Incidentally I am currently mid-way through 'The Mapmakers' (http://www.amazon.com/Mapmakers-Revised-John-Noble-Wilford/d...), love maps, collect maps, donate maps to UT Austin's great online Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection (http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/), and generally find geography fascinating. Martin Dodge's http://cybergeography.org/ is also a great resource.

In terms of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) theory, humans have the greatest 'bandwidth' in perceiving spatially (visually). This means that as we grow to deal with ever larger quantities of information, in ever more complex systems, we will find ourselves more often utilizing spatial reasoning ... whether we like it or not. The history of mapmaking and maps in general is a fascinating area of human endeavour that can inform us moving forward.