Movie Mapping: Great uses of maps/cartography/GIS/illustrations of spatial relationships on the screen.

January 14, 2010 9:14 AM

Movie Mapping: Great uses of maps/cartography/GIS/illustrations of spatial relationships on the screen (or other non-interactive, motion media)?

Imagine you're watching a documentary film about a medium/large U.S. city that you've heard of but never been to. What are some examples (from film, TV news, nature documentaries, etc.) of ways you'd like on-screen mapping imagery to clue you in to the spatial relationships that connect the issues addressed? Maps will be used to illustrate proximity, and will sometimes employ data overlay (point, line, and polygon).

Not AGAINST ultra-sleek, high-tech, bleeding-edge spy-thriller-style graphics... but am prioritizing "easy-to-understand" and "appropriate" above all other considerations. For bonus points: the film has a mid-century-modernist theme; would love to see examples of map imagery that takes cues from or pays homage to "high modernism".

(A lifetime ago I worked as a GIS tech; so don't be afraid to speak the lingo. Many thanks for your help, and please feel free to ask any questions that may help clarify.)

posted by cadastral to media & arts (4 answers total)

Portraits rates a St Helene is a nifty information-design short film on the strange subject of the exhumation of Napoleon. It has a lot of interesting ideas.
posted by Erasmouse at 9:36 AM on January 14, 2010

The classic Indiana Jones red-line-indicating-travel schtick is a good one - down streets, around corners, over time as needed.
posted by GJSchaller at 9:53 AM on January 14, 2010

Don't know if this is the kind of thing you're looking for, but thinking of film/mapping/mid-century modernism, the first thing that comes to mind is Charles and Ray Eames's Powers of Ten (1977, based on a 1957 book).
posted by neroli at 10:11 AM on January 14, 2010

You may want to look at Maps in Movies and TV.
posted by mcwetboy at 11:47 AM on January 14, 2010