Fichamento Do Livro Mapping It Out - Expository Cartography For The Humanities and Social Sciences.

Bibliografia
Monmonier, M. (1993). Mapping it out: expository cartography for the humanities and
social sciences. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
SCALE, PERSPECTIVE, AND GENERALIZATION

As a graphic interface between reality and the mind, the map presents a selective view
of reality selective in the space it portrays, the viewpoint it offers, the objects it
includes, and the symbols it uses to represent these objects. The map author must
make choices in three main elements of this graphic interface: scale, projection, and
symbolization. Scale refers to the degree of reduction and is commonly stated as a ratio
of distance on the map to distance on the ground 1.
As scale models representing landscape features and other real phenomena with
graphic symbols, all maps are generalizations. In most cases generalization results
because the map cannot portray reality at a reduced scale without a loss of detail. Yet
cartographic generalization can reinforce the communication goal of a map author who
wants to highlight some features or details and deemphasize others. For example, a
map author might filter out minor indentations in a coastline in order to call attention to
its dominant trends. In other cases generalization might require deliberate exaggeration
of important but easily overlooked parts of the coastline 2.
Significant features are often clustered together, so map generalization requires not
merely selection and symbolic exaggeration but also simplification, smoothing,
displacement, and classification3.
In many cases, if not most, the map authors choice of publication and topic influence or
dictate the scale of the map. Scale is a two-component relationship between map size
and territory size. The overall design and page size of the intended publication usually
limit the size of the map, whereas the authors topic determines the maps geographic
scope, that is, the extent and size of the territory the map must accommodate 4.
1 MONMONIER, Mark. Mapping it out: expository cartography for the humanities and social sciences.
Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 1993, p.21.
A cartographer would definitely consider this a small-scale map, because its fractional
equivalent, 1/12.000.000, is very small relative to, say, 1/4.800, a scale used for some
highly detailed urban maps. When comparing map scales, cartographers always refer to
the fractional scale, no the size of the denominator or the number to the right of the
colon. So that just as a 1/8 slice of pie is smaller than a 1/4 slice of the same pie,
1/100.000 is a smaller scale than 1/50.000. Geographers generally regard maps with
scales of 1/250.000 or smaller as small-scale maps and maps with scales of 1/24.000 or
larger as large-scale maps. A small-scale map accommodates less detail than a largescale map and tends to portray a larger territory at a smaller size 5.
Even a map that fits neatly within a single page might have one or two areas requiring a
detail inset map to portray at a somewhat larger scale a complicated area with dense
symbols. For instance, a 1:12.000.000-scale, page-width map of France might well
require a detail inset for Paris and its suburbs. Particularly dense concentrations are
common in maps of a wide range of phenomena, such as military engagements, social
movements, and industrial innovation. Areas not sufficiently dense to require a
separate, large-scale map might be shown by one or more detail insets on a single map
providing an overview for the entire study region 6.
Using a graphic scale can be the only safe strategy in case an editor, graphic designer,
or printer decides to alter the size of a map, with or without the authors consent. I say
safe because use of a ratio or fractional scale might lead to embarrassment of the
added cost and delay of revising the illustration. For instance, reducing an 8-inch-wide
1:1.000.000-scale map to a width of 5 inches would invalidate a ratio or fractional scale
printed on the map, because the scale of the reduced illustration would be 1:1.600.000,
not 1:1.000.000. Yet a graphic scale labeled 20km still represents 20km, because
photographic or electronic reduction decreases its length proportionately, from 2cm to
1.25cm. As a general rule, use ratio or fractional scales with extreme caution when you
cannot control or predict exactly the final publication size of the map 7.
Among the flat maps many advantages is its complete, at-a-glance view of the world
that a reader can scan rapidly, without reaching out to turn a bulky, expensive globe.
Like most abstract representations, though, world maps trade precision for
convenience. Because the geometric distortion required to project a curved surface onto
a plane is much more severe and dramatic for small-scale world maps than for largerscale maps of neighborhoods or even of large countries, the world map is a good place
Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 1993, p.27-28.
to begin to understand how map projections not only cause information to be lost, but
also may inadvertently twist or contradict the map authors intended meaning 8.
In general, map projections distort distances, angles, areas, directions, and the gross
shapes of continents and large countries. Some type of distortion can be controlled and
even eliminated, whereas other types can only be minimized for selected parts of the
map. For instance, all two-dimensional maps must distort noticeably the threedimensional shapes of continental outlines and large countries, but a group of map
projections called conformal can in theory preserve angles and the shapes of small
circles and other local features. For this reason, most large-scale maps, including most
modern topographic maps, use projections that are conformal 9.
On a world map, in contrast, the map maker will want to preserve the true relative areas
of continents, regions, countries, and provinces. Map projections that preserve area
relationships are called equivalent, or simply equal-areas10.
Designing or selecting a map projection involves many tradeoffs. Particularly prominent
is the penalty incurred in preserving relative area at the expense of markedly greater
distortions of shape. Look, for instance, at the equirectangular world map in Figure 2.5,
and consider how a cartographer might make this projection equivalent. One very
simple way of preserving relative area is to adjust the spacing of neighboring parallels to
reflect relative areas on the globe. For instance, because the zone between 60 N and
90 N contains roughly 1/15 of the worlds area, not the exaggerated 1/6 that results
from a constant north-south scale, these two parallels show be closer, In the eighteenth
century, the mathematician Johann Heinrich Lambert (1728-77) discovered how to do
this by making north-south scale a trigonometric function of latitude. But as Lamberts
cylindrical equal-area projection in Figure 2.7 illustrates, preserving area at the expense
of conserving shape yields a severe north-south compression of poleward features 11.
Pseudocylindrical projections carry this two-stage process a step further by bending the
meridians inward toward the poles. The result is an additional tradeoff between an easyto-plot grid and a better representation of shape for selected continents or countries.
The sinusoidal projection in Figuere 2.8 is particularly useful for conserving the shapes
of tropical countries and areas near its central meridian, the straight line connecting the
poles. When centered conventionally at the Greenwich meridian, as in Figure 2.8, the
sinusoidal projection provides a low-distortion view of Europe and Africa but only at
the cost of severe distortion in northeast Asia, Alaska, Antarctica, and other peripheral
areas. Because the central meridian can be moved, where the map author centers this
projection becomes an important design decision; a good representation of some
regions of the world is traded for gross distortions of shape elsewhere 12.
In addition to equivalence and converging meridians, the sinusoidal projection has other
noteworthy attributes. Its name reflects a trigonometric foundation: its meridians are
since curves, evenly spaced along the parallels provide an accurate representation of
latitudinal relationships, particularly important for geographic distributions influenced by
climate. The rapid, somewhat unrealistic convergence of the meridians toward the poles
reflects the preservation of east-west scale along the parallels 13.
Severe angular distortion in areas far from both the central meridian and the equator,
and its overall Christmas-ornament shape, make the sinusoidal projection less suitable
for a world map than the more oval Mollweide projection in Figure 2.9. Using more
gently rounded ellipses instead of sine curves as meridians, the Mollweide has a
pleasing oval shape more suitable for a global map. These elliptical meridians require
decreasing the north-south scale near the poles and increasing it near the equator, so
that the lowest distortion occurs in the middle latitudes 14.
According to the theory of map projections, equivalence and conformality are mutually
exclusive properties: no map can preserve both area and angles 15.
At the somewhat more detailed scales possible with smaller portions of the earth, the
tradeoff between preserving area and conserving angles and small shapes is no longer
paramount. After all, as the maps geographic scope decreases, a well-chosen
projection can more easily accommodate both shape and area. Moreover, because the
scholar examining a nation or region often must compare distances, minimizing the
distortion of distance becomes an important goal 16.
As Figure 2.14 demonstrates, each of the three developable surfaces has a distinctive
grid, or graticule, in its normal, pole-at-the-top orientation: the classic cylindrical
projection has straight-line meridians and parallels; a conic projection has converging
straight-line meridians and concentric, partial-circle parallels; and a azimuthal projection
formed by projecting to a plane touching the globe at either pole has straight-line
meridians converging to the common center of its full-circle parallels. In these most
straightforward cases, the developable surface just touches, or is tangent to, the globe
at a single circle or point. Cylindrical projections typically are tangent at the equator,
conic projections at a middle-latitude parallel, and azimuthal projections at one of the
poles17.
Distortion, which is lowest where the developable surface is in contact with the globe,
grows with increased distance from the tangent point of circle. Consequently,
cartographers recommend cylindrical projections for continents such as Africa or South
America, which straddle the equator; conic projections for midlatitude continents, such
as Asia, Australia, Europe and North America, which can straddle a carefully specified
standard parallel; and azimuthal projections for Antarctica and the northern polar region.
This rule also helps the map author select a low-distortion projection for smaller areas.
Cylindrical projections provide good maps of Indonesia and other tropical countries, for
instance, whereas conic projections favor more poleward nations such as China and the
United States. The latitude principle for selecting a developable surface also yields
maps that look right in the sense of resembling the globes portrayal of the region in
question18.
The map author seriously concerned with reducing distortion has several other available
strategies. The most obvious option is to add a second line of contact, by making the
developable surface pierce the globe rather than merely touch it. The resulting secant
projection has two standard parallels if it is cylindrical or conic, or a standard parallel
instead of a tangent point if it is azimuthal. As figure 2.15 illustrates, features on a
secant projection are closer on the average to any standard line and this less distorted
than features on a tangent projection19.
In navigation, the gnomonic projection is sometimes used with the Mercator chart, which
I am largely ignoring here because humanists and social scientists are seldom
concerned with the mechanics of navigation. A marvelous invention for sailors, because
it shows lines of constant direction, called rhumb lines, as straight lines, the equatorially
centered Mercator projection in a cylindrical projection that, as Figure 2.19
demonstrates, so grossly distorts area and distances that the poles lie off the map at
infinity. For centuries, publishers and social studies teachers, who should know better,
have used it as a standard base map of the world for atlases and wall maps. Historians
portraying the routes of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century explorers should already be well
aware of the Mercator chart and its correct use and should require no further
introduction. And the rest of us need only to avoid it like the cartographic equivalent of
rabies20.
VISUAL VARIABLES AND CARTOGRAPHIC SYMBOLS
Specific types of cartographic symbols have a functional association with specific types
of data. French cartographer-semiologist Jacques Bertin used this functional
relationship to develop a theory of cartographic communication based on eight visual
variables. Understanding Bertins visual variables and their functions can help the map
author select an effective scheme from the wide and often confusing array of available
symbols, whereas violating these functional associations encourages confusion and
misinterpretation21.
The names of the retinal variables require little explanation. Shape, size, and orientation
are fundamentally self-explanatory. Texture refers to the size or spacing of smaller,
repeating elements of a symbol, varying from fine to coarse. Hue is that aspect of color
associated with wavelength in the comparatively tiny portion of the electromagnetic
spectrum visible to the human eye. Because this book has no color plates, Figure .1
identifies by name a sampling of five readily distinguished hues. Value is the term most
likely to confuse readers not familiar with printing thecnology and color theory. When
artwork and text are printed using only black ink, value refers to a symbols graytone
value on a scale running from black to white through various intermediate shades of
gray22.
Figure 3.1 reveals a functional specialization among the retinal variables. Size, value,
and texture yield graphic marks that the eye readily organizes as a quantitative
dimension, with lower numbers or ranks at one end and higher numbers or ranks at the
other. These quantitative retinal variables can be efficient on maps showing an ordering
of places or features ranked by differences in amount or intensity. In contrast, shape
and hue provide a qualitative differentiation among features varying in type or kind.
Because each shape and hue looks different, symbols differing in shape or hue are
ideal for portraying categorical distinctions among geographic features. And varying the
orientation of the graphic mark is the most direct and logical way of showing the
orientation of the feature itself. Orientation is an important visual variable for symbols
that represent features with an identifiable direction, such as lines portraying roads or
rivers or arrows showing winds or ocean currents 23.
The quantitative retinal variables have an important secondary specialization: size is

ideal for portraying amount or magnitude, whereas value is more suited to portraying
relative amount or intensity. Thus, a map showing the respective populations of various
cities would employ symbols varying in size, whereas a county-unit map showing the
percentage of each countys population residing in an urban area would use symbols
varying in value24.

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Bibliografia

SCALE, PERSPECTIVE, AND GENERALIZATION

The quantitative retinal variables have an important secondary specialization: size is

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