Mapping 1-Star Reviews of the Top 10 Most Visited American National Parks
Today’s mapping challenge was to build an interactive map and I decided to have some more fun with this post. My map is a little tongue-in-cheek, it is a Google Map that shows the top 10 most visited US National Parks and features 1 star reviews of each park. Each of the 10 parks is represented by a pin on the map and when a user clicks on the pin, a panel will display on the left side of the screen showing some of the funnier and more outlandish 1-star reviews I found for these parks on Google reviews. The inspiration for today’s project came, in part, from the podcast Beach Too Sandy, Water Too Wet, which features the hosts performing dramatic readings of one-star reviews. This is one of my all-time favorite podcasts and highly recommend trying it out if you haven’t listened to it.
Overall, I have found the process for making maps in the Google Maps platform intuitive and straightforward. Google Maps is free and requires minimal learning before you are up and running. I personally think that Google provides excellent free mapping services for the public and continues to make good contributions towards advancing the democratization of mapmaking while also demystifying the process. Geography and cartography are no longer restricted to the domain of technocrats and highly trained professionals, and for the most part, that is a good thing.
At the same time, there are some limitations to the Google Maps software, and it is important to recognize the valid concern that as more maps are created by people who are untrained in cartography, people making these maps may contribute, either accidentally or intentionally, to spreading cartographic misinformation. A great book that tackles this subject is How To Lie With Maps by Mark Monmonier. This book provides an excellent primer on how to spot “BS” in maps and gives excellent advice for avoiding some common pitfalls when designing a good map. I highly recommend it if you are just starting out in GIS or cartography, or just have a general interest in maps. It’s a fascinating book.
Even with these concerns noted, the fact that Google Maps allows anyone with an open internet connection to explore the world through its mapping services and access up to date (and time enabled) aerial and satellite imagery is a tremendous asset to the public at large and creates a kind of global digital commons, and that is a great public service. (of course, it also bears mentioning that Google Maps and other online mapping service providers remove sensitive military installations and other features at the requests of governments).
Approach
To start adding content to my map, I began by searching for the top ten most visited national parks in the US in the search bar and dropped pins over each park. I then populated the popup bubbles with amusing 1 star Google reviews I came across for each of the ten corresponding parks. Once I had my map ready, I changed the share settings to make it public. I hope you enjoy it!
As a reference, and this will be on the map, but the top ten most visited American National Parks in 2020 included:
1. Great Smoky Mountains National Park (12.1 million visitors)
2. Yellowstone National Park (3.8 million visitors)
3. Zion National Park (3.6 million visitors)
4. Rocky Mountain National Park (3.3 million visitors)
5. Grand Teton National Park (3.3 million visitors)
6. Grand Canyon National Park (2.9 million visitors)
7. Cuyahoga Valley National Park (2.8 million visitors)
8. Acadia National Park (2.7 million visitors)
9. Olympic National Park (2.5 million visitors)
10. Joshua Tree National Park (2.4 million visitors)
Source: National Park Service