{"id":1789841,"date":"2020-12-22T06:57:12","date_gmt":"2020-12-22T11:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1789841"},"modified":"2020-12-22T06:57:12","modified_gmt":"2020-12-22T11:57:12","slug":"the-mythology-of-john-snows-cholera-map","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/12\/the-mythology-of-john-snows-cholera-map\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mythology of John Snow\u2019s Cholera Map"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"1789842\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/12\/the-mythology-of-john-snows-cholera-map\/snow-cholera-banner\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/snow-cholera-banner.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1520,855\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"snow-cholera-banner\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/snow-cholera-banner-300x169.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/snow-cholera-banner-1024x576.jpg\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-1789842\" src=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/snow-cholera-banner-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"John Snow's cholera map (detail)\" width=\"760\" height=\"428\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/snow-cholera-banner-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/snow-cholera-banner-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/snow-cholera-banner-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/snow-cholera-banner-940x529.jpg 940w, https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/snow-cholera-banner-680x383.jpg 680w, https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/snow-cholera-banner-711x400.jpg 711w, https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/snow-cholera-banner.jpg 1520w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 760px) 100vw, 760px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/something-in-the-water-the-mythology-of-snows-map-of-cholera\/\">Kenneth Field explores (and dismantles) the mythology around John Snow<\/a>, the discovery that cholera was spread by water, the role of the famous cholera map and whether it revolutionized disease mapping. Depending on what you know about the subject\u2014if, for example, you got what you know from <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/Na9iO_HEe14\">an episode of <em>Map Men<\/em><\/a>\u2014what you know is more myth than history: the map came <em>after<\/em> the Broad Street outbreak, it was not by any means the first example of disease mapping, and John Snow wasn\u2019t the map\u2019s cartographer. Field:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The mythology surrounding his work, the 1854 epidemic, and specifically the role of the map are a fine story, but much of it is retold according to the version many seem happy to believe rather than what really happened. But the real story is just as interesting. There are plenty of excellent longer form discussions of the story in which you may be interested. In particular, Kari McLeod\u2019s excellent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S0277953699003457\">article<\/a> that goes into detail about the various myths, and an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/220144184_Essential_Illustrative_or_Just_Propaganda_Rethinking_John_Snow's_Broad_Street_Map\">article<\/a> by Tom Koch and Kenneth Denike also goes into detail about the true order of events.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kenneth Field explores (and dismantles) the mythology around John Snow, the discovery that cholera was spread by water, the role of the famous cholera map and whether it revolutionized disease mapping. Depending on what you&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/12\/the-mythology-of-john-snows-cholera-map\/\">More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[155],"tags":[455,228,1499,166],"class_list":["post-1789841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-health","tag-cholera","tag-disease","tag-john-snow","tag-london","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1602,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/04\/the-cdc-cholera-maps-and-the-2011-haiti-epidemic\/","url_meta":{"origin":1789841,"position":0},"title":"The CDC, Cholera Maps and the 2011 Haiti Epidemic","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"19 April 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"A map on a display at the CDC\u2019s in-house museum hides in plain sight\u00a0what U.S. government authorities are reluctant to admit: the origin of the 2011 cholera epidemic in Haiti (a U.N. peacekeeping base housing a batallion from Nepal). All the more amazing by its juxtaposition with John Snow's famous\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Health&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1788446,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/02\/history-of-epidemic-mapping\/","url_meta":{"origin":1789841,"position":1},"title":"History of Epidemic Mapping","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"20 February 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"CityLab\u2019s Marie Patino looks at some of the maps tracking the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus and from there pivots to some of the ways we\u2019ve tracked disease outbreaks and epidemics in the past. Examples can be found as far back as the 17th century\u2014long before John Snow\u2019s cholera map,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Health&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4881,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/09\/predicting-future-malaria-outbreaks-from-satellite-data\/","url_meta":{"origin":1789841,"position":2},"title":"Predicting Future Malaria Outbreaks from Satellite Data","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"14 September 2017","format":"video","excerpt":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=c6g2ILL--Rw Data from NASA's earth-observing satellites is being used to predict future malaria outbreaks\u00a0in the Amazon rainforests of Peru. To be sure, as the above video shows, this is really about taking geospatial and remote sensing data from several different sources and correlating them to build a predictive model: it's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Health&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/c6g2ILL--Rw\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1791495,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/07\/an-osher-map-library-exhibition-inspired-by-cancelled-travel-in-the-covid-era\/","url_meta":{"origin":1789841,"position":3},"title":"An Osher Map Library Exhibition Inspired by Cancelled Travel in the COVID Era","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"27 July 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"The latest exhibition at the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education is deliberately on the nose: Where Will We Go from Here? Travel in the Age of COVID-19 is the Osher\u2019s first crowdsourced exhibition, based in part on more than 140 responses to an online survey about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antique Maps&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antique Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/antique-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/cholera-karte-1024x855.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/cholera-karte-1024x855.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/cholera-karte-1024x855.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/cholera-karte-1024x855.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1834120,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2024\/09\/two-map-books-from-the-bodleian\/","url_meta":{"origin":1789841,"position":4},"title":"Two Map Books from the Bodleian","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"18 September 2024","format":"link","excerpt":"Some coverage of two map books published earlier this year by Bodleian Library. First, Atlas Obscura interviews Kris Butler, whose Drink Maps in Victorian Britain looks at how the temperance movement used maps to fight excessive alcohol consumption. They were, apparently, directly inspired by John Snow\u2019s cholera map. From the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antique Maps&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antique Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/antique-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/bodleian-books-2024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/bodleian-books-2024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/bodleian-books-2024.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/bodleian-books-2024.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/bodleian-books-2024.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1788917,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/06\/pandemic-mapping-and-posterity\/","url_meta":{"origin":1789841,"position":5},"title":"Pandemic Mapping and Posterity","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"18 June 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"The flurry of COVID-19 maps that have emerged in the first half of this year will be something that future cartographers and librarians will look back on, both in terms of historical records that need preserving, which is the subject of this CityLab interview with Library of Congress map librarian\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cartography&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Cartography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/cartography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1789841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1789841"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1789841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1789844,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1789841\/revisions\/1789844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1789841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1789841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1789841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}