Maps and Decisions: Part II, Ambiguity
Arlinghaus, Sandra Lach; Arlinghaus, William Charles
2006-06-21
Citation
Arlinghaus, Sandra L. and Arlinghaus, William C. "Maps and Decisions: Part II, Ambiguity." Solstice: An Electronic Journal of Geography and Mathematics, Volume XVII, Number 1. Ann Arbor: Institute of Mathematical Geography, 2006. Persistent URL (URI): http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/58314
Abstract
General Introduction Tournament level duplicate bridge is a card game that is a sport. As is the case with sports, generally, there is an overseeing body: in basketball it is the National Basketball Association (NBA); in bridge it is the American Contract Bridge League for North America (ACBL) and the World Bridge Federation (WBF) for all nations in the world. The ACBL is a non-profit organization based in Memphis, Tennessee. The ACBL has about 150,000 members in the U.S.A., Canada, and Mexico. The WBF has more than 10 million members. The ACBL owns two buildings in Memphis where they house a large staff to maintain records, databases, publications, and a host of other operations associated with this business in the entertainment/sports sector of the business world. The second author of this work is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the ACBL. This Board, as do equivalent boards of other corporations, sets policy for the organization, makes decisions that affect the entire population of ACBL members, and oversees the work of the Chief Executive Officer. There are 25 Board members, each representing one geographical "district" of the ACBL. Thus, the members of the Board of Directors are also referred to, even though their charge is to represent the interests of the entire ACBL, "District Directors." Ambiguity The second author is the District Director for District 12, including all of the lower peninsula of Michigan, part of the upper peninsula, and northwestern Ohio. The map in Figure 1 shows the geographic extent of each of the districts with respect to the conterminous USA and suggests boundaries in Canada and Mexico (to see a full characterization, visit the ACBL website). In addition, Figure 1 shows the count of members for each district as of March 2005, according to ACBL databases. One reason for an individual district director to care about maps of all districts is individual district norms can be evaluated against national ones. A national view may help to put local issues in perspective. Decisions made at the national level affect individual districts. The idea is a straightforward one employed in many arenas: map the data at one scale in order to make cross-scale evaluations of various sorts. As long as the data and maps work well together, the process works well. When that mesh is not there, however, sometimes extra insight for decision-making comes from the mere process of mapping the data as the case below will show.Publisher
Institute of Mathematical Geography
ISSN
1059-5325
Series/Report no.
Solstice, Volume XVII, Number 1
Subjects
Mapping Bridge American Contract Bridge League Data
Description
Interdisciplinary mix of mathematics, geography, and tournament bridge. After unzipping, open MapsandDecisionsII.html in your browser window to launch the article.
Types
Article Image Map
Metadata
Show full item recordRemediation of Harmful Language
The University of Michigan Library aims to describe library materials in a way that respects the people and communities who create, use, and are represented in our collections. Report harmful or offensive language in catalog records, finding aids, or elsewhere in our collections anonymously through our metadata feedback form. More information at Remediation of Harmful Language.
Accessibility
If you are unable to use this file in its current format, please select the Contact Us link and we can modify it to make it more accessible to you.