How to Use Maps to Influence People

About this Talk

Creating maps is often seen as both an art and a science, a curious blend that can make it hard to spot the fact from fiction. Borders can be shifted, regions highlighted, and areas left off all at the whim of the cartographer who may have their own agenda or is on the payroll of someone looking to prove a point. Maps are therefore a powerful tool for influencing people when they must form an opinion or act on a particular issue. This talk will reveal how maps came to be so influential in everything from fighting disease and highlighting poverty, to movements for women’s suffrage and civil rights. With an emphasis on urban inequality, the talk will also reflect on contemporary examples of how data-driven maps are holding policy makers to account and inspiring positive change.

About the Speaker

James Cheshire is Professor of Geographic Information and Cartography in the UCL Department of Geography and the inaugural director of the UCL Social Data Institute. A world-leading map maker and geographer, his cartographic creations have been enjoyed by millions. He is an elected fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and has been recognised with awards from the likes of the Royal Geographical Society, the Royal Scottish Geographical Society and the British Cartographic Society.

James’ books have achieved global success, being translated into tens of languages and receiving widespread critical acclaim. His co-authored book Atlas of the Invisible won the American Association of Geographer’s Globe Award for a book that conveys most powerfully the nature and importance of geography to the non-academic world, and more recently he contributed to the maps for the Atlas of Finance which won awards for professional and scholarly excellence from the Association of American Publishers. In October 2025 his fifth book, The Library of Lost Maps, was published by Bloomsbury.