
I chose the Caribbean Cholera map as well and I thought your point about how it felt like time traveling through the use of an interactive timeline was really interesting. It would have been much more impactful if, as you said, it had functioned better. Perhaps instead of a dragging the timeline bar, they could’ve had users use arrow keys instead to scroll throughout the years.