Tactile maps of Greenland

May 9, 2017 12:17 PM

The maps, carved from wood, were held inside the users’ mittens, and read by feel, rather than visually.
posted by stonepharisee (19 comments total)

That is so cool. Thank you for the post!
posted by rtha at 12:24 PM on May 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

Fascinating, thanks for this!
posted by carter at 12:33 PM on May 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

Amazing.
posted by Stonestock Relentless at 1:19 PM on May 9, 2017

So, they're 1D / linear maps of a particular route / line on a non-Inuit map? Or they're representative of a 2D space (like a traditional map)?

I'm probably overthinking this due to my somewhat recent read of Flatland.
posted by RolandOfEld at 1:36 PM on May 9, 2017

I just saw an ad yesterday for vibrating shoes that give GPS directions and thought "What a time to be alive!" then it turns out tactile directions are not a new thing at all.
posted by srboisvert at 1:45 PM on May 9, 2017

Speaking as a blind person, vibrating shoes seem to fall into the category of "gadget made for us," not by us. Tactile maps, on the other hand, are awesome.
posted by Alensin at 1:51 PM on May 9, 2017 [18 favorites]

They represent the coastline as a scaleless 1 Dimensional sequence of features (like fjords or bays). Greenland's inner coast is organized in a way that fits this representation pretty nicely. According to the article the map runs along one side then continues on the other.
posted by ethansr at 1:54 PM on May 9, 2017 [5 favorites]

Interesting that they are carved from wood, which presumably was extremely rare and only obtained by trade or driftwood, and I'd think driftwood would be very rare at those latitudes.

Though googling a bit, perhaps not as rare as I thought?
posted by tavella at 2:27 PM on May 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

By coincidence, Tactile Maps of Greenland is the name of my new neoclassical post-rock project.
posted by acb at 2:35 PM on May 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

This is exceptional.
posted by From Bklyn at 2:57 PM on May 9, 2017

This might be a silly question, but how do you actually navigate using a map like this? I grew up with a GPS, so I'm not actually sure how you are supposed to use maps actually (besides memorizing streets and intersections), especially for natural landscapes.
posted by yueliang at 3:42 PM on May 9, 2017

Simply amazing. I had no idea this existed--thank you for posting!
posted by bookmammal at 3:52 PM on May 9, 2017

That is just the damn coolest!
posted by TheCoug at 4:19 PM on May 9, 2017

See also this article on the maps which includes the wooden maps and their relation to a modern map of the region.

According to the Wikipedia article Ammassalik wooden maps the maps were carved by a native of Umivik named Kunit, and they may be unique. However there are copies made by Europeans, such as the ones in the British Library.
posted by larrybob at 5:06 PM on May 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

This is pretty much the coolest thing ever.
posted by turbid dahlia at 6:25 PM on May 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

"it's just like a paper map but we've made it even harder to fold"
posted by schwa at 7:14 PM on May 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

This is a great find. It might be a start on understanding other mystery objects we thought were detritus, elsewhere on other shores.
posted by Oyéah at 7:47 PM on May 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

This might be a silly question, but how do you actually navigate using a map like this?

I am no expert, I only know a bit from my distributed cognition classes, but roughly:

Coastal maps are one of the oldest types of maps because they are relatively easy to make. One creates a map that shows useful landmarks on the coast in their correct order as if you were sailing by, without neccisarily capturing other spatial relationships between them.

You fix your location relative to the "length" of the coast by looking to shore and identifying the landmarks you are facing.

Navigation similarly proceeds by moving parallel along the shore within visible range or just beyond it. You can't leave visual range for long for fear of getting lost. This means that you often take a non optimal route because you only move parrelel to the contour of the coast.

Moving away from the coast generally requires taking advantage of the stars orientation in your area.
posted by ethansr at 8:09 PM on May 9, 2017 [5 favorites]

Coastal maps are one of the oldest types of maps because they are relatively easy to make.

A periplus was a written list of landmarks in the order you would encounter them in while traversing the coast, even pre-map.
posted by XMLicious at 9:19 PM on May 9, 2017 [1 favorite]