Digital mapping as double-tap: cartographic modes, calculations and failures

Abstract

Original citation:Hind, Sam and Lammes, Sybille. (2015) Digital mapping as double-tap : cartographic modes, calculations and failures. Global Discourse : an interdisciplinary journal of current affairs and applied contemporary thought . ISSN 2326-9995 (in press In this article, we will ask how Latour's latest project -An Inquiry into Modes of Existence (AIME) -can help us to understand the nature of cartographic modes, calculations and failures. To this end, we will argue that in his many readings, specifically digital mapping can be said to operate through a 'double-click' mode which obscures the [REF-REP] crossing of which he now speaks of in AIME. More appropriately, we refine Latour's argument to suggest that contemporary navigational practice involves not simply a 'double-click' mentality but a 'double-tap' one. This action enables the user to not only zoom into the mapping interface -by virtue of a double-tap of a touch-sensitive screen -but also manipulate phenomena in mobile and haptic terms, as if the world was both accessible and knowable through the fingertips. This small tweak in terminology strengthens Latour's account of prevailing modern thinking, to allow for an even more robust analysis to take place. However, Latour is not the first to think in terms of 'modes'. Critical cartographers, for instance, have talked of so-called 'mapping modes'. Latour's ontological pluralism, together with these other cartographic and methodological versions, can help us to identify different operative elements in various digital mapping enterprises. We further argue that there is still considerable value in employing Latour's long-theorized notions of immutable mobility, inscription and calculation, so long as they are updated and refined for contemporary practices, and the various bridging strategies mentioned above are implemented and taken into consideration. In returning to our initial point, we then argue that there are moments in which this double-tap philosophy is laid bare and the seamless linking of the [REF] and[REP] modes of existence unravel. Taking on and extending Latour's interest in 'failure', we argue that the best way to challenge double-tap thinking, in a methodological sense, is to focus on the nuanced nature of digital mapping failures since these are instances that mapping no longer works 'without a hitch'. In such moments, the aura of unmediated technological practice slips. Instead, the bare operational bones are exposed, allowing the user to gain access to its failed state. We substantiate this final argument with reference to two cartographic cases concerning a flood event and a series of protest demonstrations.

Introduction

“…Unlike the envisioned compressed real-time space of flows presented by the iconic world maps divided into time zones, the modern map is intimate and personal. The map at your fingertips is more likely to register your personal histories of travel, shopping or socialisation than it is to tell stories of shared and structured timelines across divides (Hind and Lammes, 2015). It moves as you move, animating time in ways that were impossible in the pre-digital age.…”

Small moments in Spatial Big Data: Calculability, authority and interoperability in everyday mobile mapping

“…Missing components are revealed, in these cases appearing as the unwillingness of the user to fully engage with the app, interruptions of the satellite signal or the realities of social inequality. And so failure too casts light on these limitations (Hind and Lammes, 2015) where in each of these stories, the fallibility of data is both ideological and functional. The calculability of space and bodies, informational authority of Spatial Big Data and data interoperability sometimes do not work, and at other times, we find that they simply cannot fulfil the universal expectations with which they were underwritten.…”

The skin of the map: Viewing cartography through tactile empathy

“…Following Lammes and Perkins (2016: 23), the shift to digital and more playful mapping has also changed the tactility of our interactions with maps. A specific point developed by Hind and Lammes (2015) is that by using touch-sensitive screens, a ‘double tap mentality’ (a revised version of the Latourian ‘double click mentality’) has emerged that offers users the perception of direct, unmediated and proximal access to the physical environment. Here, tactility is scrutinised to problematise the intimate manipulation of the world through one’s fingertips.…”

“…Here, tactility is scrutinised to problematise the intimate manipulation of the world through one’s fingertips. These ‘technologies of touch’ are criticised as new powerful versions of the ‘technologies of vision’ feeding the ‘cartographic gaze’ (Hind and Lammes, 2015: 81).…”