A Blank Map vs. A Blank Page There are crucial differences between a blank map and a blank page. Unlike a blank page, a blank map: • is designed by a cartographer • is a frame • represents a space or "territory" • has orientation • is readable • has accuracy • suggests scale (though may sacrifice exactitude in favor of visual utility) • is informative (unavailability of data does not equal nonexistence of data) • is something unexpected There is nothing so perfect as a blank map. A blank map represents: • simplicity • all that can still be discovered • infinite creative possibilities • a clean slate • a future of one's own making • the difference between emptiness and nothingness • freedom from error • freedom from distortion • freedom from bias • organization • openness • changeability • purity • unity • an unformed universe waiting to be shaped A blank sheet of paper. The explorer John Wesley Powell's blank map of the desolate and bone-dry Grand Canyon, 1869.