We are finally learning to do mapping!

I think maps serve as important databases and as we already learned in a previous class, they can actually become a story by themselves or at least be the first step to build one.

Learning how to do mapping will be very helpful to me since in my country there are almost no maps that document events or serve as databases.

There are some requirements I believe maps should fulfill. They should be clear and easy to read. I don't mean they should be as basic as the Associated Press Map, but I believe that there are some maps that aiming to be “sophisticated” become somewhat complicated. An example of that is the Elections Map: to understand what you see in the map, you have to read the entire text on the bottom. It is too long and it could lose the attention of the reader. I’m one of the readers who want quick and clear information available.

The Boston Globe's "A reporter's notebook" takes too much time to load some of its content. I've been waiting for over three minutes now and the file is still loading.

Google Maps Mania though has different kinds of maps with peculiar information in them and I like the fact that it allows anyone to collaborate by adding new content and data to the map too.