Maps has always and will play a crucially role in helping us tell where we are going. Without any types of maps we would be lost.  The first map I saw from what I remember was a map of Jamaica. In class we are taught how to read the map and to be able to identify countries within the map. We are also taught how to draw the map. When I came to America I was taught the same thing however, remembering United States map is hard because of how big the nation is and how many countries are on the map. There is not a lot of benefits when it comes to paper maps especially, when you are used to digital maps which tells you where you are going. The only benefits of a paper map it’s more durable meaning it won’t run out of power and more portable it’s easier and lighter to transport.

Paper maps represent the world in a visual way by giving us an idea about the world by showing sizes and shape of countries, location of features and distance between places. I feel that maps can be bias because there is no such thing as a perfect map. Maps where created by mankind, therefore all maps distort reality and convey bias whether deliberately or not. What people did before maps existed was they created some sort of image just to remember where they went and were they were going. They were able to identify places through drawings that has been passed down from generations. But, before maps existed people were lost more than usual.

Maps helps shape our notion of space and distance through a map scale which indicates the relationship between the distance on the map and the actual distances on Earth.

In the Digital Harlem maps this map can add to our understanding of this particular historical period by giving us an idea how blacks were segregated into Harlem from 1915 to 1930. The maps also indicated were was at risk for getting fire, which was, was the black person lived. The map also indicates were then number of churches, sports, nightlife and the number arrested. The website where the map is gives us a brief history of the event that takes place in Harlem. In the book Graphs Maps Trees by Franco Moretti, he closely argues that, “The quantitative approach to literature can take several different forms-from computational stylistics to thematic databases, book history and more.” He means that we can describe any events in any forms as long is makes sense and it has enough arguments or evidence to back up its claims. The graph of Harlem was the right way to present these arguments because the visual representation was easy to understand. Plus it gives us an understanding of what people are looking at by giving us a written historical data of what the map is representing. Also, the maps summarizes what is happening in Harlem which, gives people a quick synopses.