World Patterns of Geographic Literacy Based on Sketch Map Quality

This paper discusses world patterns of geographic literacy and illiteracy based on the quality of sketch maps of the world drawn by university students in first-year geography classes. The study, sponsored by the International Geographical Union and funded by the National Geographic Society, contains 3,568 sketch maps of the world collected from 75 sites in 52 countries. For the purposes of this paper, geographic literacy is equated with the number of nations and continents included on the sketch maps. The individual map scores are aggregated to determine the average number of items per map for each site and nation. Our set of maps provides a baseline of world variations in geographic literacy just prior to the end of the Cold War. The sketch map techniques can be used to monitor changes in geographic literacy.     

Mineral Potential Modelling for the Greater Nahanni Ecosystem Using GIS Based Analytical Methods

Mineral potential within the Greater Nahanni Ecosystem (GNE) was modelled in a Geographic Information System (GIS) for four different deposit types: (1) SEDEX (stratiform shale-hosted sedimentary exhalative Zn–Pb–Ag), (2) ‘Carbonate-Fault’ (carbonate-hosted zinc–lead–silver associated with major faults), (3) ‘Intrusion-Related’ (includes skarn, rare metals and gemstones) and (4) Carlin-Type gold as lode and/or derived placer deposits. This mineral potential modelling study integrates data collected during the Nahanni Mineral and Energy Resource Assessment (MERA) undertaken from 2003 to 2007. The results have contributed to the process of determining the geographic boundaries of the proposed expansion of the Nahanni National Park Reserve. Four mineral potential maps were produced (one for each deposit type) using a knowledge-driven approach. A weighting scheme based on integrated mineral deposit and regional geological knowledge was derived for the various evidence maps for each deposit model using expert opinion. The four potential maps were then combined into a final potential map using a maximum operator. Plots showing the efficiency of the models (mineral potential maps) for predicting the known occurrences of the four deposit types show that partial data sets provide reasonable predictions of the remaining known mineral prospects, occurrences and deposits. Hydrocarbon potential from Nahanni MERA 1 was added to the final potential map to ensure that both mineral and energy potential data were incorporated into the park configuration modelling.     

Where Are the Great Plains? A Cartographic Analysis

Geographic regions all have some degree of uncertainty, though this is seldom represented on their maps. Uncertainty of the Great Plains boundary is shown here by comparing 50 previously published maps of the region. These maps were found in a variety of sources, from classic 1930s geographic works to current regional studies on the Internet. By examining this diverse collection, a distinction can be seen between those maps using primarily physical criteria to define the region and those using cultural characteristics, or a combination of these two characteristics. This distinction is supported by trends in boundary shape, size, and even the map's date of publication. The Great Plains is shown as a complex region, subject to the interpretations of individual cartographers, and can be better understood by considering all points of view rather than any single boundary line.     

Where Are the Great Plains? A Cartographic Analysis

Geographic regions all have some degree of uncertainty, though this is seldom represented on their maps. Uncertainty of the Great Plains boundary is shown here by comparing 50 previously published maps of the region. These maps were found in a variety of sources, from classic 1930s geographic works to current regional studies on the Internet. By examining this diverse collection, a distinction can be seen between those maps using primarily physical criteria to define the region and those using cultural characteristics, or a combination of these two characteristics. This distinction is supported by trends in boundary shape, size, and even the map's date of publication. The Great Plains is shown as a complex region, subject to the interpretations of individual cartographers, and can be better understood by considering all points of view rather than any single boundary line.     

虚拟地理环境中尺度适宜性问题的探讨

本文沿着地理学语言的演化过程,讨论了地理学中尺度概念的演变;针对虚拟地理环境的框架结构,依据尺度概念的维度、类别和组成因素分析了四组尺度适宜性问题,并讨论了在虚拟地理环境搭建和应用过程中各种尺度适宜性之间的关系。以香港区域气象过程模拟为例,应用多尺度地形数据和模型,简要分析了在空间维上,测量尺度类别中组成因素（分辨率） 层次的尺度适宜性。该案例不只表明尺度适宜性对动态地理过程问题求解的重要影响,同时表明对尺度适宜性的讨论有助于其认知与分解,丰富虚拟地理环境的理论与方法。     

Conflation and aggregation of spatial data improve predictive models for species with limited habitats: A case of the threatened yellow-billed cuckoo in Arizona,USA

Riparian vegetation provides important wildlife habitat in the southwestern United States, but limited distributions and spatial complexity often leads to inaccurate representation in maps used to guide conservation. We test the use of data conflation and aggregation on multiple vegetation/land-cover maps to improve the accuracy of habitat models for the threatened western yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus occidentalis). We used species observations (n = 479) from a state-wide survey to develop habitat models from 1) three vegetation/land-cover maps produced at different geographic scales ranging from state to national, and 2) new aggregate maps defined by the spatial agreement of cover types, which were defined as high (agreement = all data sets), moderate (agreement ≥ 2), and low (no agreement required). Model accuracies, predicted habitat locations, and total area of predicted habitat varied considerably, illustrating the effects of input data quality on habitat predictions and resulting potential impacts on conservation planning. Habitat models based on aggregated and conflated data were more accurate and had higher model sensitivity than original vegetation/land-cover, but this accuracy came at the cost of reduced geographic extent of predicted habitat. Using the highest performing models, we assessed cuckoo habitat preference and distribution in Arizona and found that major watersheds containing high-probably habitat are fragmented by a wide swath of low-probability habitat. Focus on riparian restoration in these areas could provide more breeding habitat for the threatened cuckoo, offset potential future habitat losses in adjacent watershed, and increase regional connectivity for other threatened vertebrates that also use riparian corridors.     

Spatial Sampling Strategies for Mapping a Volcanic Ground Water Plume in Sierra Valey,California

Accurately mapping a region’s ground water quality depends upon the spatial sampling strategies employed, including where and how often field data are collected. This study compares the relative values of three field sampling strategies for mapping a known migrating plume of volcanic ground water in Sierra Valley, California. The first strategy sampled wells once each year during 1957, 1972, and 1980 (n=63, 45, and 57, respectively) and portrayed spatial–temporal changes in ground water quality more clearly on maps than did two alternative sampling strategies. One of these alternatives, Strategy 2, sampled one well per township per year during 1957, 1972, and 1980 (n=11) and did not detect the migrating plume, despite being a recommended strategy. The other alternative, Strategy 3, frequently sampled in time a small, fixed group of indicator wells (n=13) every four years for the same period, again producing maps with little correlation to the original pattern detected by Strategy 1.     

Automatic alignment of contemporary vector data and georeferenced historical maps using reinforcement learning

ABSTRACT

With large amounts of digital map archives becoming available, automatically extracting information from scanned historical maps is needed for many domains that require long-term historical geographic data. Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) are powerful techniques that can be used for extracting locations of geographic features from scanned maps if sufficient representative training data are available. Existing spatial data can provide the approximate locations of corresponding geographic features in historical maps and thus be useful to annotate training data automatically. However, the feature representations, publication date, production scales, and spatial reference systems of contemporary vector data are typically very different from those of historical maps. Hence, such auxiliary data cannot be directly used for annotation of the precise locations of the features of interest in the scanned historical maps. This research introduces an automatic vector-to-raster alignment algorithm based on reinforcement learning to annotate precise locations of geographic features on scanned maps. This paper models the alignment problem using the reinforcement learning framework, which enables informed, efficient searches for matching features without pre-processing steps, such as extracting specific feature signatures (e.g. road intersections). The experimental results show that our algorithm can be applied to various features (roads, water lines, and railroads) and achieve high accuracy.     

The Educational Value of Geographical Exhibitions

Abstract

All maps lie, but some do so in especially interesting ways. Examples of errors or distortions can be found on maps appearing in magazines, newspapers, telephone directories, brochures, and even in geography textbooks. Special biases are often revealed in hand-drawn maps, or on written directions (virtual maps). Students can develop a critical eye by looking for, and collecting, maps that clearly, or cleverly, tell lies.     

Groundwater vulnerability mapping: A GIS and fuzzy rule based integrated tool

Contamination of groundwater has become a major concern in recent years. Since testing of water quality of all domestic and irrigation wells within large watersheds is not economically feasible, one frequently used monitoring strategy is to develop contamination potential maps of groundwater, and then prioritize those wells located in the potentially highly contaminated areas for testing of contaminants. However, generation of contamination potential maps based on groundwater sensitivity and vulnerability is not an easy task due inherent uncertainty. Therefore, the overall goal of this research is to improve the methodology for the generation of contamination potential maps by using detailed landuse/pesticide and soil structure information in conjunction with selected parameters from the DRASTIC model. The specific objectives of this study are (i) to incorporate GIS, GPS, remote sensing and the fuzzy rule-based model to generate groundwater sensitivity maps, and (ii) compare the results of our new methodologies with the modified DRASTIC Index (DI) and field water quality data. In this study, three different models were developed (viz. DI_fuzz, VI_fuzz and VI_{fuzz_ped}) and were compared to the DI. Once the preliminary fuzzy logic-based (DI_fuzz) was generated using selected parameters from DI, the methodology was further refined through VI_fuzz and VI_{fuzz_ped} models that incorporated landuse/pesticide application and soil structure information, respectively. This study was conducted in Woodruff County of the Mississippi Delta region of Arkansas. Water quality data for 55 wells were used to evaluate the contamination potential maps. The sensitivity map generated by VI_{fuzz_ped} with soil structure showed significantly better coincidence results when compared with the field data.     

Assessing the application and value of participatory mapping for community bushfire preparation

The increased ease for individuals to create, share and map geographic information combined with the need for timely, relevant and diverse information has resulted in a new disaster management context. Volunteered geographic information (VGI), or geographic information voluntarily created by private citizens enabled through technologies like social media and web-based mapping, has changed the ways people create and use information for crisis events. Research has focussed on disaster response while largely ignoring prevention and preparedness. Preparing for disasters can reduce negative impacts on life and property, but despite strategies to educate communities, preparation remains low. This study assesses the application and value of VGI in bushfire risk reduction through a participatory mapping approach. It examines VGI as a social practice and not simply a data source by considering the user experience of contributing VGI and the potential for these activities to increase community connectedness for building disaster resilience. Participatory mapping workshops were held in bushfire-risk communities in Tasmania. Workshop activities included a paper-mapping exercise and web-based digital mapping. Survey results from 31 participants at three workshops indicated the process of mapping and contributing local information for bushfire preparation with other community members can contribute to increased social connectedness, understanding of local bushfire risk, and engagement in risk reduction. Local knowledge exchange was seen as valuable, but the social dimension appeared even more engaging than the specific information shared. Participants reported collaborative maps as effective for collating and sharing community bushfire information with a preference for digital mapping. Some limitations of online sharing of information were also reported by participants, however, including potential issues of privacy, data quality and source trustworthiness. Further work is needed to extrapolate findings from the study sample to the broader population.     

中国地理研究特点与态势——基于“四地”刊物高被引论文的分析

本文基于文献计量与数据挖掘的原理与方法,以《地理学报》《地理研究》《地理科学》《地理科学进展》(以下简称“四地”或四刊)创刊以来发表的学术论文为基础数据,选取各刊被引量前500位的论文,从时间特征、位次特征、关键词、作者、研究机构、所属地区等角度进行统计分析,旨在揭示中国地理研究的特点与态势。结果表明：①四刊论文贡献量的时间分布存在差异,但高被引论文年代区间集聚特征明显;②高被引论文同位次被引量变化曲线是比较期刊影响力的一种较好方法,四刊曲线均呈现负幂函数曲线衰减态势;③四刊论文作者个数及关键词个数变化整体上较为同步,论文数量随着作者数的增加而呈现“倒勺”变化,关键词个数总体上呈现“趋多避少”的态势;④关键词大类统计反映了四刊的关注重点与差异,核心词根统计揭示了研究焦点与学术支点,空间、城市、土地、变化、生态、中国、区域、旅游、环境、发展等词根出现频次最高;⑤入围量排名靠前的作者大多从事人文经济地理研究,一批领军人物和活跃研究者贡献突出且优势明显;⑥《地理学报》、中国科学院地理科学与资源研究所、北京在各自层面首位度明显。最后,从研究时效及结果解释力、中外研究数据统筹、学术贡献综合评价指标体系构建、研究团队评价及中国地理研究均衡化、本土化与国际化等方面指出了未来的努力方向。     

The Trade and Industries of Western South America

Abstract

This research was based on an instructional module developed and used to investigate whether GIS can be used to enhance fourth grade students' geographic knowledge and map skills. Another goal was to identify challenges the teachers and the students face using GIS.

Findings from the study suggest that using GIS in the classroom helps students improve their geographic knowledge and maps skills. In addition, this study found that the students' geographic content knowledge tended to improve gradually and the knowledge transferred to the subsequent lessons, while certain map skills tended to develop in a more specific manner.     

Regional soil erosion risk mapping in Lebanon

Soil erosion by water is one of the major causes of land degradation in Lebanon. The problem has not yet been treated in detail although it affects vast areas. This study elaborates a model for mapping soil erosion risk in a representative area of Lebanon at a scale of 1:100,000 using a spatial database and GIS. First, three basic maps were derived: (1) runoff potential obtained from mean annual precipitation, soil-water retention capacity and soil/rock infiltration capacity; (2) landscape sensitivity based on vegetal cover, drainage density and slope; and (3) erodibility of rock and soil. Then two thematic maps were derived: potential sensitivity to erosion obtained from the runoff potential and landscape sensitivity maps, and erosion risk based on the potential erosion and erodibility maps. The risk map corresponds well to field observations on the occurrence of rills and gullies. The model used seems to be applicable to other areas of Lebanon, constituting a tool for soil conservation planning and sustainable management.     

A Review of “Environmental Modelling: An Introduction”

The purpose of this study is to answer several important questions concerning the learning of categories of geographic information from maps. Categorization is a fundamental part of both learning and communication, and learning and communication are, in turn, central to any field of study. If categorization is a fundamental part of the learning process, then how people categorize information learned from maps must be of concern to cartographers and geographers. This study examines map reader categorization by having subjects in an experimental situation learn categories of maps. The primary variables in this study are the coherence of the categories and the duration of exposure to the categories. It was found that coherent categories cause subjects to rely on prior knowledge. The ability to use prior knowledge allows subjects to learn categories quickly, but it also causes them to make inaccurate assumptions about the category membership. This finding was not altered when subjects were given longer exposures to the category membership.     

Spatial Sampling Strategies for Mapping a Volcanic Ground Water Plume in Sierra Valey,California

Accurately mapping a region’s ground water quality depends upon the spatial sampling strategies employed, including where and how often field data are collected. This study compares the relative values of three field sampling strategies for mapping a known migrating plume of volcanic ground water in Sierra Valley, California. The first strategy sampled wells once each year during 1957, 1972, and 1980 (n=63, 45, and 57, respectively) and portrayed spatial–temporal changes in ground water quality more clearly on maps than did two alternative sampling strategies. One of these alternatives, Strategy 2, sampled one well per township per year during 1957, 1972, and 1980 (n=11) and did not detect the migrating plume, despite being a recommended strategy. The other alternative, Strategy 3, frequently sampled in time a small, fixed group of indicator wells (n=13) every four years for the same period, again producing maps with little correlation to the original pattern detected by Strategy 1.     

Monitoring grasshopper and locust habitats in Sahelian Africa using GIS and remote sensing technology†

Abstract

Development programmes in Sahelian Africa are beginning to use geographic information system (GIS) technology. One of the GIS and remote sensing programmes introduced to the region in the late 1980s was the use of seasonal vegetation maps made from satellite data to support grasshopper and locust control. Following serious outbreaks of these pests in 1987, the programme addressed a critical need, by national and international crop protection organizations, to monitor site-specific dynamic vegetation conditions associated with grasshopper and locust breeding. The primary products used in assessing vegetation conditions were vegetation index (greenness) image maps derived from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite imagery. Vegetation index data were integrated in a GIS with digital cartographic data of individual Sahelian countries. These near-real-time image maps were used regularly in 10 countries for locating potential grasshopper and locust habitats. The programme to monitor vegetation conditions is currently being institutionalized in the Sahel.     

Big Data from the Ground Up: Mobile Maps and Geographic Knowledge

Consumer users of maps on mobile devices are producing noteworthy geographic knowledges in the contexts of their own lives that are distinct from those of professional data scientists. By leveraging the streaming nature of big data in mobile maps and zooming multiscalar views, consumer users' mobile map practices produce a popular, multiscalar form of visual geographic knowledge that is both enabled and limited by its big data assemblage and associated technologies. The first half of this article outlines the role of consumer user practices amidst spatial big data assemblages, not for volunteered geographic information or aggregate analysis but for contextual, everyday use. Consumer users and their knowledges are coconstituted through mobile map viewing and as materially limited technological practices. This article focuses specifically on the consumer users' concept of scale in this context, for Web-based maps' multiscalar views differentiate them from older maps. The second half analyzes mobile map consumer users' concepts of scale in a series of focus groups that involved both questions and observing participants' actions with maps on their own phones. Instead of passively accepting maps at predetermined optimized scales from the map application, consumer users actively viewed the map across scales while searching but not while navigating.     

Why Geography Still Needs Pen and Ink Cartography

Abstract

Maps are fundamental in geographic explanation and education, but as map-making becomes firmly entrenched in the GIS lab, it becomes harder for students to imagine how they can make maps for their papers. Students need to illustrate papers with maps: among other things, maps provide clarity, links to real places, and insights into patterns and context of phenomena discussed in student papers. A simple, quick, and aesthetically satisfying method for students to make their own maps is presented. This map making method can help students can think more creatively and geographically about their topics.     

Delmarva Coastal Bays Map Contest for Fourth Graders

Abstract

This map contest is an exercise in geographic education for fourth grade students. It is sponsored by a grassroots, nonprofit environmental organization to raise the awareness and appreciation of students to the special features of their home region. The maps illustrate some aspect of the living resources or history of the region. As a case study of the map contest, this paper describes its design, publicity, appeal to teachers, judging of entries, and role of volunteers. It considers the research on map skills among young students and ways in which the contest supports geographic education.