When is information meaningful?

I researched many old maps to find out the history of where we live, and to Harley’s points about influence… the French created our maps and their place names either were dubbed for the natives, or the NAs eventually took on the names. If the French hadn’t mapped it out, I wonder what all of the places around here would be called. My question is, do we still do this today through GIS? Is our information today via GIS any better really (tho arguably more exact and scientific) than the info provided by long-ago mappers? Is it really not the information itself but rather the use of the information that is meaningful? To the mention again of Marshall McLuhan, can we further think of this meaning in the contexts of community but even more so in the ways we as humans have developed our linear thinking based on centuries of mapping?