Exhibit Info

Maps

The exhibit is a 10-year effort. Each year, 10 new maps are added resulting in 100 maps total in 2014.

1st Iteration (2005): The Power of Maps

2nd Iteration (2006): The Power of Reference Systems

3rd Iteration (2007): The Power of Forecasts

4th Iteration (2008): Science Maps for Economic Decision Makers

5th Iteration (2009): Science Maps for Science Policy Makers

6th Iteration (2010): Science Maps for Scholars

7th Iteration (2011): Science Maps as Visual Interfaces to Digital Libraries

8th Iteration (2012): Science Maps for Kids

9th Iteration (2013): Science Maps for Daily Science Forecasts

10th Iteration (2014): Telling Lies with Science Maps

Additional Elements

1st Iteration (2005): The Power of Maps

This iteration aims to show the power of maps to help us understand, navigate, and manage both physical places and abstract knowledge spaces. The first maps of our planet were not perfectly correct. Yet they were invaluable for navigation, exploration, and communication. Maps of science generated today cannot be comprehensive as they are generated based on only a small portion of mankind's knowledge. The generation of a comprehensive map requires the proper interlinkage of multilingual, multidisciplinary, multi-media scholarly knowledge. Note that each of the six early maps of science displayed here use a different metaphor. We are interested in inspiring discussion about which metaphors will be most effective in designing a visual index of mankind's knowledge.

Click on any map below for more information.

 

2nd Iteration (2006): The Power of Reference Systems

This iteration aims to inspire discussion about a common reference system for all of mankind's scientific knowledge. Scientists in many disciplines battled to agree on standardized reference systems such as the electromagnetic spectrum, the periodic table of elements, geographic mappings, and the celestial reference systems shown here. These standardized systems are invaluable for indexing, storing, accessing, and managing scientific data efficiently. Note that each of the six potential reference systems-- from the one-dimensional time-based system to the geospatial system to the semantic system--could potentially be used to identify the "location" of an author, paper, patent, or grant, or to show the dynamics of an author's trajectory or contribution, as well as the impact of a particular work.

Click on any map below for more information.

 

3rd Iteration (2007): The Power of Forecasts

The third iteration compares and contrasts seismic hazard, economic, resource depletion, and epidemic forecast maps with maps forecasting the structure and evolution of science. Rea time weather forecasts are served by the national Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Computational models of the movements of tectonic plates help reduce losses due to earthquakes, volcanic activity, or tsunamis. Economic models let us simulate catastrophic and sustainable futures for mankind. Epidemic models make us understand how interconnected we all are and how actions far away affect us right here. Daily science and technology forecasts would show science maps with overlays of top experts/institutions/countries, major activity bursts, or emerging research frontiers augmenting our knowledge and decision making. Why are they not available on TV, in press and online?

Click on any map below for more information.

 

4th Iteration (2008): Science Maps for Economic Decision Makers

This is the first of six iterations that explore the utility of science maps for different stakeholders. The maps presented here target the needs of economic decision makers. They answer questions such as:

Click on any map below for more information.

 

Fifth Iteration (2009) Science Maps for Science Policy Makers

The fifth iteration shows science maps for science policy makers as well as citizens interested in understanding national priorities, spending, and achievements. Featured are two early maps, two maps of observation and sensor data, and six maps of scholarly data. The maps communicate:

Click on any map below for more information.

 

WorldProcessor Globes

Foreign US Patent Holders [WorldProcessor #294]
This globe represents half of all patents in the US - those registered to foreign holders. Countries with more than 1000 patents registered in the US are indicated by name, with the point size of the representative text scaled according to the square root of the total number of US patents held. Were the number of domestically held US patents to be indicated according to this logic, the entire surface of the globe would be covered. Special thanks to John Burgoon, Monika Zhu, and Stephen Oh © 2006 Ingo Gunther


Patterns of Patents & Zones of Invention [WorldProcessor #286]
This globe plots the total amount of patents granted worldwide, beginning in 1883 with just under 50,000, hitting 650,000 in 1993 (near the North Pole), and (shifting the scale to the southern hemisphere) continuing to 2002 on a rapid climb towards 1 million. Geographic regions where countries offer environments conducive to fostering innovation are represented by topology. Additionally, nations where residents are granted an average of 500 or more US patents per year are called out in red by their respective averages in the years after 2000. © 2005 Ingo Gunther

Shape of Science
This rendering is of a prospective tangible sculpture of the Shape of Science, based on the research of Richard Klavans and Kevin Boyack, spatializing the quantified connectivities and relative flows of inquiry within the world of science. © 2006 Ingo Gunther w/ Stephen Oh

 

Illuminated Diagram Display

The Illuminated Diagram maps and installations were created by Kevin W. Boyack (scientometrics and data shaping), John Burgoon (geographic mapmaking), Peter Kennard (system design and programming), Richard Klavans (scientometrics and node layout), W. Bradford Paley (typography, graphics, and interaction design); data courtesy of Thomson ISI; images © 2006. W. Bradford Paley, all rights reserved.

The Illuminated Diagram displays come in two different versions (see below).

 

 

 

LCD Version (shown above)
Uses 2 LCDs with printed maps stuck onto screens.
[Low resolution clip (79.77 MB)] [High resolution clip (147.62 MB)]
[10 second low resolution clip (617 KB)]

Projection Version
Uses 2 projectors with printed maps mounted on the wall. The video clips below feature a demo with W. Bradford Paley at the New York Public Library exhibit (April 3 - August 30, 2006).
[Video (2.29 MB)] [YouTube]

 

Topic Map

The word "science" covers a huge diversity of topics: from mathematics and astronomy to medicine, even to certain approaches to the humanities. This map begins to show how distinct areas of study are defined and how they are related.

Seven hundred seventy-six nodes are distributed around a generally ring-like structure. They represent scientific topics, more properly called paradigms, and are essentially groups of recently published papers. Each node represents tens or thousands of papers; this map was created by scrutinizing more than 1.3 million of them.

The writers of scientific papers are careful to reveal all the work they build on, so we can think of each paper's author as a micro-librarian: gathering all the other papers relevant to his or her topic. In this map we put two papers in the same node if four authors gathered them into a later paper. Nodes are labeled with the unique terms that occur most often in the papers, provided those terms can be understood in a wider context. Thus you can read the actual language used by the scientists exploring each topic.

The curving links between nodes show how topics are related: the more strongly two topics are related, the darker that link is drawn. Links curve to make them easier to follow with the eye. We show 4,370 links here, leaving thousands of fainter ones undrawn.

The circular structure is no accident, nor is it arbitrarily imposed on the data; it comes from the structure of science itself. If you imagine that every link is a rubber band (stronger when it's darker), and every node has a small force field around it, pushing away nearby nodes, this dynamic balance of forces automatically creates the layout. Thus we can see that Physics (at approximately 1:00) relates through Astrophysics to Astronomy (around 12:30), but it also relates to Chemistry (more toward 2:00). And the jutting peninsula of Organic Chemistry at 3:00 has unexpectedly few connections to the thicket of Medicine, spread from 5:30 to 7:00. Instead, it connects to Medicine through Analytical Chemistry: the tool base of applied chemistry actually used in medicine, which studies techniques like Spectroscopy and Proteomics (the large node at the base of the peninsula).

Geographic Map

Here we have arranged the same papers on a more familiar map. Each tiny glyph on the map represents not cities, but a number of papers that have an author in that location. In the field of Information Visualization there is an expectation that if you show the same data in two different views you can get a better feel for it, much as an architect will look at both floor plan and elevations to understand a building. But how can we tell where in the world papers in one topic node were published? Or what topics are studied in a specific geographic location? We simply paint them to look the same in both views. The InfoVis technique called "brushing and linking" lets you do exactly that. Paint a location (by brushing your finger over an area on the lectern's touchscreen) and it will glow on the geographic map. Since the views are linked by the computer, it can paint topics studied in that area on the topic map: the brighter a topic glows, the more papers on that topic originated in your brushed area. Conversely, touching a topic node will tell you where in the world that topic is studied. We use a display technique called "Illuminated Diagrams" to add the flexibility of an interactive program to the incredibly high data density of a print.

This technique is generally useful when there is too much pertinent data to be displayed on a screen but the data is relatively stable. The computer can direct the eye to what's important by using projectors as smart spotlights, animating stories in the static data (such as the spread of an idea's influence), giving a radar-like "grand tour" of science, or highlighting query results (as when you touch the lectern) with an overlay of moving light.

 

Hands-On Science Maps for Kids


The Hands-on Science Maps for Kids were created by Fileve Palmer (painting), Julie Smith (data acquisition), Elisha Hardy and Katy Börner (graphic design).

We would like to thank Stephen Miles Uzzo (Director of Technology) and Michael Lane (Director of Exhibit Services) at the New York Hall of Science for manufacturing the physical maps.

These maps invite children to see, explore, and understand science from above. One map shows our world and the places where science gets done. The other shows major areas of science and their complex interrelationships. Both maps also appear in the Illuminated Diagram display, see above. Drawings by Fileve Palmer were added to make different continents as well as different areas of science more tangible. Children, and adults alike, are invited to help solve the "puzzle" by sliding major scientists, inventors, and inventions into their proper places. Start by selecting either of the two maps. Decide if you want to place famous people or major inventions first. Turn the map over when you are done and start again. Look for the many hints hidden in the drawings to find the perfect place for each puzzle piece. At the exhibit, pick-up one of the handouts and make your very own map of science. What science experiments

Download the Learning Objective for the exhibit.
Download the Clue Sheet for the Hands-on Science Maps for Kids.
View more information about the Hands-on Science Maps for Kids.

 

Exhibit Video

DVDThis DVD contains a guided tour of the Places & Spaces: Mapping Science exhibit when it was featured at the New York Public Library. It also contains images of all of the exhibit maps, additional elements featured as part of the exhibit, and information about each of the map makers.

More information about the exhibit video ยป