Maps on Public Display for Tourists in Ayutthaya, Thailand

This article about publicly displayed maps in Ayutthaya has five sections of text, six photographs, and a list of printed references for further reading. It opens with two one-paragraph sections to explain how the research project of which this article is part came about and to provide a brief about the historical importance of Ayutthaya and why it might attract tourists. Then comes a lengthier section which discusses five maps-each of a different type and shown in a photograph-in regard to their content, symbolization, and illustrations of sites, and this in turn is followed by an analytical section which comments mainly about the usefulness of the illustrative material for advertising or explaining selected sites, their incompleteness in regard to content, and-by using a temple plan which represents the layout of the Buddhist universe as an example-how there can be more to an image than what initially meets the eye. The concluding comment which wraps up the text notes that although maps on public display are not a necessity, they do provide a public service which can be of help to tourists and thereby suggest that organizations such as the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the City of Ayutthaya are keen to make tourism a reasonably pleasant experience.