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Alice wrote:
>
>      A reader wants to see Silicon Valley written on a map showing where it
>      is in relation to San Francisco, or just that it is there somewhere.
>
>      Made me think perhaps there is some sort of map of places like this
>      which are corporate or commercial or imaginative or whatever?
>
Two reactions:  First this made me think of Robert Kaplan's article "The Coming
Anarchy" in the Atlantic Monthly, Feb 94 (if I remember correctly).  He said
that many of our maps are irrelevant because they do not show reality.  He was
talking about some of the largest population settlements in West Africa not
appearing on maps because they are refuge settlements.
 
Silicon Valley is somewhat similar.  People around the world know about it in
general, but is it a mappable item?
 
I remember seeing a map of Silicon Valley on the Web, so I went back to find
it.  I went to Webcrawler and searched on  "Silicon Valley" and map
 
I got a number of hits, including the map I had seen before and a similar map.
Both of these are worth looking at -- the perspective map showing all of the
major firms that make up what we know as Silicon Valley.  The icons on one map
are active links to the home pages of those firms.
 
One of the maps is a commercial enterprise and I did not have time to pursue
what it takes to subscribe and play with the map.
 
Suffice it to say, Silicon Valley exists in map space.  However, I have heard
reference to the 'Silicon Valley of the East', the 'Silicon Valley of the
South', the 'Silicon Valley of Europe'.  Can anyone point to these places on a
map?
 
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James R. "Jim" Carter
Professor of Geography,  Geography/Geology Department
Illinois State University,  MS 4400,  Normal, IL 61790
      (309) 438-2833            FAX (309) 438-5310
 
also: Director, LILT, College of Arts and Sciences, and
Chair, Map Use Commission, International Cartographic Assoc.
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