Automation and evaluation of graduated dot maps

Dot mapping is a traditional method for visualizing quantitative data, but current automated dot mapping techniques are limited. The most common automated method places dots pseudo-randomly within enumeration areas, which can result in overlapping dots and very dense dot clusters for areas with large values. These issues affect users’ ability to estimate values. Graduated dot maps use dots with different sizes that represent different values. With graduated dot maps the number of dots on a map is smaller, reducing the likelihood of overlapping dots. This research introduces an automated method of generating graduated dot maps that arranges dots with blue-noise patterns to avoid overlap and uses clustering algorithms to replace densely packed dots with those of larger sizes. A user study comparing graduated dot maps, pseudo-random dot maps, blue-noise dot maps and proportional circle maps with almost 300 participants was conducted. Results indicate that map users can more accurately extract values from graduated dot maps than from the other map types. This is likely due to the smaller number of dots per enumeration area in graduated dot maps. Map users also appear to prefer graduated dot maps over other map types.     

Going beyond location: Thematic maps in the early elementary grades

Abstract

Cartographic research has long suggested that preschool and early elementary children possess advanced mapping behaviors in terms of interpreting, making, and using locational and wayfinding maps. To improve instruction in geographic concepts, it is necessary to see if these advanced mapping behaviors apply to thematic or special purpose maps as well, as an understanding of these types of maps is integral to the five fundamental themes of geography. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the thematic mapping abilities of second-grade students. Students viewed maps at the neighborhood, city, and national scales displaying different types of symbolization and presented in a random order. Results indicated that the map tasks were appropriate for this age level, and a statistical test of reaction times did not identify a best symbol type or scale, as all were appropriate for this age level. Responses to discussion questions indicated the students also have the ability to describe spatial patterns. The interpretation of quantitative information on maps is within the ability level of second grade students, and materials currently used in second grade should be revised to include these maps.     

The heritage and cultural values of ancient Chinese maps

Ancient Chinese cartography dates back to the Western Jin Dynasty in the third century. Cartography was initiated during this period by Pei Xiu, a minister and cartographic expert, who suggested six principles of cartography. Pei Xiu, who is known as the father of Chinese cartography, oversaw the completion of the “Yu Gong Regional Maps”, along with 18 articles and the “Terrain Fangzhang Map” (AD 224–271). This led to a number of subsequent cartographic initiatives including the “Wooden Fangzhang Map” (an administrative map) which was completed by Xie Zhuang, a minister during the Southern Dynasties (AD 502–557), “Haineihuayi Tu” (Map of China and its neighbouring countries) (AD 730–805), drawn by Jia Dan, a cartographer of the Tang Dynasty, and “Shouling Tu” (an administrative map, AD 1031–1095), drawn by Shen Kuo, a scientist during the Northern Song Dynasty. Throughout the 16th century, ancient Chinese cartography developed continuously and cumulatively, and formed the specific characteristics of China ancient cartography. Although Western latitude- based and longitude-based mapping techniques introduced to China in AD 1460, the theories and methods of Chinese and Western mapping systems co-existed for over 400 years. The cultural heritage of Chinese cartography can be seen in many famous ancient Chinese maps, including astronomical figures and atlases (world, Chinese, regional, military, water conservancy, historical, and educational maps), charts, and maps of scenic spots. These have hitherto been kept in well-known archives and institutions across the world. They form an important part of the global cultural heritage of ancient maps and cartography. Given their high cultural value, these maps remain an important point of study. This paper provides a preliminary discussion on the rarity, application, and the historical, scientific, and artistic value of ancient Chinese maps.     

URBAN CARTOGRAPHY AND THE MAPPING OF CHICAGO*

ABSTRACT. City maps are among the oldest and most popular forms of cartographic representation, yet urban cartography has received only limited scholarly attention. A review of the early history of city mapping suggests a progression of representational forms from profile to perspective to plan, a progression that parallels urban growth. The history of urban mapping reflects a desire to comprehend the geography of the city for reasons of curiosity and practical necessity, but the map also may become an icon that engenders a sense of pride and belonging, if not allegiance and control. An examination of Chicago maps indicates that, in addition to evolution in representational styles, the subjects of maps change to serve demands of the moment. City maps not only constitute a rich historical archive but also are dynamic agents in urban development. The urban landscape is shaped by cartographic vision.     

Map Use by Adults with Visual Impairments

In this paper we summarize five experiments that were designed to investigate how tactile maps contribute to the cognitive maps of people with visual impairments. In two experiments we demonstrated that tactile maps can contribute to peoples' ability to learn a route through an unfamiliar area. From the results of two further studies, we argue that compared to people with sight, people with visual impairments have greater difficulty encoding information from a map. We considered this directly in a fifth experiment by investigating how people with visual impairments search and learn a map. We found that they used less efficient strategies than people with sight. We conclude that tactile maps are an important source of geographical information when people need to learn about new environments, but we also point out that to benefit most from tactile maps people need to encode the map information as effectively as possible. As people with visual impairments do not always use the most appropriate encoding strategies we suggest that tactile map users might benefit from greater experience and training in map encoding strategies.     

Map Use by Adults with Visual Impairments

In this paper we summarize five experiments that were designed to investigate how tactile maps contribute to the cognitive maps of people with visual impairments. In two experiments we demonstrated that tactile maps can contribute to peoples' ability to learn a route through an unfamiliar area. From the results of two further studies, we argue that compared to people with sight, people with visual impairments have greater difficulty encoding information from a map. We considered this directly in a fifth experiment by investigating how people with visual impairments search and learn a map. We found that they used less efficient strategies than people with sight. We conclude that tactile maps are an important source of geographical information when people need to learn about new environments, but we also point out that to benefit most from tactile maps people need to encode the map information as effectively as possible. As people with visual impairments do not always use the most appropriate encoding strategies we suggest that tactile map users might benefit from greater experience and training in map encoding strategies.     

Interpreting maps through the eyes of expert and novice users

The experiments described in this article combine response time measurements and eye movement data to gain insight into the users' cognitive processes while working with dynamic and interactive maps. Experts and novices participated in a user study with a ‘between user’ design. Twenty screen maps were presented in a random order to each participant, on which he had to execute a visual search. The combined information of the button actions and eye tracker reveals that both user groups showed a similar pattern in the time intervals needed to locate the subsequent names. From this pattern, information about the users' cognitive load could be derived: use of working memory, learning effect and so on. Moreover, the response times also showed that experts were significantly faster in finding the names in the map image. This is further explained by the eye movement metrics: experts had significantly shorter fixations and more fixations per second meaning that they could interpret a larger part of the map in the same amount of time. As a consequence, they could locate objects in the map image more efficiently and thus faster.     

Identifying strengths and limitations of pan-European forest cover maps through spatial comparison

Detailed and harmonized information on spatial forest distribution is an essential input for forest-related environmental assessments, in particular, for biomass and growing stock modeling. In the last years, several mapping approaches have been developed in order to provide such information for Europe in a harmonized way. Each of these maps exhibits particular properties and varies in accuracy. Yet, they are often used in parallel for different modeling purposes. A detailed spatial comparison seemed necessary in order to provide information on the advantages and limitations of each of these forest cover maps in order to facilitate their selection for modeling purposes.

This article confronts the high-resolution forest cover map recently developed by the Joint Research Centre for the year 2000 (FMAP2000) with previously existing maps for the same time period: the CORINE Land Cover 2000 (CLC2000) and the Calibrated European Forest Map 1996 (CEFM1996). The spatial comparison of these three maps was carried out based on forest proportion maps of 1 km derived from the original maps. To characterize differences according to biogeographic regions, two criteria were used: detail of thematic content within each map and local spatial agreement.

Concerning thematic content, CLC2000 displayed a surfeit of non-forested areas at the cost of low forest proportions, while FMAP2000 showed a more balanced distribution likely to preserve more detail in forest spatial pattern. Good spatial agreement was found for CLC2000 and FMAP2000 within about 70% of the study area, while only 50% agreement was found when compared with CEFM1996. The largest spatial differences between all maps were found in the Alpine and Mediterranean regions. Reasons for these might be different input data and classification techniques and, in particular, the calibration of CEFM1996 to reported national statistics.     

A dimension-independent extrusion algorithm using generalised maps

One solution to the integration of additional characteristics, for example, time and scale, into GIS data sets is to model them as extra geometric dimensions perpendicular to the spatial ones, creating a higher-dimensional model. While this approach has been previously described and advocated, it is scarcely used in practice because of a lack of high-level construction algorithms and accompanying implementations. We present in this paper a dimension-independent extrusion algorithm permitting us to construct from any (n–1)-dimensional linear cell complex represented as a generalised map, an n-dimensional one by assigning to each (n–1)-cell one or more intervals where it exists along the nth dimension. We have implemented the algorithm in C++11 using CGAL, made the source code publicly available and tested it in experiments using real-world 2D GIS data sets which were extruded to construct up to 5D models.     

Hierarchical self-organizing maps for clustering spatiotemporal data

Spatial sciences are confronted with increasing amounts of high-dimensional data. These data commonly exhibit spatial and temporal dimensions. To explore, extract, and generalize inherent patterns in large spatiotemporal data sets, clustering algorithms are indispensable. These clustering algorithms must account for the distinct special properties of space and time to outline meaningful clusters in such data sets. Therefore, this research develops a hierarchical method based on self-organizing maps. The hierarchical architecture permits independent modeling of spatial and temporal dependence. To exemplify the utility of the method, this research uses an artificial data set and a socio-economic data set of the Ostregion, Austria, from the years 1961 to 2001. The results for the artificial data set demonstrate that the proposed method produces meaningful clusters that cannot be achieved when disregarding differences in spatial and temporal dependence. The results for the socio-economic data set show that the proposed method is an effective and powerful tool for analyzing spatiotemporal patterns in a regional context.     

Maps on Acid: Cartographically Constructing the Acid Rain Environmental Issue, 1972–1980

This article traces how maps aided the conceptualization and ensuing debate over one of the first inherently spatial and multiscale environmental issues, acid rain. Through interviews with early acid rain ecologists and a critical cartographic analysis of printed maps, we show that mapping was central for constructing this environmental issue. Rather than static representations of a scientific reality, acid rain maps were interconnected and relational processes that operated within political and economic discourses. Accordingly, we suggest that increased critical engagement and participation with the process of mapping can productively aid dialog on many issues, including other current multiscale environmental issues, such as climate change.     

Integrating general principles into mixed-integer programming to optimize schematic network maps

ABSTRACT

Schematic maps are popular for the representation of transport networks. Many automated methods have been developed to generate such maps. In these methods, optimization techniques work with various sets of constraints. Most of these constraints govern geometric properties of individual features. A few constraints address relationships among features, but none explicitly deal with the main structure of an entire network. We believe that preservation of main structure is the most important and preservation of relative relations is helpful. This is because human perception follows a global-to-local process. These constraints have recently been formed into four general principles, with two for global structure and two for relativity of features. This study develops an automated method by integrating these principles into the mixed-integer programming (MIP) framework. Experimental evaluations have been conducted with two sets of real-world transit networks. In comparison to the existing method, the proposed method has smaller fractal dimensions, better computational performance and higher scores in terms of clarity, recognition of major lines, visual simplicity and satisfaction. Therefore, it is concluded that the proposed method can generate schematic maps with improved clarity and aesthetics. The idea in this study is also helpful for the design of other visual representations.     

A Review of “Putting “America” on the Map: The Story of the Most Important Graphic Document in the History of the United States”

Leinbach, Thomas R. and Brunn, Stanley D. (eds.) Worlds of E-Commerce: Economic, Geographical, and Social Dimensions

Calthorpe, Peter and Fulton, William The Regional City: Planning for the End of Sprawl

Furuseth, Owen J. and Lapping, Mark B. (eds.) Contested Countryside: The Rural-Urban Fringe in North America

Sharp, Joanne P. Condensing the Cold War: Reader's Digest and American Identity

Gleeson, Brendan and Low, Nicholas (eds.) Governing for the Environment: Global Problems, Ethics, and Democracy

Isenberg, Andrew The Destruction of the Bison: An Environmental History, 1750 – 1920

Albert, Donald P., Gesler, Wilbert M. and Levergood, Barbara (eds.) Spatial Analysis, GIS, and Remote Sensing Applications in the Health Sciences

Wright, Dawn J. and Bartlett, Darius J. (eds.) Marine and Coastal Geographical Information Systems

Jankowski, Piotr and Nyerges, Timothy Geographic Information Systems for Group Decision Making: Towards a Participatory Geographic Information Science

Gerber, Rod and Chuan, Goh Kim (eds.) Fieldwork in Geography: Reflections, Perspectives, and Actions

Craige, Betty Jean Eugene Odom: Ecosystem Ecologist and Environmentalist

Lowenthal, David George Perkins Marsh: Prophet of Conservation

Schroeder, Richard Shady Practices: Agroforestry and Gender Practices in The Gambia

Lovell, W. George A Beauty that Hurts: Life and Death in Guatemala

Lichtenberger, Elisabeth Austria: Society and Regions     

认知地图的空间句法研究

将意识层面的空间意象外化为可被度量及分析的对象,一直是行为学、地理学、旅游学等学科关注的重要课题。本文主要从构建空间意象的结构而非意义入手,对该领域研究中的两种重要方法,即认知地图法和空间句法进行了比较,意图找到两种方法在空间结构性认知方面的相关性。基于句法空间结构的表达模型,分别就长沙太平街历史街区集成度及其认知地图的调研结果进行了比对,通过真实地图句法集成度与579 份认知地图意象要素出现频率等指标的比较,发现集成度指标与意象出现频率等指标存在较好的相关性。在对认知地图样本进行轴线化转换并比照真实地图的轴线索引后,对真实地图句法集成度与579 份认知地图平均句法集成度进行比较,发现认知地图与真实地图的句法分析在结果上仍有较好的相关性,且节点、标志物两要素的出现频次等指标也与所在街道的集成度存在较为明显的对应性。结论说明空间构形对人们结构性意象的形成有着重要的影响力,认知地图的句法分析对揭示人们空间知识的形成机制具有一定的参考价值,两种方法有相互补充的可能性。     

AUTOMATED GEOGRAPHY

Analytical methods and computer technology for spatial analysis have advanced rapidly. Geographers can now consider a general form of automated geography which integrates all of the new techniques into an analytical whole. Computer cartography, computer graphics, digital remote sensing, geographic information systems, spatial statistics, and quantitative spatial modeling can be combined eclectically with traditional manual techniques to address geographic problems that are too large and complex for manual treatment alone. Small systems are widely available to facilitate small, less complex problems. Automation can assist in all forms of geography—scientific and humanistic, nomothetic and idiographic, basic and applied—but its adoption is likely to be highest among applied scientists. The immediate challenge is to prepare for a major shift toward computer instruction and automated geography in the late 1980s. Long term effects will include improved contributions by geographers to national and international policy analyses, a greater emphasis on team-work and sharing, stronger ties with other disciplines, and a generally more viable discipline.     

Force-directed layout of origin-destination flow maps

This paper introduces a force-directed layout method for creating origin-destination flow maps. Design principles derived from manual cartography and automated graph drawing to increase readability of flow maps and graph layouts are taken into account. The origin-destination flow maps produced with our algorithm show flows with quadratic Bézier curves that reduce flow-on-flow and flow-on-node overlaps, and avoid sharp or irregular bends in flow lines. A survey of expert cartographers found that flow maps created with our automated method are similar in quality to manually produced flow maps.     

A CO-ORDINATE SYSTEM FOR STUDYING INTERACTIONS IN THE PRIMARY CHRISTALLER LATTICE∗

The co-ordinate system (x, y) for the triangular Christaller lattice is generalized by the addition of a third, dependent, z-axis. The extended system yields the lattice distances between lattice points, whereas the original system yields only the plane Euclidean distance.     

城市社区微观空间意象研究——基于南京居民250份手绘草图的比较

选取南京封闭社区与开放社区相互邻近的4个对比组共8个居住社区,对其居民的社会属性、生活习惯和社区空间感知特征进行了问卷调查,并从250份手绘草图中提取和统计相关数据,据此分析城市居民社区空间意象地图的主要类型与构成要素.研究发现,居民的社会属性是影响人们社区空间意象的决定性因素,性别、年龄、收入和居住时间的差异导致居民...