Analysis: This American Life (Mapping Senses)

I have always been exposed to the typical, conventional types of maps (road maps, weather maps, bus or train route maps, etc.), so when this broadcast of “This American Life” began by discussing how a group of attorneys in New York hired a map making company to map every single crack in the streets and sidewalks of the city, I was immediately hooked. I had no idea this type of map making was going on in the world, let alone mapping which is based on senses other than sight.

Reading maps has always been an easy task for me, but I never really considered what about the maps makes them so simple to comprehend. When the host mentioned that “the heart of map making entails filtering out chaos and ignoring everything in the world but one thing”, I began to understand. It occurred to me that when you look at a map, you are looking at it for a specific purpose. Anything distracting you from that purpose, such as extraneous information, would render the map useless in accomplishing that purpose. When he later said that every map is the world seen through a different lens, a light bulb went on in my head: These different lenses allow us to see the world from endless vantage points, thereby providing us with a greater sense of place and perspective.

Act 1: Sight

The part of this conversation which I found to be most interesting was when they were talking about how mapping what would actually be seen in a neighborhood (pools of street lamp light, porch pumpkins, traffic signs, graffiti, etc.) makes it a living organism. I feel that it would be relatively effortless to discover my place if I lived in a neighborhood like this because I would be helped by the fact that it had already been brought to life. I also was intrigued by the mention of finding the “poetics of cartography.” It seems that map making is being transformed into an art form. When, apparently, there is nothing in this world which cannot be mapped, I suppose it is a definite possibility.

Act 2: Hearing

Something discussed in this portion of the broadcast which I had never considered before is how actual notes and moods can be assigned to the noises of the electronics and appliances we use every day and tend to ignore. I never thought that the sound of my laptop’s motor combined with the drone of my fridge could sound sad. This just proves how indicative sound can be when mapping any given place.

Act 3: Smell

This part of the discussion was the least interesting to me. All I got out of this segment was that an electronic nose would not be efficient for mapping in terms of scent, but the human nose would be. I have no doubt, however, that it is possible to map using your sense of smell. It just wasn’t discussed here.

Act 4: Touch

This particular story astounded me. I was amazed at the fact that over the course of several years, this woman mapped her own body through the sense of touch when she would inspect herself for various illnesses. She had tactile connections with herself sometimes over forty times per day. Her mapping, however, was most likely inaccurate due to the fact that the driving force behind it was fear and anxiety. I feel that the mapping is incorrect more so because of her psychologically caused pain, because it’s as if her body was telling her to feel something that wasn’t actually there. I consider this to be false mapping.

Act 5: Taste

I thought this was a fun way to end the entire discussion. This food critic was mapping primarily for himself; for he wanted to eat at every restaurant on Pico Blvd. for his own information and to help guide him in the future. Such persistence and dedication to mapping would result in a more complete sense of place. He also wanted to get people to be less afraid of their neighbors through the medium of food. I thought this was very clever, since one of the favorite American pastimes is, in fact, eating.