Cartographic Concepts Research Articles

Thinking. Speaking. Producing. Maps: linking cartographic concepts and cartography-specific language use

Maps are spatial representations of environments and are thus inherently geographical. As such, attaining map skills necessitates fostering students’ cartographic- and language-related abilities when using maps, which represent a characteristic role in geography education. However, to our knowledge, there is no empirical research on the cartographic- and language-related abilities required when using maps in geography education classrooms. To gain more profound insights into the linkages between cartographic concept knowledge and language skills regarding maps, a qualitative study among students is conducted. Upper secondary students drew a sketch map using a digital pen of a familiar route in the school area, while simultaneously being recorded thinking aloud. Students’ representations of the cartographic concept in their sketch maps and their cartography-specific/-unspecific language use in think-aloud protocols were analyzed qualitatively. Despite the high heterogeneity within the sample, results show linkages between the cartographic concept representation and cartography-specific language use among the participants. In addition, students who use cartography-specific language at a medium or high level paraphrased less and represented cartographic concepts more appropriately.

Digital distortions and interpretive choices: A cartographic perspective on encoding regulation

Rules as Code (RaC), which encompasses the conversion of legal and regulatory rules into computer code, is gaining traction internationally. This article analyses ‘digital distortions’ in RaC, which refer to disconnects between regulation and code that arise from interpretive choices in the encoding process. We contend that Boaventura de Sousa Santos’ ‘symbolic cartography of law’ provides valuable concepts for understanding digital distortions in encoding regulation. Specifically, we argue that the cartographic concepts of scale, projection, symbolisation and orientation highlight distortions that can arise from choices involving the documentation to code, logics to follow, languages to use and coded outputs to present. We demonstrate how these distortions arose in our attempt to convert the ePayments Code, an Australian voluntary code of conduct for consumer electronic payment transactions, into machine-executable code. The article concludes by underscoring the importance of greater awareness of interpretive coding choices and their implications for diverse users of digitised regulation.

A Cartographic Perspective on the Planetary Geologic Mapping Investigation of Ceres

The NASA Dawn spacecraft visited asteroid 4 Vesta between 2011 and 2012 and dwarf planet 1 Ceres between 2015 and 2018 to investigate their surfaces through optical and hyperspectral imaging and their composition through gamma-ray and neutron spectroscopy. For the global mapping investigation of both proto-planets, geologic mappers employed Geographic Information System (GIS) software to map 15 quadrangles using optical and hyperspectral data and to produce views of the geologic evolution through individual maps and research papers. While geologic mapping was the core motivation of the mapping investigation, the project never aimed to produce homogeneous and consistent map representations. The chosen mapping approach and its implementation led to a number of inconsistencies regarding cartographic representation, including differential generalization through varying mapping scales, topologic inconsistencies, lack of semantic integrity, and scale consistency, and ultimately, to the management of reusable research data. Ongoing data acquisition during the mapping phase created additional challenges for the homogenization of mapping results and a potential derivation of a global map. This contribution reviews cartographic and data perspectives on the mapping investigation of Ceres and highlights (a) data sources, (b) the cartographic concept, (c) mapping conduct, and (d) dissemination as well as research-data management arrangements. It furthermore discusses decisions and experiences made during mapping and finishes with a set of recommendations from the viewpoint of the cartographic sciences.

A Stereometry of Non-Memory: Mapping a Lost Past in W.G. Sebald’s Austerlitz

This article presents a consideration of W.G. Sebald’s 2001 work Austerlitz—his final novel—according to a variety of spatial and cartographic concepts, including ‘fluid cartography,’ and the notion of countermapping. Particularly, the article will explore the eponymous protagonist’s sense that ‘time [does] not exist at all, only various spaces interlocking according to the rules of a higher form of stereometry,’ and will demonstrate how this subjective experience of time is a consequence of the absence of memory experienced by the protagonist in relation to his origins as a Kindertransport survivor of the Holocaust. Similarly, the article will explore how spaces—particularly buildings—and material artefacts come to act as an (insufficient) surrogate for memory within the text. All of the above will be framed according to a reading of the fundamental spatiality of Sebald’s works, and particularly their map-like quality.

Interactive Web Maps: Usability Heuristics Proposal

Abstract. With the evolution of technology, maps have changed how they are produced and consumed. In the 1990s, along with the internet uprise, printed and digital maps began to be shared and viewed on the web, which provided more significant user interaction with the map and geographic data. However, the ease of creating interactive maps using computational resources sometimes neglects cartographic concepts, impairing the interpretation of geographic data and the quality of the interaction between user and system. This work presents ten specific Usability Heuristics for Interactive Web Maps to identify and elaborate a set of criteria that help create and evaluate the quality of interactive web maps. For this, we used a methodology to develop domain-specific Usability Heuristics, composed of eight steps. This paper presents the ten heuristics elaborated along with the attributes of the name, ID, category and definition, and an additional checklist. This new set encompasses both the concepts of cartography and usability, contributing to better user interaction with the system and geographic data.

Challenges in the teaching of Cartography during the COVID-19 pandemic: use of Minecraft in the remote classroom setting

Abstract. The multi-tasking and technological phenomena of modern society form the basis for so-called active methodology options, which engage students through several different teaching strategies. Among these strategies is game-based learning, very appealing to the younger generation of students and with great didactic potential in the teaching of Cartography and Geography. With the increase in versions of games available on different platforms, their lower cost and the introduction of devices such as mobile telephones, smartphones, tablet computers and desk top computers into the school environment, it has been possible to introduce a sandbox-type game in the didactic approach to the teaching of Geography, which includes cartography content. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the potential of a methodology based on use of the digital game Minecraft for the learning of cartographic concepts related to geographical themes in primary education during the period of social isolation, in which schools remained closed in Brazil, due to the advancing COVID-19 pandemic. This didactic concept was applied to 178 students at a private school in the city of Ribeirão Preto/SP [São Paulo] in the context of remote learning, between the months of October and November 2020. The outcomes were assessed based on the students’ comprehension of the different viewpoints and the function and importance of scale in representations they created using Minecraft. The study demonstrated that, by “constructing” their representations, students could become the protagonists of their own learning process, connecting theoretical concepts to everyday practice and, thus, giving meaning to what they were being taught.

Not Just Navigation: Thinking About the Movements of Maps in the Mobility and Humanities Field

ABSTRACT At a time characterized by the pervasive presence of – and enthusiasm for – maps in everyday life, interest in the cartographic humanities is growing among map scholars who approach cartography through a cultural lens. A mobility and humanities approach helps us move beyond the factual consideration of maps as mobile navigational devices that are used to move from one location to another. By considering mobility as a dense, elastic concept and adopting a humanistic perspective, I delineate a set of map mobilities emerging from the existing literature. A movement as process section focuses on post-representational, practice-based and historical approaches to mapping practices; a movement as elusiveness section focuses on material, more-than-human, surficial appreciations of cartographic objects; a movement as reimagination section focuses on theoretical, literary and art-based approaches to cartographic concepts. This focus on map mobilities illuminates the multiple theoretical and methodological possibilities of a renewed humanistic perspective in map studies.

Usual and unusual maps: a playful introduction to the basic concepts of cartography in high school

This work aims to show the feasibility of introducing basic cartographic concepts in the first year of high school, with simple resources, contributing to the process of knowledge construction by the young person himself by stimulating his curiosity. For this, a theoretical study was made on the theme presented here, then activities were given in the classroom and, later, the diagnosis and debate of the results obtained were carried out. Cartographic literacy, demonstrated in these activities, predisposes the student to work his competence in this form of language, qualifying him/her to make multiple readings of the world through the most disparate cartographic representations possible. Thus, after the didactic sequence used in mediation with the students, in addition to encouraging the reading of maps, the subjects also had the opportunity to create their own fantasy maps. The work was based on David Ausubel's Theory of Significant Learning and the parameters present also in Lev Vygotsky's Historical-Cultural Theory and Henri Wallon's Theory of Development were also used.

The Possibility of Developing Geographic and Cartographic Education using Minecraft

Abstract. The use of technology is closer and closer to the school, providing new perspectives to the geographic education, which includes the learning of cartography and learning through cartography as being important resources for the geographic space’ analysis. As an example of digital technologies application, this work presents a reflection on the use of virtual environments for the learning diagnosis of geographic and cartographic concepts. Digital games based on construction draw children’s and young people’s attention, and among them, Minecraft is one of the most popular. This is a game that allows its user to explore a virtual world made of cubic blocks, which imitate vegetation, rock formations, water, among other elements, in different game modes. In creative mode, it is possible to create a personal world without barriers or challenges. On its turn, in survival mode, the player is inserted in a pre-created world, and to advance and create new environments it is necessary to overcome challenges. In the years of 2017, 2018 and 2019, about 500 students between 10 and 13 years old were invited to build, in creative mode, watersheds presented with different characteristics, in order to figure out their main elements and their relation to human development. During the sequence of activities, students were divided into groups up to five and they had to build the watershed randomly designated to them by lot, including the specific characteristics requested by the teacher. After the construction, elements such as point of view, proportion, and coordinates were used to present the final projects. In addition to the great participation in the activity, the work inside the game provided the application of fundamental concepts for the reading and interpretation of maps, besides those related to water resources.From that experience, the research unfolded in proposing the same activity to a group of senior high school students. Four students between 16 and 18 years old were challenged to build, also in creative mode, an environment that reproduced a watershed. This experience used the Minecraft Windows 10 (Beta – 1.16.0.57) version, and in about four hours the environment with a watershed was developed. Due to the age range and game experience, it was remarkable the students’ concern with the project’s details, especially with the relation of proportion and seeking solutions for the stages of construction. In this way, it was possible to assess that the participants used their knowledge of scale, orientation, and geographic coordinates to create the environment, demonstrating the game’s capacity not only to provide the development of abilities, as registered in the experience with the younger students, but also to diagnose the abilities developed along the school years, in the older students’ case.It is important to highlight that to use and seize this teaching methodology it is necessary planning and knowledge of its uses’ possibilities, hence the importance of disseminating the results of the research. Among them, the interactivity and immersion features of the projects presented by the students motivate and help them to acquire knowledge, and also stimulate reading and analysis skills and peer interaction, developing the interest in themes that can, apparently, be little attractive in other types of media.

Геокартографическое мышление в современной науке

The purpose of the study is to show how the features of geocartographic way of thinking are manifested in the meta-theory of knowledge based on mathematical formalisms. General cartographic concepts and regularities are considered in the view of metatheoretic analysis using cognitive procedures of fiber bundle from differential geometry. On levels of metainformation generalization, the geocartographic metatheoretic approach to the study of reality is higher than the system-theoretical one. It regulates the type of equations, models, and methods of each intertheory expressed in its own system terms. There is a balance between the state of any system and its geographical environment; therefore the observed phenomena are only explained theoretically in a metatheoretic projection on the corresponding system-thematic layer of the knowledge map. Metatheoretic research enables passing from the systematization of already known patterns to the formation of new knowledge through the scientific stratification of reality. General methods of metatheoretic analysis are mathematically distinguished

Towards a new face for Planetary Maps: Design and web-based Implementation of Planetary Basemaps

Abstract. Modern planetary maps are designed either as stand-alone products or as part of a map series and are commonly distributed in the Portable Document Format (pdf). With the advent of web-based map technology and its standardization, experimental steps towards digital-only and dynamic map display for planetary cartography have been made. Commonly, maps design and concepts were limited to the arrangement (stacking) of various data layers while any deeper cartographic concepts or questions about usability seemed to be of secondary importance. We here present a new cartographic approach of creating a web basemap for Mars by refining and integrating commonly available data and by building on a cartographic concept. The underlying concepts we elaborated upon are, however, valid for any other planetary body and are applicable in the same or at least very similar way to any other solar system body. With this approach we want to demonstrate that for the creation of web maps in the planetary sciences the cartographic process does not stop at the collection and literal stacking of data, but that dynamic planetary maps can have a considerably higher communication value through concepts and design. As much as web maps are dynamic, so are concepts and new developments, and we tried to implement a web basemap reflecting the common understanding and picture that laymen as well as professionals might have about Mars.

A Brief Retrospection on Hungarian School Atlases

The first part of this article is dedicated to the history of Hungarian school atlases to 1914. The publication of atlases for schools is dated to 1800, when professor Ézsáiás Budai created his ‘New School Atlas for elementary pupils’. For almost 90 years the school atlases were mostly translations and adaptations of foreign (e.g. German) atlases. In 1890, a talented cartographer, Manó Kogutowicz founded the Hungarian Geographical Institute, which produced school atlases for the different types of schools in Hungary. The professional quality of these school atlases was recognized by prizes won in international exhibitions. Kogutowicz laid the foundations of the current Hungarian school cartography: three of his school atlases are presented in more detail in the second part of this article, to give examples of how the pupils were introduced to the basic cartographic concepts as well as how different innovative solutions were used on the maps.

Shannon Mattern: Perspectives on Place—In, For, and With Libraries and Archives

Can library designs positively impact its surrounding community of users? In what ways do maps and cartographic concepts intersect with graphic design, various forms of art, and digital media? What...

Mapping Victorian Adventure Fiction: Silences, Doublings, and the Ur-Map in <em>Treasure Island</em> and <em>King Solomon's Mines</em>

While there has been much critical interest in the relationship between visual and verbal forms in the Victorian period, there has been no real attempt to develop ways of exploring and interpreting the relationship between maps and texts. This paper begins to address such a lack by theorizing the dynamic between map and text for the map in adventure fiction. Two iconic maps (those for Treasure Island and King Solomon’s Mines ) are analyzed in an interdisciplinary way by drawing upon the discipline of cartography, particularly critical cartography. Three cartographic concepts are explored in relation to the literary examples: the accuracy of the map; the concept of cartographic silence ; and the authenticity of the map.

The Image Map: from Broad Practical Use towards a Cartographic Concept

The Image Map: from Broad Practical Use towards a Cartographic Concept

Autocorrelation-Based Regioclassification – a self-calibrating classification approach for choropleth maps explicitly considering spatial autocorrelation

The definition of classes for choropleth maps is commonly based on nonspatial attribute values, ignoring the spatially autocorrelated nature of almost all geographical data. This ‘blindness’ toward spatial configuration during the classification process leads to relatively complex and fragmented spatial patterns that confuse visual perception and impair the subsequent cognitive processes involved in map interpretation. This article presents a new approach to cartographic classification of univariate, quantitative polygonal data. The proposed method adapts to the degree of spatial autocorrelation in data by utilizing the Moran's I scatter plot in combination with the Fisher–Jenks algorithm. When data are spatially autocorrelated, the resulting maps are visually less complex than those derived using equivalent nonspatial classification approaches. However, the resulting classes might overlap in the value domain. The cartographic concept that we present therefore combines the advantages of traditional classification with those of our proposed method: it allows the visual assignment of individual polygons to mutually exclusive value ranges, while still preserving visual clarity of patterns.

Teaching Mapping for Digital Natives: New Pedagogical Ideas for Undergraduate Cartography Education

The current generation of US students engaging with cartography has always had some form of access to computing technologies. Further, this generation has always known a world with networked computer capabilities – the Internet and World Wide Web. Their experience of cartography is largely through fleeting representations shown on a variety of display screens, thereby encountering information differently than most of their instructors. Teaching cartography to these “digital natives” consequently challenges teachers to engage increasing levels of experience and knowledge of technology while assuring fundamental understanding of cartographic concepts and analysis techniques. Although GIS is used in a vast range of fields, we believe many students are discouraged from programs and courses oriented towards educating cartographic specialists. However, general interest in mapping has never been as significant a part of American culture as it is today. In spite of accessible modes of digital mapping now widely available, introducing cartographic fundamentals retains great significance for undergraduate cartography education. In this paper we present a new pedagogical model for undergraduate cartography education that introduces students finding curiousity in mapping, but lacking desire to become cartographic specialists, to mapping. This model enables undergraduate students to learn fundamentals and begin to reflect critically on the concepts and techniques of modern cartography. Our example stems from a class that systematically addresses barriers to learning and mapping through active-learning based approaches in an interactive classroom. The active-learning approach involves significant engagements with the potentials and challenges of modern cartography in the information age by embracing inquiry-based pedagogical methods and learning with and about mapping.

Trajectories of the ‘Dead Heart’: Performing the Poetics of (Australian) Space

In this paper Rachel Fensham returns to the writings of Gaston Bachelard in order to examine the poetics of space from a non-European perspective. Spatial metaphors, such as the ‘dead heart’ that might evoke phenomenological and psychic dimensions of space in Australia, also register in historical and geographical imaginaries. However, postcolonial theories of space disturb visual metaphors and cartographic concepts in the mises en scène of theatrical performance. Here, Fensham analyzes two recent performances that radically reimagine the poetics of (Australian) space through the movement trajectories of walking and falling. Rachel Fensham is a Professor of Dance and Theatre Studies at the University of Surrey. Her book with Denise Varney, The Dolls' Revolution: Australian Theatre and Cultural Imagination (Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2005), examines the influence of women playwrights on mainstream Australian theatre, and she is currently undertaking research on transnationalism and choreographic practice.

Enhancing the experience of 3D virtual worlds with a cartographic generalization approach

In this work we propose a new approach for fast visualization and exploration of virtual worlds based on the use of cartographic concepts and techniques. Versions of cartographic maps with different levels of details can be created by using a set of operations named cartographic generalization. Cartographic generalization employs twelve operators and domain-specific knowledge, being the contribution of this work their transposition to 3D virtual worlds. The architecture of a system for 3D generalization is proposed and the system is implemented. Differently from traditional cartographic processes, we use artificial intelligence for both selecting the key objects and applying the operators. As a case study, we present the simplification of the historical quarter of Recife (Brazil).

An innovative cartographic concept – The Geodynamic Map of the Mediterranean

An innovative cartographic concept – The Geodynamic Map of the Mediterranean