Plotting cases on a map can reveal a spatial pattern no one had noticed.

Evidence

Of the twelve cases, eight were located in east Woburn, and six of those were clustered in the Pine Street neighborhood, where perhaps two hundred families lived. Young thought the distribution looked highly unusual, especially when plotted on the map. He told Anne he’d call Dr. Truman the next morning and make an appointment to show him the map. He asked Anne if she wanted to come with him, but she told the minister he should go alone. — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action, 149

Categorization

• CANDY: A minister and a housewife with a street map of Woburn, six cases in two hundred families — the low-tech origin of a landmark lawsuit.
• XREF: connects to: Maps can construct territory rather than merely represent it — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on…, 661; Enlightenment cartography projected invented monsters onto unknown regions before real contact — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 369; Any measurable data can be rendered as sound to enable rapid pattern exploration (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Maps can construct territory rather than merely represent it #complicates (0.95) — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 661
• Getting lost in unsettled terrain reveals scenery no planned route would show #expands (0.95) — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 171
• Learning one place’s name can unravel a whole unnoticed topography #expands (0.90)
• Brains evolved to detect patterns, including patterns that are not there. #expands (0.90) — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice, 142
• Any measurable data can be rendered as sound to enable rapid pattern exploration #complicates (0.85)
• Delay, distance, and intensity loss can be plotted on one common graph #expands (0.85) — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 1756
• Enlightenment cartography projected invented monsters onto unknown regions before real contact #complicates (0.75) — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 369