Mark Stephen Monmonier | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1943-02-02)February 2, 1943 (age 82) |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Pennsylvania State University Johns Hopkins University |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
| Awards | German Cartographic Society'sMercator Medal (2008) American Geographical Society'sOsborn Maitland Miller Medal (2001) Guggenheim Fellowship (1984) |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Syracuse University |
| Thesis | On the Use of Digitized Map Sampling and Measurement: An Example in Crop Ecology (September 1969) |
| Doctoral advisors | George F. Deasy Anthony Williams |
| Website | www |
Mark Stephen Monmonier[pronunciation?] (born February 2, 1943[1]) is a Distinguished Professor of Geography and the Environment at theMaxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs ofSyracuse University.[2][3] He specializes ingeography,geographic information systems,toponymy, and thehistory of cartography.[4][5]
Monmonier was born in Baltimore, Maryland to parents John Carroll Monmonier and Martha Monmonier.[1][2] His father worked for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and his mother worked as an elementary school teacher, teaching 5th grade.[1][2] His father's career enabled their family to travel via rail through the use of his employee pass, and Monmonier noted he was exposed to severalTransit maps and developed an early interest in rail transportation.[2] Monmonier attendedCalvert Hall College High School, and spent time at theEnoch Pratt Free Library where he attended lectures and was exposed to the Maryland Geological Survey reports, which contributed to an interest in geology and networks.[2][6]
Monmonier first attended Johns Hopkins University to pursue a bachelor's in engineering focusing on geophysical mechanics under a Maryland State Engineering Scholarship.[2] He ultimately changed majors due to changing interests, going on to earn two BAs in 1964 from Johns Hopkins University, one in geology and another in mathematics, under the Fredrick E. Blaser Scholarship.[1][2] After obtaining his bachelor's degrees, Monmonier started graduate school at theUniversity of Maryland, where he worked with professorsAzriel Rosenfeld and John Pfaltz.[2] Monmonier left the University of Maryland due to frustration with the department's regional geography class to join the graduate program atPennsylvania State University, which had offered him a three-year fellowship.[2] Monmonier earned an M.S. in geography in 1967, and Ph.D. in 1969, both from Pennsylvania State University.[1][5] Monmonier's dissertation was titledOn the Use of Digitized Map Sampling and Measurement: An Example in Crop Ecology, and focused on overlay analysis, building on his work withAzriel Rosenfeld and John Pfaltz.[2]
As an undergraduate, Monmonier worked as a GS-2 file clerk over the summers for theSocial Security Administration in Woodlawn, Maryland.[2] He worked part-time in the Johns Hopkins University library reshelving books. As a graduate student at the University of Maryland, Monmonier was denied a position as a teaching assistant due to a speech impediment and worked as a graduate assistant at the school's Computer Science Center. As a graduate student at Pennsylvania State University, Monmonier was funded for three years as a National Defense Education Act Fellow. Once the NDEA fellowship ended, Monmonir was funded at Pennsylvania State University as a teaching assistant where he ran lab sections for Physical Geography, and worked withPeirce F. Lewis. When Lewis went on Sabbatical, Monmonier covered hisPhysiography of the United States course as the primary instructor.[2]
After getting his Ph.D., Monmonier began his academic career asAssistant professor of Geography at theUniversity of Rhode Island in 1969, where he was hired to teach cartography andquantitative methods.[1][2][5] An interdepartmental dispute that may have resulted in Monmonier being forced to be the department chair caused him to seek employment elsewhere.[2]
After a year at the University of Rhode Island, Monmonier started atState University of New York at Albany (SUNY) in 1970 as an assistant professor of geography.[1][5][7] Due to bureaucratic issues and frustration with pay cuts and parking, Monmonier left SUNY in 1973.[1][2][5]
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After learning from geographerJustin Friberg that Syracuse University was having difficulty hiring a cartography professor, and frustrated with SUNY, Monmonier interviewed and was accepted a position asAssociate Professor of geography in theMaxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 1973.[2][5] Monmonier was promoted to fullProfessor in 1978, andDistinguished Professor in 1998.[5] Monmonier continued work at Syracuse University until his retirement in May 2021.[8] He is currently DistinguishedProfessor Emeritus of Geography and the Environment at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University.[8]
As an undergraduate Monmonier was a member of two honorary fraternities,Pi Tau Sigma andTau Beta Pi.[2][1] He served in numerous roles in theAmerican Association of Geographers, and on panels advising theNational Research Council and theEnvironmental Protection Agency.[2][5] He worked as a consultant on several projects, including as a GS-13 Research Geographer for theUnited States Geological Survey, as a consultant on legal cases, and as part of a committee to help theNational Geographic Society select a new map projection for world maps.[2] He was the vice president of the American Cartographic Association between 1982 and 1983, and President between 1983 and 1984.[1]
Monmonier's research has had multiple focuses. His early research was focused on methods of using computers to manage geographic data, and the application of these methods to problems ingeomorphology,health, andagriculture.[2] His work also focused on topics such as the history of geography and cartography, and the social implications of maps.[9] Monmonier published several books aimed at the general population on the topics of cartography and geography, as well as several more traditional textbooks.[10] Monmonier's emphasis on publishing books is noted by geographer Russell S. Kirby as standing out from contemporary academics.[11] He also wrote extensively on the use of maps for surveillance and as analytical and persuasive tools in politics, journalism, environmental science, and public administration.[4]
Monmonier has authored over 20 books, and his popular written works show a combination of serious study and a sense of humor.[11] This is apparent in his most popular bookHow to Lie with Maps, which has been praised for explaining complex technical concepts in cartography in a way that is engaging and understandable to non-professionals.[12] Despite being digestable to non-professionals,How to lie with maps is described as one of the essential texts for cartographers, and "the closest thing to a religious text we have in cartography."[13][14] Others of his books are aimed at more advanced audiences, or designed to serve as traditional textbooks. For example, the bookComputer-Assisted Cartography: Principles and Prospects was the first commercial textbook on using computers in the cartographic process.[2][15] In another text published by Monmonier titledTechnological Transition in Cartography, he provided analysis of the technological changes that have occurred in cartography from the 19th to the late 20th century.[16] This book was target at cartography students, but was not designed to serve as a stand-alone comprehensive cartography textbook.[16]John P. Snyder,Alan MacEachren, andMichael Goodchild all recommended the book for professional cartographers and cartography students.[17][18][19]Most of his work is published by theUniversity of Chicago Press.[20] Kirby stated in a review that Monmonier's books have "shaped the way we think about maps, their uses, and their abuses, as well as their meanings in the world of business, international politics, and our everyday life."[11]
Monmonier describes himself as an "academic cartographer" in his memoir.[2] His professional work has involved teaching cartography classes and consulting as an expert cartographer with various organizations. His research and publications reflect this specialization, with work focusing oncartographic generalization,thematic map, and approaches tospatial analysis. He has also written extensively about thehistory of cartography.[2][6]
Monmonier's early career was dominated by studying and developing techniques in computer cartography, and he was one of the early pioneers of research oncomputer cartography and thematic mapping.[21] His textbookComputer-assisted Cartography: Principles and Prospects was the first textbook on computer cartography, and his 1965 publicationThe Production of Shaded Maps on the Digital Computer inThe Professional Geographer was published six years afterWaldo Toblers 1959 publicationAutomation and Cartography, viewed as the first academic publication on using computers in the cartographic process.[2][22][23] Several of his publications relate tochoropleth maps, including class breaks, intervals, and color choice as well as recommendations to avoid ink spread.[2]
Monmonier's research focuses on the twentieth-century history ofcartography, in particular, map-related inventions and patents.David Woodward andBrian Harley approached Monmonier as early as the 1970s to discuss his participation in theHistory of Cartography series.[9] This ultimately led to him editing the 6th edition of the series,History of Cartography: Cartography in the Twentieth Century.[9] He has also written about the history of patents related to cartography, and how maps have been used in media.[3][24][25] By combining patent records with other information, such as census records, Monmonier published biographic information about several map inventors, notably John Byron Plato whom Monmonier published a book about.[3][11][26]
The"Monmonier Algorithm", an important research tool for geographic studies inlinguistics andgenetics, is based on an article titledMaximum-Difference Barriers: An Alternative Numerical Regionalization Method.[27][28] Monmonier's original article sought to find a "Maximum-difference boundary" by assessing how similar or dissimilar counties were with a common border. He demonstrated his algorithm with data from two study areas in the United States, each looking at a different dataset.[2] A 2004 article titledGeographic patterns of (genetic, morphologic, linguistic) variation: how barriers can be detected by using Monmonier's algorithm published in the journalHuman Biology built upon this method in a software package, and coined the term "Monmonier Algorithm" to describe it.[29] The 2004Human Biology journal used Monmonier's 1973 algorithm to identify genetic barriers and visualize the spatial patterns of them, noting this method works where correlation analyses fails.[29] This has caused Monmonier's 1973 paper to be his most cited peer-reviewed publication.[2]
Monmonier has received several honors throughout his career. These include but are not limited to:
Monmonier married Margaret Janet (Kollner) Monmonier in 1965 after meeting her in 1964, and remained married until her death in November 9, 2022.[36] Mark and Margaret adopted their daughter, Jo Kerry, in 1968.[36] Monmonier is a Catholic, and had his first communion in 1949.[1][2]
