6/8/2023 0 Comments Strategic war in europe iconBut more importantly, they point out that mapmaking is a political and cultural effort that creates compelling and useful stories – even if not necessarily unvarnished truth. Maps like the Live Universal Awareness Map rely on crowdsourced data that might be tricky to verify. These alternatives to the more standard news maps of war also have their benefits and drawbacks. The icons represent many types of events, including speeches and rallies, refugees and hostage situations, and even computer hacking. Its Ukraine map shows where reported incidents occur, with colored icons showing who is reportedly involved at each location. The Live Universal Awareness Map is an independent journalism site that draws on news stories and social media from all over the world and connects them to an interactive online map. Maps like this “Russia-Ukraine Monitor Map” from the Centre for Information Resilience offer alternative and interactive ways to understand the war. That method gives readers themselves a chance to choose where and what they want to see of the invasion. nonprofit seeking to expose human rights abuses, is using crowdsourcing technologies to populate maps of Russia’s war on Ukraine with civilian casualties, incidents of gunfire and explosions, and evidence of damage to infrastructure. The Centre for Information Resilience, a U.K. Groups other than news outlets are showing additional ways to use maps. Al Jazeera, CC BY-NC-SA Specific approaches Showing more than one map can help people understand different aspects of the issues at hand. Al Jazeera, Reuters’ graphics division and the Financial Times offer prime examples of putting a series of maps into conversation with one another and creating a kind of narrative of the war – for example, putting maps of NATO members alongside maps of oil and gas resources, while still portraying the essential military advancements. Some global news outlets are presenting a series of maps, rather than just one. There are, of course, other ways to map this war. The maps of the war in Ukraine are often more sophisticated and sometimes interactive, but they still carry the alarm of inevitable Russian advancement and project the familiar concept of the battle between East and West. As the Cold War emerged, and maps shifted their anxiety toward the Soviet Union, the simplicity and directness of many maps sought to sound the alarm about Soviet encroachment into the heart of Europe, and communist threats in Asia and Africa. The news maps of that time projected the anxiety and vulnerability of strategic areas for the United States and their allies. ![]() printed this map for readers to refer to when listening to President Franklin D. President Franklin Roosevelt even asked Americans to “ look at your map” as he spoke over the radio about fighting in Europe and the Pacific. ![]() Maps in the media were portrayed as documents that could help everyday citizens connect with the war. They use a familiar mapping style, one that came into its own during World War II. Their work has often been productive and insightful, helpfully simplifying an incredibly complicated situation into one or two clear statements. This is not a critique of mapmakers who are depicting the war on Ukraine. The maps appear to be authoritative and absolute, but the reality is much messier and uncertain. The everyday experiences of civilians on the ground in this war remain elusive in these maps. Nor do they depict the complex flow of refugees fleeing the fighting, which is usually either simplified or left out altogether. ![]() These maps do not often show the location or strength of Ukrainian resistance. It could be an open container waiting to be filled with chaos, or one that is spilling chaos into the rest of Europe. Ukraine appears on these maps as a puzzle piece amid the rest of the puzzle of Europe, a shape at the center surrounded by small pieces of surrounding nations. They mostly show political borders crossed by lines and arrows representing the movements of Russian soldiers, part of the second-most-powerful military in the world. These maps don’t show the topography of Ukraine or its road network. They also tend to exaggerate the idea that it’s a coordinated, controlled assault – when, of course, war is famously chaotic. Once annotated with arrows showing the general directions of invasion forces, icons showing specific attacks, and dots highlighting Ukrainian nuclear plants and other strategic targets, these maps can signal an inevitability of Russian advancement. Most typical news maps show Ukraine as an encircled and embattled nation.Įven without other markings, Ukraine appears small, with Russia looming over it from the north and east. Maps like this one from The Washington Post can signal an inevitability of Russian advancement and make a chaotic conflict seem orderly and organized.
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