http://www.directionsmag.com/article.php?article_id=2189&trv=1
Maps of Intrigue By Adena Schutzberg
(Jun 02, 2006)
The press coverage of ancient maps being found and
new
mashups being created is becoming commonplace. Rarely, at least for me,
are such stories so fascinating that I dig deeper. One modern map story
intrigued me enough to read the entire story in the Chicago Tribune.
However, my skeptic’s hat was not on firmly enough that day, and I
missed the opportunity to explore "the rest of story" as Paul Harvey
would say. So, without further ado: "How a Sad Map Story Turned into
Intrigue."
I first saw the story last week in the Chicago Tribune and
wrote up a summary in All Points Blog (APB) which
I reproduce here.
What if you made a great map of Chicago
neighborhoods? Everyone loved
it. It hangs in fire stations and police stations and is sold by Rand
McNally. But, then what if you wanted to give it to school children in
the city? You'd think that'd be easy, but alas cartographer Christopher
Devane ran into Chicago Public Schools system bureaucracy and was
eventually issued
a and "cease and desist" letter to halt his efforts.
The original coverage suggested injustice and how needy
students were
not getting these very important and valuable maps. I took that at face
value. Luckily, Allan Doyle, faithful APB reader didn't. He dug a bit
and found that there's more to this map, and thus the story.
The Chicago Neighborhood map, first created by Big Stick, Inc., Devane's
company, was first published in 1992. It started with just 182
neighborhoods and now, in its third edition, has 237.
The website notes that in April 2006, "Big Stick begins free
distribution of its new Third Edition of the Chicago Neighborhood Map
to every school, police station, and firehouse in the city of Chicago.
All made possible by the supreme generosity of the Third Edition’s
sponsor, EastLake Development & Management, Corp." That doesn't
seem to mesh with the article in the Tribune. Nor does it mesh
with statements about for whom EastLake Development sponsored maps.
(See below)
From my research all was well with Big Stick until 2004. A lawsuit that
year stemmed from issues relating to a deal between Big Stick and a
subsidiary of the Chicago Association of Realtors, the Northern
Illinois Real Estate Information Network Inc. (NIREIN). NIREIN contends
that Big Stick did not pay for or produce the maps the two parties had
agreed to create together. A settlement came in late 2005,
including a payment to the Realtors and a deal for them to sponsor the
next edition of the map. Big Stick had not yet paid the full amount
required, $11,000, on time. That led to more hearings in 2006.
In finalizing the latest edition of the map, Big Stick decided to add a
new "motto" . The new motto was one that the Realtors found offensive:
"Home is where the hood is." That prompted the Realtors to drop their
plans to sponsor the new edition. Big Stick was unable to pay the
amount required in the settlement, claiming the naming controversy held
up production of the map and thus income for the company. The motto
does indeed appear on the images of the new map hosted on the website.
for the rest of the article go here:
http://www.directionsmag.com/article.php?article_id=2189&trv=1
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Angie Cope
American Geographical Society Library
UW Milwaukee Libraries
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Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201
http://www.uwm.edu/Libraries/AGSL/index.html
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