September 30, 1999
LIBRARY / CD-ROM MAPS
Magic Carpets for Armchair Explorations
By SHELLY FREIERMAN
aps do more than lead you
from point A to point B. For
the closet cartographer, a
map's hieroglyphics reveal a portrait of the world's countries, cities,
mountains, plains and oceans
through a singular vocabulary of
symbols, colors and typefaces.
Of course, maps are a two-way
street: they not only depict the world
for their readers but also say volumes about the people who made
them by what they include and leave
out, where the borders are and what
a city is called -- whether Londonderry in Northern Ireland, for example, is rendered as Derry, the Irish
nationalists' preference. A good map
fires the imagination like a good novel. Here are three CD-ROM sets to
curl up with on a rainy day.