SUG243 - Cartography - in A World Where Everyone Can Makes Maps, Who Needs Cartography

SUG243 ASSIGNMENT #1
“In a world where everyone can makes maps, who needs Cartography? Is Cartography and mapmaking a dying profession? After
all, hasn’t every spot on Earth already been plotted?”
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1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 What is map?

• A map is a visual representation of an area. It is a symbolic depiction that shows relationships
between the various elements of space, such as objects, regions, besides themes.
• Too many maps are static two-dimensional, even though others are dynamic or interactive,
sometimes, even three-dimensional.
• Even if usually map used to show geography, maps may show any space, real or imagined,
without regard to context or scale.
• Brain mapping, DNA mapping, besides extra-terrestrial mapping, come in this category.
1.2 What is Cartography?
1.2.1 Geography Dictionary:
• Cartography is the production and study of maps and charts. Cartography includes the historical
development of mapmaking techniques, the social conditions which give rise to cartographic
methods and themes, and the aesthetics of map-making.
• A relatively recent concern has been the recognition of cartography as a system of information
which is used to communicate something of the nature of the real world to other people; the map
is a model, to be decoded by the map reader. So that the reader is not distracted by ‘noise’ the
map has to be encoded using easily understandable signs, symbols, lettering, and lines.
• All maps are approximations; their clean, firm lines and colour blocks do not reflect the muddled
nature of the reality they represent, and they can easily be used to support a point of view.
• In consequence, geographers research the way in which people react to, and use, maps.
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1.2.2 Sci-Tech Encyclopedia:

• Cartography is the techniques concerned with constructing maps from geographic information.
• Maps are spatial representations of the environment. Typically, maps take graphic form,
appearing on computer screens or printed on paper, but they may also take tactile or auditory
forms for the visually impaired.
• Other representations such as digital files of locational coordinates or even mental images of the
environment are also sometimes considered to be maps, or virtual maps.
• Maps are composed of two kinds of geographic information: attribute data and locational data.
Attribute data are quantitative or qualitative measures of characteristics of the landscape, such as
terrain elevation, land use, or population density. Locations of features on the Earth's surface are
specified by use of coordinate systems; the most common is the geographical coordinate system
of latitudes and longitudes.
• Geographical coordinates describe positions on the spherical Earth. These must be transformed
to positions on a two-dimensional plane before they can be depicted on a printed sheet or a
computer screen.
• Hundreds of map projections—mathematical transformations between spherical and planar
coordinate—have been devised, but no map projection can represent the spherical Earth in two
dimensions without distorting spatial relationships among features on Earth's surface in some
way.
• One specialized body of knowledge that cartographers bring to science is the ability to specify
map projections that preserve the subset of geometric characteristics that are most important for
particular mapping applications.
• Although many broadly applicable map design principles have been established, the goal of
specifying an optimal map for a particular task is less compelling than it once was.
• Instead, there is interest in the potential of providing map users with multiple, modifiable
representations via dynamic media. Maps, graphs, diagrams, movies, text, and sound can be
incorporated in multimedia software applications that enable users to navigate through vast
electronic archives of geographic information. Interactive computer graphics are eliminating the
distinction between the mapmaker and the map user.
• Modern cartography's challenge is to provide access to geographic information and to
cartographic expertise through well-designed user interfaces.
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2. DISCUSSION
2.1 The History of Mapmaking

• Humans have been making maps for thousands of years. Babylonians etched maps into tablets
as early as 2300 B.C. [Source: Britannica].
• Some older paintings may also be examples of maps, but archaeologists and anthropologists
disagree about whether the artists intended to make a map or paint a picture.
• Regardless, maps have been around for a long time, and during most of that time, people have
drawn and painted them by hand. Hand-drawn maps became more accurate as people made
new discoveries in math and geography.
• Accurate estimates of the Earth's diameter helped cartographers depict land masses and oceans
in the right proportions. This was especially true after cartographers started mapping both the
Eastern and Western hemispheres at the same time.
• In the 17th and 18th centuries, advances in clock-making made it possible for travelers to
determine their longitude accurately, making it easier to get accurate measurements for maps.
• Even as advances in technology made it easier to get accurate map data, creating a good map
still required the skill of an artist. A mapmaker had to be able to draw or paint all of the map's
features so that they were accurate, legible and attractive.
• The same is true today. Computers and geographic information systems (GIS) have automated
many mapmaking tasks, but the best maps still come from skilled cartographers.
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2.2 The Mapmaking Process and Consideration

• When making a map, a cartographer has to consider several factors, including:
i) The purpose of the map: This will determine which data the cartographer needs to
gather. It will also affect what the map looks like. For example, a large-scale map that will
hang on a wall will have significantly more detail than a small-scale map that will be part
of a desk atlas.
ii) The intended audience: One of the most important considerations that a cartographer
has to make is the audience for which it is intended. a map for a young elementary-
school student is generally much simpler, has less type, fewer colors is much easier to
read than a map for an older student or an adult.
• Cartography is primarily (but not solely) the assembly of a visually-perceivable graphic image
(normally an abstracted model of the reality being portrayed). The cartographer “selects,
generalises and researches, but in the end he must put his materials and determinations into
graphic form.” (Robinson, et al, 1995). Naturally (as in the past) this image can be formed and
retained in the ‘database’ of the mind or (more conventionally today) in computer digital form,
before being externalised for scrutiny and application.
• The physical locations of the elements of the landscape model can be determined in a number of
ways:
i) from instinct and experience – as in a sketch derived from a personal cognitive map (e.g. the
memory of the street plan round a childhood home);
ii) from belief of where they should be (e.g. an attempt to draw a contour pattern to represent a
U-shaped valley or conical hill);
iii) from survey measurements made in the field or derived from another source (e.g.
photogrammetry); and
iv) From any of a variety of computations made on the above model elements or from their
combination. (e.g. projection graticule; interpolated contours; assigned buffer round a lake
shoreline).
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• The next stage is to introduce character and contrast through the application of graphic (and
other) variables.
i) Initially this will help make the image more legible and comprehensible (bringing the model to
life). Naturally at this stage there is a variety of ways in which the map may be designed to
draw attention to (or differentiate between ‘this’ or ‘that’ or to define its communicative or
analytical purpose.
ii) However without the ‘locations’ in the first place, no design can be applied and so the
fundamental skeleton of the cartographic product must be recognised as the ‘landscape
model’.
• From this simple and focused description and analysis of cartography, a variety of map types and
other cartographic products can be imagined.
• These will range from quick hand-drawn sketches to accurate topographic map series created by
national mapping agencies; from planimetric maps to 3D models, static or animated; from printed
paper products to web-based GISystems offering full interactivity, multimedia and New Media
dimensions.
• We can also, more confidently, include, as basically cartographic, many of the spatial analytical
processes incorporated within a GISystem function-suite: e.g. the retrieval of map layers overlay
operations, combining layers arithmetically or logically, and neighbourhood functions.
• True cartographic procedures, therefore, lie deeper within GISystems than may be realised by
some new users, and certainly extend beyond the visual presentation of the results of analyses,
or, more briefly, ‘cartographic output’.
• In some cases cartography comprises the analytical processes themselves, referred to as the
“digital equivalents of analogue procedures that cartographers have used for 50 years”
(Robinson, et al, 1995).
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2.3 Maps as Communication Tool.
"The eye will learn more in one hour from a map than the ear will learn from a discourse" (Thomas Fuller,
1690)
• One of the most useful approaches to the study of cartography is to view maps as a form of visual
communication--a special-purpose language for describing spatial relationships.
• Although it is perhaps unwise to draw a direct analogy between cartography and language,
concepts such as "grammar" and "syntax" help to explain, at least metaphorically, the sorts of
decisions cartographers make as they compose maps. Cartographers seek to make use of visual
resources such as color, shape and pattern to communicate information about spatial
relationships.
• The analogy with language also helps explain why training in principles of effective cartography is
so important--it allows us to communicate more effectively. Without knowledge of some of these
basic principles, the beginning cartographer is likely to be misunderstood or cause confusion.
• Cartography is closely related to graphical communication:
i) Cartography is related to, but different from other forms of visual communication.
Cartographers must pay special attention to coordinate systems, map projections, and
issues of scale and direction that are in most cases of relatively little concern to other
graphic designers or artists.
ii) But, because cartography is a type of graphical communication, some insights to the
demands of cartography can be gleaned from the literature of graphical communication
and statistical graphics.
iii) Often cartographers are faced with some of the same challenges faced by graphical
designers and can learn much from their insights.
• Maps are symbolic abstractions--"generalizations" or "representations"--of reality.
i) By stressing cartography as a form of communication, it is easier to make the point that
maps are really symbolic abstractions--or representations—of real world phenomena.
ii) In most cases, this means that the world represented on a map has been greatly
simplified, or generalized, with symbols being used like words to stand for real things.
iii) Some of the most important decisions cartographers make in the process of cartographic
design revolve around; how much to simplify the situation being depicted; and how to
symbolize the relationships being represented.
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2.3 Maps as knowledge
• Maps play a fundamental role in the functioning of modern Western societies. They are important
as legal documents in both the public and private spheres: your proof of the boundaries of your
property as well as the location of international borders.
• Maps are important in military campaigns, territorial disputes, explorations for mineral resources.
• Maps may be a source of conflict and competing claims to land and water. In some cases the
conflicts are also cross-cultural. Western-style corporations laid claim to territory in Australia
which was occupied by Aboriginal peoples who do not recognise that kind of property ownership.
Indigenous peoples in Central America (e.g. in Honduras) have challenged logging companies
through the legal process. In Northern Canada, the government recently re-established Inuit
place names and thereby ‘redrew the map’, representing a major social and cultural development.
• Maps are also used to show the
incidence and spread of pollution or
disease, often in relation to international
boundaries. We may have seen such
maps in newspapers, for example, after
Chernobyl, using arrows to indicate the
direction of spread of radiation; or maps
of the incidence of leukemia, suggesting
that the disease is clustered
geographically.
• Maps also play a part in political and
economic life in the form of cartoons,
using humour to make a serious point.
(See Map 1)
Map 1; America's world: cover illustration from

The Economist, 23–29 October, 1990
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2.4 Maps as everyday experience

Reading about maps, we have been struck by the number of times that the idea of ‘maps as part of our
everyday experience’ has been mentioned.
For an example; I was preparing to travel from Belfast to London. I left home with a mental map
of my journey to the airport – but on the way I found that the road was blocked by a burst water main. The
‘Plan B’ was to consult my local road map for the quickest alternative and, in doing so; I wondered if my
usual route really is the best one!
I presume that the pilot of the aircraft on which I travelled had an appropriate route map, but there
were maps representing the airline's routes in Europe and across the world in the magazine in the seat
pocket. I used the London Underground from Heathrow Airport and consulted that now famous route map
displayed at the station to decide where to get off. From there, it was a case of a street map to get me to
the BBC.
So the above example which describes the journey to London is also the idea of the ‘mental
map’. This concerns the notion that we all carry maps in our heads. When asked for directions to a place,
our reply is based on a mental map which may be quite close to a ‘real’ map; or may be quite
impressionistic and have more to do with our feelings and senses. This would give everyday experiences.
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2.5 Maps as history

• Maps represent knowledge of the time and space within which they are compiled and produced.
In this way they form part of the historic record.
• An old map is a picture, albeit
selective, of the past and forms
a baseline for studying change.
The first edition of the Irish
Ordnance Survey (see Map 2)
provides a picture of the
landscape just prior to the
Great Famine of the 1840s.
What changes do we think
might be seen by comparing
the first edition with the
second, which was produced Map 2; Six-inch map of County Monaghan, 1835, from the first edition of the
later on in the nineteenth Irish Ordnance Survey
(Source: The Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland and The Ordnance Survey
century? In some places we
of Ireland, 1991, p.23)
would find that settlements are
greatly reduced in size but in others there seems little change.
• Maps also represent those with the power to establish their view of the world as the accepted
view, which can mean subverting alternate views. Indigenous peoples have had their own
understandings and maps of their places but this did not stop Europeans from imposing a
Western view of the same geographic space. Often this view was of empty territory, implying that
it was free for colonization.
• One example of how a line on a map actually made history concerns South America. Just after
Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, the Pope, asserting the ‘right’ to control non-Christian
lands, drew a line to separate the spheres of influence of Spain and Portugal. Spain got the rights
to ‘new’ lands to the west of the line and Portugal to the east. Basically this gave America to
Spain and Africa to Portugal until, some five years later, the area we now call Brazil was
discovered, to the east of the Pope's line, thus giving Portugal a hold in South America. Had the
line been drawn differently, history would have been different for people in Brazil.
• The drawing of international borders in more modern times has had a similar effect in placing
people on one ‘side’ or another and thereby affecting their lives. The partitioning of Cyprus or of
India and Pakistan are examples.
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2.6 Mapmaking for the Twenty-First Century
• In early mapmaking history, maps were compiled from travellers’ tales, sailors’ logs and other
maps. Information could, therefore, come from various sources and different dates.
• By the nineteenth century, maps were being made by more technically and scientifically rigorous
procedures.
• Recently, mapmaking has benefited from developments in electronic surveillance techniques and
computer programming. Maps can be updated more regularly and easily and can also be
compiled from a much greater variety of information.
• With Geographic Information Systems (GIS) we can draw in or exclude layer upon layer of data to
build up the final version.
• Global Positioning Systems (GPS) enable us to check locations to amazing levels of accuracy.
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2.7 Technological Changes in Mapmaking

• In cartography, technology has continually changed in order to meet the demands of new
generations of mapmakers and map users.
• The first maps were manually constructed with brushes and parchment; therefore, varied in
quality and were limited in distribution.
• The advent of magnetic devices, such as the compass and much later, magnetic storage devices
allowed for the creation of far more accurate maps and the ability to store and manipulate them
digitally.
• Advances in mechanical devices such as the printing press, quadrant and vernier, allowed for the
mass production of maps and the ability to make accurate reproductions from more accurate
data.
• Optical technology, such as the telescope, sextant and other devices that use telescopes,
allowed for accurate surveying of land and the ability of mapmakers and navigators to find their
latitude by measuring angles to the North Star at night or the sun at noon.
• Advances in photochemical technology, such as the lithographic and photochemical processes,
have allowed for the creation of maps that have fine details, do not distort in shape and resist
moisture and wear. This also eliminated the need for engraving, which further shortened the time
it takes to make and reproduce maps.
• Advances in electronic technology in the 20th century ushered in another revolution in
cartography. Ready availability of computers and peripherals such as monitors, plotters, printers,
scanners (remote and document) and analytic stereo plotters, along with computer programs for
visualization, image processing, spatial analysis, and database management, have democratized
and greatly expanded the making of maps. The ability to superimpose spatially located variables
onto existing maps created new uses for maps and new industries to explore and exploit these
potentials.
• These days most commercial-quality maps are made using software that falls into one of three
main types; CAD, GIS and specialized illustration software. Spatial information can be stored in a
database, from which it can be extracted on demand. These tools lead to increasingly dynamic,
interactive maps that can be manipulated digitally.
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2.8 Mapmaking is not a dying profession, it is an evolving profession
"Making a map is like painting a bridge, you start at one end and by the time you're done; you have to
start back at the beginning. That's because landmarks are always changing. One new road is all it takes
to make a map out of date” said Jim Berardinelli, president of Southeastern Reprographics, Inc. (SRI), a
utility mapping company in Alpharetta, Ga.
• Cartography today is a rapidly growing industry that's on the cutting edge of technology. But
today's technology is allowing cartographers to "paint bridges" faster and more precisely than
ever before.
• Every map starts with a base map--a satellite image or an aerial photo that contains the
information we'd expect to see on a map, such as landforms, major roads, and waterways. That
is called geographic, or spatial, information.
• Cartographers often use Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to collect the additional
data they want to include on a particular map. We've probably seen GPS at work in the
navigation units found in many cars. Those operate the same way as the handheld GPS units
used by cartographic data collectors. The units gather information from satellites orbiting Earth
which broadcast their positions to the receivers in longitude and latitude. Then the person holding
the receiver can plot his or her position on a map.
• The truly revolutionary part of mapmaking is Geographic Information Systems (GIS), a type of
database software. Cartographers fill up their GIS databases with any information they want.
Then the software creates a map based on information in the database.
• There are certain industries that are focused on mapmaking. For example, the cartographers at
Maps.com create everything from road maps to globes. They also work with publishing
companies to make maps for history textbooks.
• Another type of company that specializes in cartography is a utility mapping company, such as
SRI, which produces maps for electric companies. MapQuest is just one company that offers
driving directions online. And using Google Earth (earth.google.com), we can find maps and
aerial images of just about every spot on the planet.
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• Other less obvious industries rely on mapmaking as well. For example, an environmental group
may employ cartographers to create maps showing the migration patterns of elk in the Arctic. A
data collector follows the herds, tracks their movements with GPS, and enters the information into
a GIS database. The database might include information on the number of herds, how many elk
were in each herd, even the number of males, females, and young. That type of information—
non-geographic data on a map--is called tabular data. The group might then use the "elk map" as
part of its argument against allowing oil drilling in a region.
• Emergency response agencies also employ cartographers. For example, in October 2003, the
latest mapping tools were used to help fight a wildfire in Southern California. A traditional map
could have supplied some geographic information firefighters needed--locations of mountains,
roads, and woodlands--but it would not have helped them stay on top of a swiftly moving fire.
That's where GIS came in. "Firemen were up in helicopters with GPS units flying the perimeter of
the fire," says Ann Johnson, higher education solutions manager for ESRI, a company
specializing in GIS design and development. "At the same time, their GPS information was being
relayed directly down to the command and control center [so cartographers could update] the
maps practically in real time...”
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3. CONCLUSION
Mankind has been into the complex art of map making for thousands of years now. The Babylonians
made maps into tablets around 2300 B.C. Some of the older paintings are classic examples of maps,
even though archaeologists and anthropologists are not sure whether the artists of those eras really
wanted to make a map or paint a picture. Still, one cannot refute that maps have been in existence for a
very long time.
In the earlier times, map makers were mainly involved in drawing and painting basic maps by
hand. It eventually took skilled mathematicians and artists to make accurate and precise maps. Across
the globe, sailors and navigators heavily relied on consistent accuracy.
Making a good map is an art. When making a map, a cartographer has to carefully take into
consideration several points, for instance, the purpose of the map. Yes, this is important as until and
unless one knows the main purpose of a map, he cannot hope to do justice to his job. A cartographer's
job is to make a good and useful map.
Defining the purpose will also prove quite helpful in deciding which data the cartographer needs
to collect for map making. It will also eventually affect what the map appears like. For instance, a large-
scale map for, say, purpose of hanging on a school wall will and should have more details than a small-
scale map that will be part of a geography book.
There are many other factors as well that a map maker must carefully and thoughtfully look into
before initiating the process of making a map. Only a thoughtful mind that looks into all the factors can
hope to make a map that really works for the readers and fulfills the goals of the map. Map making is
certainly an art and a map maker must realize this fact if he hopes to excel in his field.
The changes of the last decade, their technological characteristics and professional, financial and
societal dimensions are having an impact on cartography. The importance of spatial data quality
standards, the increasing flow of data across global networks, the growing co-operation between
geospatial scientists, and the newer modes of delivering spatially-related information to users, are all
positive factors. It is worth nothing, however, that the pace of change towards an electronic future is
variable across the world.
Although showing continued confidence in and excitement about the future of cartography, all
recent analyses, to differing degrees, have predicted the demise of the professional ‘cartographer’, at
least as he/she has been defined in broadly current times. The cartography which has characterised most
of last century is certainly changing. Some forms may have already disappeared, and with them the
participating practitioners. In the past cartography were largely a manufacturing industry and the
consumers of its products being the ‘map users.’
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Although technology changes lives, not all technological innovations have totally transformed the
way we did things before. Despite credit cards we still use cash; despite increasingly sophisticated
methods of travel we still walk and ride bicycles when appropriate; despite TV, satellites, home and
mobile PCs we still listen to the radio and attend live entertainment. So there will continue to be a
cartographer-client relationship for some special products and services (and not only paper based).
4. REFERENCES
1. Cartography: Definition from Answers.com http://www.answers.com/topic/cartography

2. Why Maps are Made - OpenLearn - The Open University
http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=188148
3. MAPPING Your Future. - Britannica Online Encyclopedia
http://www.britannica.com/bps/additionalcontent/18/26324902/MAPPING-Your-Future
4. Cartography as Communication
http://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/cartocom/section2.html
5. Map Making http://www.topographicmapsreport.com/map-making.html
6. HowStuffWorks "The Mapmaking Process" http://science.howstuffworks.com/map5.htm
7. The 21st Century World – No Future without Cartography - Revised from the Keynotes speech at
the ICC'01 Beijing. Copyright M. Wood, 2001
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SUG243 ASSIGNMENT #1

1.1 What is map?

1.2 What is Cartography?

1.2.1 Geography Dictionary:

1.2.2 Sci-Tech Encyclopedia:

2.1 The History of Mapmaking

2.2 The Mapmaking Process and Consideration

2.3 Maps as Communication Tool.

2.3 Maps as knowledge

Map 1; America's world: cover illustration from

2.4 Maps as everyday experience

2.5 Maps as history

2.6 Mapmaking for the Twenty-First Century

2.7 Technological Changes in Mapmaking

2.8 Mapmaking is not a dying profession, it is an evolving profession

1. Cartography: Definition from Answers.com http://www.answers.com/topic/cartography

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