The Ghost Map – A Tale of Victorian GIS Technology

The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic–And How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World

I just got a copy of Steven Johnson’s The Ghost Map which came out in paper last week. The reason I’m really excited about this book is that it is amongst others about history of analytical cartography and solving urban sustainability problems as seen by Victorian London in the mid 19th century. In fact, as Johnson mentioned, there was an open question that time about whether such huge cities like London (over 2.5 million population in1850) will be still sustainable or whether it will collapse just as the ancient Rom did at a certain point.

The Story takes place in August 1854 when a cholera outbreak was raging in London. Dr. John Snow, a private physician and kind of Sherlok Holmes-like cross-disciplinary thinker, was able to link the epidemic to contaminated drinking water source from public pumps. He was drawing a map with elements like fatalities, water pumps and streets to advance an argument about the nature of the disease.

Yes, it’s a remarkable example of how people started to recognize the importance of spatial dimensions for better understanding complex problems in an urbanizing world. But it’s also a remarkable historical example of how map-making pretends to be objective, where there is a clear author’s intention behind. In this particular case, Snow’s intention was to reinforce his theory on the cause of the disease. In fact, his map was rather a graphic description or summary of his studies than an analytical tool.

The Ghost in the Map

Nevertheless, there is a memorable GIS story coming out of the book: the way of taking advantage of local knowledge and (amateur) cross-disciplinary thinking on a local level. It shows the importance to empower communities through GIS technology and participation.

For instance the 2005 Hurricane Katrina GISCorps disaster response is a good example for the importance of participatory GIS and community mapping. Teams of volunteers organized by the GISCorps responded very quickly and produced maps for the initial responders and briefing maps showing things like power outages or road closures. They also helped rescue teams through geocoding (translating) addresses into GPS coordinates. The nub of the matter: all these efforts could only be accomplished by the community itself (in close collaboration with private industry).

PS: Seems that the guys from Riverhead Books produced a little trailer cartoon, which by the word of Steven Johnson can be described as “Yellow Submarine meets 28 Days Later” :)