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.     

USE OF SPACE PHOTOGRAPHS IN THE MAKING AND REVISION OF SMALL-SCALE MAPS

A brief review paper focuses on Soviet strategies for the use of space imagery, particularly photographic products (1:2,000,000 to 1:4,200,000 scale) from manned spaceflights, in the revision of small-scale general reference maps. Principles for the interpretation and mapping of basic map elements appearing on space photographs are outlined. Space photographs provide for reduction in time spent in map editing and the more correct analysis of the reliability of information and its generalization. A technology of map revision based on the joint use of original photographs and photomaps, with the transfer of revisions from photomaps to map originals, is proposed. Translated from: Geodeziya i kartografiya, 1986, No. 8, pp. 29-33.     

MAPPING THE AVALANCHE HAZARD FOR MOUNTAINOUS AREAS OF AFGHANISTAN

The authors describe a procedure for the compilation of maps of the avalanche hazard in high-mountain regions of Afghanistan. The basic sources of information include space imagery (photographs and scanner imagery), weather station data, and other geographic information on relief, elevation, location of moisture sources, etc. The methodology features the compilation of series of increasingly more specific and informative maps and graphs regarding the avalanche hazard: terrain types, snow cover depth and seasonal extent, duration of snow cover and its elevational zonation, snow as a factor in avalanche formation, and summary map of avalanche hazard. Translated by Elliott B. Urdang, Providence, RI 02906 from: Materialy glyatsiologicheskikh issledovaniy, 1991, No. 71, pp. 86–93.     

STUDY OF THE MORPHOSTRUCTURES OF MOUNTAINOUS AREAS FROM SPACE IMAGERY

The authors review recent developments in the USSR in the use of remote sensing imagery in the analysis, at the world-regional and local levels, of major relief elements (and structural elements manifest in relief) typical of mountainous country. Keys to their interpretation at a variety of scales are described. Case studies and detailed interpretation of imagery in the Soviet Far East and Central Asia (large-scale) and the Caucasus (intermediate-scale) provide for the identification of all morphostructural elements possible through traditional analysis, and in the latter case, for the first direct detection of transverse (cross-cutting) faults. Translated from: Geomorfologiya, 1988, No. 1, pp. 16-29.     

THE READABILITY OF THE MAP: THEORETICAL PRINCIPLES

An effort is made at developing a theory of map readability, defined as the process of the user's representation of the information of the map in his/her own mind. This can be estimated quantitatively by surrogate measures, which include the speed of map comprehension and accuracy of map interpretation. Levels of psychological representation of map information are incorporated to determine at what stage particular aspects of map knowledge are understood. Thus what readability entails, and the approaches used to measure it (what types of things are comprehended, how fast, and how accurately) will depend upon the level of representation. Translated from: Vestnik Leningradskogo Universiteta, seriya 7 [geologiya, geografiya], 1988, No. 1, pp. 32-37.     

SOME ASPECTS OF TOPOGRAPHIC MAPPING OF THE SHELF

Shortcomings in the representation of bottom relief features on topographic maps of the continental shelves are examined, with particular attention given to submarine ridges and related features, the symbolization of which on such maps has been entirely ineffective. Specific recommendations are given on the form and color of symbols which can be used in upgrading the graphic impact of maps depicting such relief forms. Translated by Edward Torrey, Alexandria, VA 22308 from: Geodeziya i kartografiya, 1989, No. 1, pp. 35–40.     

THE ACCURACY OF VISUAL DETERMINATIONS OF STATISTICAL CHARACTERISTICS FROM MAPS

The authors address a range of issues connected with the visual representation and interpretation of statistical data on maps. Attention is focused on common behaviors of map users in determinations of various characteristics of map symbols. Results are reported from experiments testing the relationship between the accuracy of obtaining quantitative information on a map with the total number of symbols and number of scale levels [size classes] employed, the use (or non-use) of color in the symbolization scheme, etc. Translated by Larry Richardson, Los Angeles, CA 90039 from: Izvestiya Vsesoyuznogo Geograficheskogo Obshchestva, 1989, No. 4, pp. 345–351.     

AN INITIAL ATTEMPT AT INTERPRETING THE STRUCTURE OF MOUNTAINOUS AREAS IN THE WESTERN ANTARCTIC WITH SPACE IMAGERY

The second of two reports on the use of space imagery in the interpretation of Antarctica's geologic structure applies interpretation procedures described in an earlier article (see Mapping Sciences and Remote Sensing, 1985, No. 1) to produce a geologic map of a portion of the Antarctic Peninsula. Features identified on space imagery and depicted on the map include: a deep pericratonnal fault zone, a Mesozoic fold belt interrupted by a complex system of faults, and ring or annular structures of volcanic origin. Translated from: Antarktika, AN SSSR Mezhduve-domstvennaya komissiya po izucheniyu Antarktiki, Doklady komissii [USSR Academy of Sciences Joint Commission on Antarctic Research, Commission Report], No. 24. Moscow, 1985, pp. 43-49.     

MAPS OF USE OF THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE BURYAT REPUBLIC

A team of Russian geographers describes the development of a program for mapping land use/resource development and the condition of the environment in Russia's Buryat Republic. Three ecological maps recently compiled in the Republic, using a single cartographic base and employing standardized methods, are described. The last such map is a map of environmental use that reflects both a resource-development and an environmental-protection perspective. The article includes detailed examples of the legend of the latter map. Translated by Edward Torrey, Alexandria, VA from: Geografiya i prirodnyye resursy, 1998, No. 3, pp. 23-29.     

数字地图的接边方法研究

为解决我国数字化测图生产中数字地图的相邻图幅自动接边的难题,本文提出了一种可适用于微机的数字地图的接边方法——要素分类接边法。该方法分三步完成接边:(1)提取接边要素对;(2)接边要素对自动分类接边;(3)分幅剪辑与拼接。生产试验说明,这种接边方法可适用于各种大小比例尺的数字地图接边,可达到较高的自动化程度,接边效果满意。     

DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING IN THE COMPILATION OF LUNAR PHOTOMAPS

A method of compiling lunar thematic photomaps is described, in which telescopically derived photometric data, representing the map theme of albedo variation, is portrayed on a topographic base map prepared from scanner data obtained from a space probe. Digital image processing is employed in a wide range of tasks including data averaging and filtration, and grid and scale transformation. Two maps, representing different versions of final output, are provided: a map with albedo variation displayed according to the shaded-isoline technique, and one in which numerical values are printed over a grid of control points. Translated from: Geodeziya i kartografiya, 1985, No. 1, pp. 38-44.     

THE MAPPING AND STUDY OF THE ISSYK-KUL' SHORELINE WITH AIR PHOTOS

Efforts to monitor and map the changing water level and shoreline of a large mountain lake in Central Asia with aerial photographs are described. The essence of the work involved the mapping of the shoreline and position of river deltas from air photos from various years during the period 1949-1980, at uniform scale and at a level of accuracy permitting the quantitative (cartometric) as well as qualitative assessment of change. The sequence of work in compilation of map-diagrams for different parts of the shoreline involved the preliminary referencing of photos to a map, photo interpretation and compilation of large-scale “graphic diagrams,” preparation of a cartographic base, reduction and placement of diagrams on the base, and transformation of the image as a whole. Results of analysis of these map-diagrams are summarized. Translated from: Vestnik Leningradskogo Universiteta, ser. 7: geologiya, geografiya, 1986, No. 2, pp. 44-48.     

GEOLOGIC INTERPRETATION OF ANTARCTICA'S MOUNTAINOUS REGIONS WITH SPACE IMAGERY

This paper demonstrates how ice-surface relief identified on space imagery can be used in mapping selected elements of the geologic structure of the Antarctic Peninsula. The mapping procedure is based on the fact that all major subglacial relief forms appear, albeit in subdued form, on the surface of slow moving and relatively thin ice sheets. Since subglacial bedrock relief reflects geologic structure, particular surface configurations of ice identified on space imagery can be used as indicators of major structural elements. Examples of the procedure, including imagery of ice relief and corresponding cartographic representations of underlying structure are provided for faults and ring structures. Translated from: Antarktika, AN SSSR Mezhduvedomstvennaya komissiya po izucheniyu Antarktiki, Doklady komissii [USSR Academy of Sciences Joint Commission on Antarctic Research, Commission Report], No. 24. Moscow, 1985, pp. 50-55. An article demonstrating the application of these methods in the compilation of a geologic map for a part of the Antarctic Peninsula will appear in a later issue.     

THE NOMENCLATURE OF MAP PROJECTIONS

Abstract

Map Projections.—A matter that should have been mentioned in the original article under this title (E.S.R., vii, 51, 190) is the definition of a map projection. In the list of carefully worded “Definitions of Terms used in Surveying and Mapping” prepared by the American Society of Photogrammetry (Photogrammetrie Engineering, vol. 8,1942, pp. 247–283), a map projection is defined as “a systematic drawing of lines on a plane surface to represent the parallels of latitude and the meridians of longitude of the earth or a section of the earth”, and most other published works in which a definition appears employ a somewhat similar wording. This, however, is an unnecessary limitation of the term. Many projections are (and all projections can be) plotted from rectangular grid co-ordinates, and meridians and parallels need not be drawn at all; but a map is still on a projection even when a graticule is not shown. Objection could be raised also to the limitation to “plane surface”, since we may speak of the projection of the spheroid upon a sphere, or of the sphere upon a hemisphere. Hence, it is suggested that “any systematic method of representing the whole or a part of the curved surface of the Earth upon another (usually plane) surface” is an adequate definition of a map projection.     

数字高程模型在坡耕地调查中的应用

以1:1万比例尺地形图(H-48-72-24)为例,采用地理信息系统软件Arc/Info数字化地形图生成数字高程模型,并通过DEM计算派生出坡度图,再结合土地利用现状图和相关资料,应用地理信息系统空间分析功能,自动提取坡耕地数据。整个过程主要由计算机进行处理,人工干预少,效率高。     

MEDIUM-SCALE MAPPING OF THE FOREST ECOSYSTEMS OF MONGOLIA

The paper describes the organization and preliminary results of a joint Mongolian-Russian program for mapping forest vegetation in an area of Mongolia adjacent to the Russian border. The project involved the compilation of a map of ecosystems, which provided a base for a subsequently prepared map of ecosystem disturbance by humans. The paper includes a discussion of procedures followed in compilation of the legends of the two maps, as well as a detailed analysis of the spatial patterns of human disturbance revealed by analysis of the second map. Translated by Edward Torrey, Alexandria, VA 22308 from: Geografiya i prirodnyye resursy, 1996, No. 3, pp. 135-144.     

INTERPRETATION OF THE AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPE WITH SPACE IMAGERY

Heterochronous multispectral imagery from the “Fragment” scanner is used to identify and map a series of “natural-agricultural complexes,” or agricultural landscapes, of southern European Russia. Interpretation is based on imagery in the green, orange, red, and near-infrared zones of the spectrum (0.5-1.1 μm). Interpretation keys and other information designed to facilitate feature discrimination (optimal wavelengths, best seasons for imagining) are provided in many instances. Natural landscape and soil erosion maps are also compiled from the imagery, which supply information (an optimal crop rotation scheme and needed reclamation measures) used on the agricultural landscape map. Translated from: Vestnik Moskovs-kogo Unlversiteta, geografiya, 1985, No. 2, pp. 34-41.     

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.     

STATE OF THE WORLD ENVIRONMENT MAPPING PROJECT

An international team of cartographers describes the initial concept and methodological principles underlying an IGU-sponsored project to compile a map of the state of the world's environments on the basis of a unified approach and guidelines. The project, which is to involve cartographers and Earth scientists throughout the world, is to provide a comprehensive characterization of the condition of marine and terrestrial ecosystems at a scale of 1:15,000,000 and is to be made available in both digital and paper formats. Translated by Edward Torrey, Alexandria, VA from: Izvestiya Akademii Nauk, seriya geograficheskaya, 1999, No. 1, pp. 108-113.     

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAMMETRIC MODELING OF MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN AND SNOW COVER DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS

This paper explores applications of digital photogrammetric modeling of mountainous terrain in forecasting snow depth and the meltwater avalanche hazard in a mining region of northwestern Russia. A series of initial maps (initial terrain points, relief of snow-flow centers, slope angles and orientations) provides successively more specific information, culminating in the compilation of a map of maximum snow cover depths at a center of water-saturated snow flows (representative reference site) on the northern slope of Mt. Aykuayvenchorr. Translated by Edward Torrey, Alexandria, VA 22308 from: Geomorfologiya, 1993, No. 3, pp. 75-83.