Each year the National Geographic Society sponsors a number of cartography awards to support up-and-coming student map makers. Today I’d like to introduce you to Brad Carter, a student at the Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, who won second prize in the Association of American Geographers-National Geographic Award in Mapping with his map, Broken Windows & Violent Crime in Philadelphia. His prize: $300 and a National Geographic 9th Edition Atlas of the World. Brad shared his map and some insights into his motivations for creating it.

Toronto, Ontario

Too many jobs could fit that description for me to pick just one. Any job that provides a challenge, demands creative problem solving, and offers an element of discovery would make it to the top of the list. That’s probably why I’ve gravitated towards cartography. It offers you the opportunity to work across many fields of study, while at the same time demanding the creativity to express complex information in a single image.

If I had to choose a favourite adventurer it would probably be Scott Carpenter, the astronaut that flew in orbit during the Mercury program, then left NASA to participate in the SeaLab project. To have had the opportunity to be a pioneer in the exploration of two great frontiers– outer space and the deep sea–makes his story particularly compelling.

Marine Biology

The map was produced for the Thematic Cartography and Geovisualization course, which is part of the curriculum of the Master of Spatial Analysis program at Ryerson University in Toronto.

I have an interest in criminology and I thought it would be a rich subject from which to create a compelling map. The purpose of the map was to illustrate two criminology theories by superimposing the spatial relationships between social factors (single-mother households), environmental factors (vacant buildings, as a proxy for urban decay), and crime. My ultimate goal was to allow the map reader to make the determination as to whether either of the theories illustrated, “broken windows theory” and “social disorganization theory,” provide a satisfactory explanation of the distribution of crime in Philadelphia. I was intrigued by the idea of trying to illustrate two theories that attempt to explain the root causes of crime.

That’s an interesting question because the parameters of the assignment played a role in my choices. We were asked to incorporate two thematic mapping techniques, preferably ones which are not commonly used. That provided a challenge in itself. I chose the dasymetric mapping technique in order to allow all of the rich detail of the residential areas to show. After that the toughest decision was choosing a colour scheme that would allow for enough diversity to make the map easy to read while at the same time retaining a unified look.

It’s an absolute thrill to receive an award from National Geographic. In our house, there were always two or three issues of National Geographic on the coffee table. My mother’s subscription dates back to 1967, so I grew up reading the magazine, and I have no doubt that my career path was inspired by the many articles and maps that I read during my childhood.