Abstract
Abstract The authors of the review aim to understand and assess cartographic Heat Maps’ (HM) designs, tools, and applications. The paper consists of two parts. First describes HM in the context of neocartography and map design by tackling such issues as definition, input data, methods of density determination and generalization, colour schemes, legend construction, and base maps. The second part assesses the range of 17 tools used for creating HM. Tools are divided into non-GIS tools (visualization tools and programming libraries) and GIS applications (desktop and webGIS). GIS desktop software has been selected due to its popularity and wide application. Paper presents an expert assessment of this software with the use of a research questionnaire. The analysis made it possible to develop a division of tools based on their embedding in computer programs and applications and taking into account the types of visualization. It also made it possible to indicate tools that can be used by both professional GIS users (e.g. analysts, cartographers) and the general public, including teachers using HM to visualize geo data for geography lessons. The limitation of the review was the analysis from the expert’s point of view. It would be desirable to include novices perspectives in future studies due to the wide demand for visualization.
Highlights
The development of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software and its growing popularity among users outside the spatial information environment has contributed to the interest in new forms of data visualization that go beyond traditional types used in cartography and applied graphics
In order to select the software suitable for developing Heat Maps’ (HM), we reviewed popular Desktop GIS software in terms of functionality and capabilities for map development in accordance with cartography rules
The cartographic Heat Map is a graphical representation of geographic data density in the form of a raster map elaborated by applying kernel density estimation on point or linear input data
Summary
The development of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software and its growing popularity among users outside the spatial information environment has contributed to the interest in new forms of data visualization that go beyond traditional types used in cartography and applied graphics. Analysis of the literature shows that, in the geographical context, HM have been used in, for example, studies of spatial diversity of social problems (Borzuchowska, 2007; Silva et al, 2016), visualization of the routes of runners and cyclists (Nelson & MacEachren, n.d.; Pánek & Benediktsson, 2017; Sainio et al, 2015), criminal analysis (Chainey et al, 2008) and road accident analysis (Anderson, 2009; Plug et al, 2011) In these studies, HM were used to develop a quantitative (synthesizing) map relatively quickly based on qualitative data that at the nominal level only described the distribution of the phenomenon. The article consists of two parts: a review on HM as a type of cartographic presentation, and characteristics, assessment and evaluation of selected tools and applications that enable HM creation
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