Mapping has become one of the effective ways to know about the different factors of an area and this method is now being widely used by the scientist especially during the pandemic. Dr. Liz Mason-Deese in her lecture explains the various uses of the magazine and through different examples tries to explain the meaning of mapping. She explained that mapping and map is not only limited and restricted to knowing routes in an area but it involves understanding the status of an area as well as the status of the individuals living in that area. Status here is referred to as the movement, condition, different diseases as well as collaboration between the different individuals in a community and society. Mason- Deese further stated that this method has been used a variety of times in order to know regarding the movement of the enemies during the war and this is being evaluated with the help of satellites.
There are various articles that have been made on countermapping and one such article was published by The Guardian on 6 March 2018. They described these of counter-mapping in order to know the Thickness of the ice, places of the shelter as well as the different predators (O’Dwyer, 2018). The article also mentions that geologists have been using this method in order to understand and know the journey of the migrants. Furthermore, the lecture was based to explain the use of mapping techniques during the pandemic and what are the different ways through which it has helped during the Covid-19 pandemic. In accordance with the information that has been provided by the professor, there have been many studies regarding the use of mapping during Covid 19.
Firstly, it helped to know the extent of the spread of the disease. Covid is one of the fast-spreading viruses which has infected individuals from all across the world. Through mapping, the number of individuals from all across the world who have been infected with the virus has been traced and this has helped to control the spread of the disease. This has been widely important as it helped to take the different level of precautions which are necessary to protect individuals from getting infected (Sa’ed, H.Z., and Al-Jabi, 2020). Secondly, it helped to track down the movement of the infected individuals as they have been asked to stay quarantine. There has been a great breach of the rules by certain individuals and there have been cases when because of some individuals, the disease has been further spread. To stop any such case, countermapping is used.
Countermapping has also been described by Dalton and Mason-Deese in the year 2012 and they explained the importance and use of mapping in the military (Dalton & Mason-Deese, 2012). Mapping in the military is used to track down the soldiers and keep track of their movement and also find out the movement of the enemies so that necessary precautions can be taken. From his lecture and different studies, it can be easily said that counter-mapping has improved our lives and there are various methods and fields where countermapping can be used.
References
Dalton, C. & Mason-Deese, L., 2012. Counter (Mapping) Actions: Mapping as Militant Research. An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies, 11(3), pp. 439-466.
O’Dwyer, L., 2018. Counter-mapping: cartography that lets the powerless speak. [Online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2018/mar/06/counter-mapping-cartography-that-lets-the-powerless-speak [Accessed 13 January 2021].
Sa’ed, H.Z., and Al-Jabi, S.W., 2020. Mapping the situation of research on coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19): a preliminary bibliometric analysis during the early stage of the outbreak. BMC infectious diseases, 20(1), pp.1-8.
CMEA, 2019. Mapping the Battle of Normandy. [Online] Available at: https://cmea-agmc.ca/mapping-battle-normandy [Accessed 13 January 2021].