THE DEVELOPMENT AND INTRODUCTION OF AUTOMATION INTO CARTOGRAPHY

The author, in response to a critical review of his book on automation in cartography by K. A. Salishchev (see preceding article), defends his ideas on “raster digitizing” (proposed as only one of several approaches to cartographic automation) by documenting the need for a certain level of uniformity in the storage and presentation of information. In the process he continues a debate on the theoretical basis that should govern the development of automated cartography that occupied the entire “Cartography” section of the May 1986 issue of Geodeziya i kartografiya. In a preface to the section, the editorial board of the Soviet journal emphasized that there is no single, universally accepted position on standards for automating cartography or on the ultimate role automation should play in the discipline as a whole. Translated from: Geodeziya i kartografiya, 1986, No. 5, pp. 38–43.     

THE USE OF ANCIENT MAPS AND SPACE IMAGERY IN THE STUDY OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE

The author outlines, in diagrammatic form, a procedure for the joint use of old maps (topographic, land survey, etc.) and current space imagery to compile maps of environmental change. The ancient maps reveal land use and physical conditions which serve as a benchmark for evaluation of subsequent change. Space imagery is useful both in updating the current state of the environment and providing a cartographic base for the preparation of final maps. Selected areas of Moscow Oblast are used as test sites. Translated from: Izvestiya vuzov, Geodeziya i aerofotos' yem-ka, 1985, No. 1, pp. 104-109.     

THE CLASSIFICATION AND MAPPING OF IMPRECISE GEOGRAPHIC SYSTEMS

The author describes problems with traditional statistical and cartographic methods employed in the classification and mapping of ambiguously or vaguely defined features. Using a series of maps on the same subject (the foreign trade relations of European countries and the USSR), he demonstrates that greater attention should be paid to potential changes in the distribution of mapped objects depending on the criteria selected and the classification algorithms employed, argues that multiple classification strategies be used to determine optimal strategies for visually representing imprecise systems, and provides recommendations for their graphic representation. Translated by Kurt E. Engelmann, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195 from: Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta, geografiya, 1989, No. 3, pp. 16–23.     

COMMON THEMES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF CARTOGRAPHY AND GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS

In a review of one of the fundamental Russian works on geographic information systems, the author provides an interesting glimpse into the development of GIS and GIS training in Russia and other former Soviet republics (most notably, Georgia). Translated by Edward Torrey, Alexandria, VA 22308 from: Geografiya i prirodnyye resursy, 1992, No. 3, pp. 171-172.     

THE CONCEPT OF SPACE AND ITS PRESENTATION ON MAPS: THEORETICAL ASPECTS

The author defines cartographic space, i.e., the space encompassed by geographic maps, as the entire “geographic” envelope. Maps as spatial models of the concrete three-dimensional space of this envelope [increasingly this space is viewed as four-dimensional, when the element of time is included] depict geosystems of various levels and complexity and serve as an essential basis for analyzing their properties, internal processes, and relationships. The author argues against divorcing the study of cartographic space from an understanding of the content of the objects being mapped, and critically evaluates positions of other Soviet and East European cartographers on the “dual role” of the cartographic space of maps. Translated from: Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta, geografiya, 1986, No. 2, pp. 3-9.     

THE LANGUAGE OF MAPS AND ITS PRINCIPAL FEATURES

The author, head of the Department of Cartography at the Institute of Geography, analyzes the language of maps in terms of general semiotic principles. Using the similarity of processes in other language systems, he constructs a model of the language of maps that distinguishes two sublanguages, one reflecting the locational aspects of maps (coordinate grids, etc.), the other reflecting the map content. The discussion touches on the system of map symbols as a linguistic feature, analyzes the system of map language in terms of such linguistic features as vocabulary, grammar and syntax, and draws other analogies between the language of maps and other language systems. Translated from: Voprosy Geografii, No. 122/123, 1984, pp. 40-56.     

WORLD ATLAS OF THEMATIC MAPS OF DESERTIFICATION

The author describes the contents and participation of former Soviet republics in the compilation of a global atlas of desertification, published under the auspices of the United Nations. Translated by H. L. Haslett, Leamington Spa, UK, from: Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, seriya geograficheskaya, 1991, No. 6, p. 130.     

DETERMINING RELATIVE ORIENTATION ANGLES OF OBLIQUE AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS

The author feels that the present methods for the determination of relative orientation elements on aerial photographs are not generally effective. She has conducted an experimental investigation and obtained a high degree of accuracy in the determination of these elements using a new algorithm and successive approximation. The author presents a general solution to the problem of relative orientation where approximate values of unknowns are no longer needed. Translated from: Geodeziya i kartografiya, 1983, No. 11, pp. 29-32.     

THERMAL INFRARED IMAGERY OF DESERT LANDSCAPES

The author illustrates the application of thermal infrared machinery to prospecting for mineral deposits in desert areas. The technique is presented with details pertaining to an oil field in Western Kazakhstan and a copper deposit in Southern Kazakhstan. Translated from: Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta, geografiya, 1983, No. 5, pp. 60-64.     

LOCAL ATTRACTIONS AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE DETERMINATION OF HEIGHTS ABOVE MEAN SEA LEVEL

Abstract

Preliminary Note.—The substance of this article was written in 1921 at the request of Lieut-Col. Wolff, who was then in charge of the Levelling Division of the Ordnance Survey and with whom the author collaborated in writing “The Second Geodetic Levelling of England and Wales, 1912–21” under the direction of Sir Charles Close. It was not intended for publication and was not again considered until 1928, when a discussion by correspondence was started by the Surveyor-General of Ceylon on the subject of hill circuits in levelling. In this discussion the survey authorities in Great Britain, Canada, India, and South Africa took part, but the main theme was the accumulation of error due to the large number of sightings necessary in hilly country and the question whether a common formula for such country and for flat country was justifiable. In his contribution Dr. van der Sterr made a brief allusion to the subject of the present paper and Dr. de Graaff Hunter went into details. His contribution and the following remarks therefore have some arguments in common.     

A NEW METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING AN ORTHOGONAL MATRIX

The author has developed a novel method of constructing an orthogonal matrix R with the help of Newton's successive approximation method of iterating the solution of a linearised set of equations. As the method requires iteration, it may not compete successfully with the Rodrigue's form of R .     

SOME PROBLEMS OF RESECTION AND COUNTERSECTION-I

Abstract

“A Well-Defined mountain, though miles inland and never visited by the surveyors, will often prove the very keystone of a chart which cannot be regularly and theoretically triangulated” (“Hydrographic Surveying”, by Rear-Adm. Sir Wm J. L. Wharton, K.C.B., and Rear-Adm. Mostyn Field, F.R.S. 3rd Ed. 1909, p. 128). To many the reasons prohibiting the occupation of inland stations may be unknown; it may suffice to state that, in the past, British hydrographers have mapped many coastal waters where penetration of the land was at least inadvisable. Since the charts so made were in general sold to the world, seamen of all nations have benefited from the surveys.     

RELATIONS OF BEACON AND DEED-PLAN IN SOUTH AFRICA

Abstract

MR. C. O. GILBERT'S article on “Beacon versus Deed-plan” (E.S.R., Jan. 1932, pp. 98–99) raises a question of very great importance in those countries which have a system of land registration. In addition to the legal and technical aspects of the question, it raises the very important question of preservation of beacons and replacement of lost beacons. As he mentions the South African practice, the experience of the Transvaal may be of interest to readers, the more so as the case, The African and Buropean Investment Co., Ltd. and Others versus John Warren and Others, which he quotes, concerned farms situated in the Transvaal. I also wish to refer specially to the Transvaal, because there the diagram or deed-plan is of great legal force when there is a conflict between the position of a beacon on the ground and the position accorded it by a confirmed diagram.     

THE COOLING OF THE EARTH BY CONVECTION AND SOME OF ITS CONSEQUENCES

Abstract

In this Review (24, 68, 1937) attention was drawn to the need, in considering isostasy, of recognizing the existence of two separate weak layers, i.e. layers in which material can flow horizontally. One of these is a deep layer under both oceans and continents, the other being a layer of plastic basalt, immediately under the continents only, in which mountain ranges and other local surface masses are compensated. That suggestion formed part of a wider theory which has been developed in recent articles in the Pan-American Geologist. A brief review of that theory may be of interest.     

SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA AND THE INTERNATIONAL UNION OF GEODESY AND GEOPHYSICS

Abstract

THE resolutions and pious hopes (væux) passed by the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics at Edinburgh in September 1936 have just been circulated in a formidable document of 8 pages and XXIX commandments. Of these, two affect the Cape-to-Cairo line particularly and they seem to deserve special study. The first of these, Number III—on systems of Projections—applies the meridional strips of the Transverse Mercator Projection apparently to all maps, topographical as well as cadastral.     

GEOGRAPHIC FORECASTING AND MAPPING

The author outlines general principles and methods of predictive or forecast mapping in the USSR, more specifically the use of maps in support of geographic forecasting, i.e., prediction of relationships involved in matter, energy, and other flows of ecosystem components. Maps are employed in all stages of geographic forecasting, particularly to identify spatial patterns which can be extrapolated in space or time and used to predict distributions that are difficult or impossible to determine directly, as well as to graphically portray these expected distributions. A scheme for classifying forecast maps in terms of their orientation in time and space is presented. Translated from: Prognoznoye blogeograficheskoye kartografirovaniye: regional'nyy aspekt, Moscow: Nauka, 1985, pp. 6-24.     

RECIDIVISM OF COMMUNICATIVE CARTOGRAPHY UNDER THE GUISE OF AUTOMATION

The author, in a review of Ye. Ye. Shiryayev's book, Cartographic Presentation, Transformation, and Analysis of Geoinformation, addresses several issues in the automation of cartography—in particular what he perceives as a growing tendency to underestimate the importance of understanding the information being portrayed on maps. A formalistic (strictly quantitative) view of generalization that focuses on preservation or minimization of the loss of information on an initial map ignores the potential for the creation of new knowledge through the abstraction and elimination of information about lower-order systems. Salishchev criticizes Shiryayev's method of “raster digitizing” on such formalistic grounds, and because of its lack of visual quality and purported indiscriminate application within cartography. Shiryayev's reply to Salishchev's comments appears in the following paper of this issue. Translated from: Geodeziya i kartografiya, 1985, No. 11, pp. 59–61.     

ON THE ESSENCE OF THE LANGUAGE OF THE MAP

The author continues development of his concept of cartography as the “language of the map,” an earlier paper of this subject appearing in translation in M.S.R.S., 1985, No. 1. Although the term language has been widely used to describe cartographic communication, current theory fails to incorporate aspects of the language which provide for a comprehensive understanding of its structure and function. In particular, the language of the map and its symbolic elements cannot be explained reflexively by methods and rules of symbol and map design, since these elements were developed not before but after the existence of the language. The language of the map thus is proposed as the mechanism which provides for replicability or duplication in the way a system of mapmaking-map use functions (under diverse conditions, purposes, historical periods, and levels of training of users) through its different methods, models, and norms. Translated from: Geografiya i prirodnyye resursy, 1985, No. 3, pp. 142-151.