While financial institutions also commit property crimes (red hashmarks) through subprime mortgages, these are rarely included in property crime maps that typically only highlight property and vehicle theft, burglary and arson. Patty Heyda...

Throughout time, maps have been useful tools for those in power to stake their claim over territories and markets. Politicians start nationwide redistricting battles to ensure partisan control, weakening the power of voters. The Trump administration’s geopolitical posturing over Greenland builds on a long history of imperialism aided by maps. And in ancient Rome, the Peutinger map depicted vast ideas of empire by placing Rome at the center of the world.

But maps can also tell hidden stories about politics and power that help people reclaim access to their own spaces and futures. These include counter maps – that is, maps that rework existing assumptions – to expand on the dominant narratives about a place to include viewpoints that were previously excluded.

Originally published on theconversation.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.