Understanding Chorematic Diagrams: Towards a Taxonomy

Abstract

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Chorematic diagrams are prospective candidates for communicating highly generalised geographic information about a given region of interest. Chorematic diagrams were popularized in France as the graphical artefacts of a specific school of geographic thought established by Roger Brunet, with GIP-RECLUS as his institutional backing. Although many maps were created and a lively debate ensued, only few consolidated cartographic findings were generated and even less were made known to the international scientific community. This article presents a contextualizing review and proposes a cartographic taxonomy aimed at being a first step towards efforts for the automated generation of chorematic diagrams.     

Cartographically Wordy but not Necessarily Worthy

Abstract

A novel method called multidirectional visibility index (MVI) has been developed and verified. The MVI improves standard cartographic analytical shading with a number of enhancements to topographic detail and prominent structures, i.e. the portrayal of flat areas in lighter tones, the accentuation of morphologic edges, and the multiscale visualisation of morphologic terrain features. The procedure requires a digital elevation model (DEM) and involves the following steps: visibility mask computation; the respective multidirectional altering of the azimuth and elevation angle; the generation of continuous grid MVIs that indicate upper/lower views, quasi-slope, and relative relief; and an appropriate visualisation of the relevant MVI as a standalone technique or in combination with standard hill-shaded relief. The modelling parameters are robust and therefore highly adaptive to different landforms.     

Reasserting Design Relevance in Cartography: Some Examples

Abstract

While concepts and theories about design underpin the work of the professional cartographer, it is unrealistic for most map-makers to be cognisant of the plethora of techniques available to support excellence in design. In the second part of our paper to reassert the relevance of design in cartography, we present the results of a survey of cartographic experts drawn from the academic and professional world. The survey asked participants to present their top ten most expertly designed maps from throughout history. Here, we share the most frequently cited maps that emerged from that survey and describe why they exhibit design excellence. By showing map-makers a range of high-quality cartographic work, we aim to provide exemplars that demonstrate how design affects a map and expertly marries form with function. The techniques on display are well executed and create products that are both well suited to their purpose and have an aesthetic quality that invites people to take notice. They are all, in their own ways, beautiful examples of the art of design in cartography. We have deliberately avoided a ‘top ten’ approach and, instead, offer three examples in a range of map categories. The examples are neither definitive, nor exhaustive and should act as a starting point to explore design in cartography from those who have managed to set the bar high.     

The topographic record of The Netherlands 1800–1992 for sale

Abstract

At the end of the eighteenth century, a large-scale map of the Austrian Netherlands and the Prince-Bishopric of Liège was manufactured, covering more or less the current territory of Belgium. The work for this Carte de Cabinet was carried out by artillerists under the guidance of count Joseph de Ferraris, who was commissioned for the task by the Habsburg government. At the time that the map was designed, no modern legend was included. This paper tries to fill that gap by presenting a legend that was constructed more systematically than any of its predecessors. It is based on the structure of the legend of the Topographic Map of Belgium and the CORINE land cover map, making it an easy-to-use tool for modern researchers. The problems encountered during the development of the legend are described, and the link between the Carte de Cabinet and eighteenth-century French cartography as well as with cartographic manuals is also discussed.     

Placing of photos on the internet: Critical analysis of biases on the depictions of France and Afghanistan on FLICKR

The Internet and the representation of space therein are almost omnipresent in society and everyday life. Peer-produced geographic data is gaining a particular importance through increasingly available digital tools and techniques that shape the perception of space in the internet, such as flickr, OpenStreetMap or Wikipedia. However, few studies focused on how space is represented, and by whom it is described. We hypothesize that the alleged opening up of geographic information and the assumed benefits for every individual and society through the occurrence of ‘easy-to-use-mapping-tools’ was premature. To explore these assumptions, a comparative study of the flickr worldmap was undertaken and roughly 6.8 million metadatasets of geocoded photos in France, and roughly 50,000 metadatasets in Afghanistan were downloaded and the metadata was analyzed. Our results indicate that photos geocoded in France show a large diversity of motives, while photos geocoded in Afghanistan are mostly limited to content containing warfare when they are up loaded in English. The content of the photo and therefore the representation of space strongly depend on who uploaded the photo, particularly in Afghanistan. We can show that the representation of space on the internet, for the case of flickr, is strongly dominated by perceptions of Western societies and individuals. We therefore confirm our hypothesis that the supposed opening up of geographic information systems through ‘easy-to-use-mapping-tools’ and their democratization thereof was premature. Moreover, we highlight the importance of understanding who contributes online content to be able to evaluate peer-produced data, its value, and its possible applications to avoid reproducing biases.     

An Apollonian appreciation of Google Earth

This short article reviews and critically appraises Kingsbury and Jones’ (2009)Geoforum article entitled “Walter Benjamin’s Dionysian Adventures on Google Earth”, and finds it lacking in several regards. First, the use of Nietzsche’s Dionysus/Apollo dichotomy is in fact a double binary, in which Apollonian logic is constructed as a binary within the dichotomy, while the Dionysian logic is ‘bacchanalian’. Second, Walter Benjamin as exemplar of Dionysian logic is shown to be problematic and more a distraction from the flawed Nietzschean logic than a useful construct in itself. Lastly, the educational potential of Google Earth is overlooked by Kingsbury and Jones, in their haste to see Google Earth through ‘Google goggles’, in which everything Google appears through Dionysian-tinted lenses.     

The creative reconstruction of the Internet: Google and the privatization of cyberspace and DigiPlace

The Internet has often been portrayed as the ultimate leveler of information where existing hierarchies of power and privilege are undermined by meritocracy. Some websites and functions are, however, more equal than others. In particular, search engines such as Google have been a key means to construct meaning out of disorder. This ordering (or enclosing of the Internet commons), however, comes at a cost as a location within the top 10 Google search results, marks the boundary (albeit a fluid one) between the core and the periphery of the Internet. The recent incorporation of spatial elements into the Google indexing raises fresh and geographically relevant concerns. This article focuses on the construction, access and use of Google derived rankings to deploy geo-referenced information in the physical environment and the way this melding of code and place affects how people interact with place. Using the theoretical concept of DigiPlace this article analyzes how Google Maps and Google Earth are structured and shape what appears (and what does not) in cyberspace and DigiPlace. Of particular concern are the implications of a private corporation controlling this new space.     

中国古典叙事文学的时空叙事数字模型研究——以《李娃传》为例

文学制图作为一种再现文学空间的文学地理研究方法,能将历时性叙事与共时性空间进行相互映射,但是过往的实践案例往往受限于单一的研究视角,忽略了二者内部的整体性互动关系及其与外部时空的联系。为了促使文本中的线性叙事与并置空间作为整体概念而服务于当代的文学制图实践活动,本文依据巴赫金文学时空体中的历史时空、文本时空和读者时空的概念提出了一个叙事时空数字模型,并以唐传奇小说《李娃传》为文学制图实践案例,可视化再现了这个以唐长安为中心的爱情故事。在融合了计算叙事和地理叙事研究路径的基础上,本文对叙事文本所蕴含的顺序的、多维的和背景性的信息,进行了语义提取、语义的时空循环映射和“时间—时空—空间”的叙事再现,从而呈现叙事的语言线性、体验性和意义性的特征。该模型以开放的和可对话的框架帮助当代人理解古典文学叙事及其地方性历史语境,同时将拓展从宏观、微观的角度以沉浸式方式对地方（place）进行叙事的潜力。     

在CorelDRAW平台上进行Fry法有限应变测量的新技术

有限应变测量是韧性变形定量估算的主要手段。Fry法有限应变测量以变形颗粒,如变形砾石、鲕粒、近等轴矿物等为应变标志体,地质实践中较容易获得,是岩石有限应变测量的最普遍手段。其传统测量过程极为繁琐,难以满足大范围应变测量的要求,数据精度也较低,限制了Fry法的应用。前人曾根据Fry法原理设计了计算机程序,但其程序相关编程语言如今已基本不能使用。本研究基于目前地质上较普遍使用的制图软件CorelDRAW平台的VBA编程,设计出一个基于CorelDRAW平台的Fry法应变测量宏程序FRY-1。在新图层上将所有变形颗粒的中心点标出后,运行FRY-1宏程序即可快速得到精确的Fry图解,并计算出相对精确的R值。通过实例与“最邻近心对心法”的测量结果进行的对比,证明该方法简便易操作,并可大幅提高有限应变测量的效率和有效减小误差。