In the TV drama "The West Wing," there were a couple of episodes in which White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry sets aside a day when the high-level staff must meet with "fringe" groups. In one episode, Press Secretary C.J. Cregg encounters representatives of "The Organization of Cartographers for Social Equality" who challenge her view of the world. Among other maps, they show her one with the southern hemisphere at the top. She insists that this is wrong. When they ask why, she says, "Because you're freaking me out!"

There is no reason, other than convention, for north to be at the top on maps. But, as C.J.'s reaction suggests, maps don't just provide information; they actually shape our view of reality. In fact, seeing a map that is different from what we expect can be shocking. This is why using different maps in your communications can be a great way to shake up prevailing ideas or illustrate important points. And they can also be a great way to get yourself in trouble – especially in multicultural contexts.

The biggest problems come from maps that show political boundaries. Countries are generally jealous of their sovereignty and making mistakes on boundaries can cause a severe backlash - both from the population of the country that is slighted and from their government.

Google Earth image of Korea with misplaced towns

Google Earth (Google's world-mapping program that creates 3D maps using satellite imagery and aerial photography) has been caught in some very embarrassing errors. This past January, Google Earth incurred the wrath of South Korea by mislabeling several locations in that country as belonging to North Korea. Earlier Google Earth had a similar problem with Chile when it assigned the town of Villa O'Higgins to Argentina – particularly problematic since the town is named for Chilean hero Bernardo O'Higgins, who helped lead the fight for independence from Spain.

In cases involving territorial disputes, there may be no way to make everyone happy. For instance, China and India have conflicts over rights to border territories that date back to a war in 1962 – including a dispute over a portion of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. Both insist that the disputed areas be labeled as belonging to them, regardless of which country actually controls them. China is especially sensitive and reacts strongly to what it views as mistakes on maps. Showing Taiwan as an independent state is one such "mistake." (Wikipedia contains a list of territorial disputes around the world.)

Place names can also create problems. For instance, South Korea – which suffered under Japanese occupation - also objects to Google Earth's use of the generally accepted name Sea of Japan for the body of water running between Korea and Japan. It insists that it be called the East Sea. In some Arab countries you will hear about the Arabian Gulf, rather than the Persian Gulf. In the UAE, the use of Arabian Gulf is required by law (perhaps one of the reasons that the US government normally refers to it simply as "the Gulf.")

Because of such problems, it is often best to stay away from detailed maps in communications intended for multicultural audiences. Outline maps may often serve for design purposes to stress, for example, the global or regional nature of a business. At least, be aware of any such possible issues before using maps in materials intended for audiences in specific countries or regions.

This time we looked at the problems of using maps, but there are also creative ways to use different kinds of maps to get your message across. We'll look at some of those in the next issue.