Mapping

Maps are a great way to present information from a variety of fields and topics. Any project that involves changes across space might be a good candidate for a map. 

Different tools will have different requirements for making maps, but before you get started it is useful to have all of your information/data together. You will need some sort of locations, addresses, or coordinates. If you need assistance at any point please feel free to set up a consultation with the Digital Humanities Librarian. 

All of the mapping tools mentioned in this guide do not require advanced technology skills. If you are interested in exploring more powerful mapping tools, such as QGIS, ArcGIS, Tableau and Leaflet, set up a consultation to hear more about your options. 

The Programming Historian also has a number of tutorials on mapping if you don't find your needs covered here. 

Here are a few examples of mapping projects to give you a sense of what can be done with mapping:

• Mapping the Gay Guides: Visualizing Queer Space and American Life
• Katherine Dunham’s Global Travel, 1947-60 (Interactive Space-Time Mapping)
• No One Sees Trees: Looking at the Trees in The Overstory

There is no one perfect mapping tool, and these tools each have their own strengths. 

• Storymaps (both ArcGIS Storymaps and StoryMapJS) is good if you want to integrate narratives with your maps
• Google My Maps is good if you want to make a shareable map in a system folks are used to interacting with
• Flourish is good if displaying data is more important than creating a narrative or you want to make an interactive or animated map
• Timemapper is good if you want to display information across space AND time