[1] One such kind of intensive exploration of place was popularised by author William Least Heat-Moon with his book PrairyErth: A Deep Map.
A deep map work can take the form of engaged documentary writing of literary quality.
[3][4] Such a deep map goes beyond simple landscape/history-based topographical writing to include and interweave autobiography, archeology, stories, memories, folklore, traces, reportage, weather, interviews, natural history, science, and intuition.
In its best form, the resulting work arrives at a subtle, multi-layered and "deep" map of a small area of the earth.
They can help support subjective descriptions, and narratives[5] and as a storytelling approach they can help make complex and large-scale technical information legible and meaningful for local communities.