Cartographic Representation - A Primer of GIS: Fundamental Geographic and Cartographic Concepts - page 191

ADVANCED ISSUES IN GI AND CARTOGRAPHY Cartographic Representation

Chapter 10

Cartographic Representation

This chapter covers principles of cartographic representation including scale,
generalization, classifications, media formats, and cartographic presentation
types. Whether you make GI or maps, cartographic representation is usually a
very important concern. The design of maps and visualizations is a critical part
of successful geographic communication, which has two components. Geo-
graphic representation abstracts things and events from the world (see Part I).
Cartographic representation creates visual techniques and forms for geographic
representation. Communication, broadly understood, is how we share a repre-
sentation with others. Depending on the means and modes of communication,
different cartographic representations could be required. A classroom wall
map of Europe or North America will show things and events differently than a
small map of Europe or North America on a television news broadcast.
Key concerns for cartographic representations center on the design of
maps and other material that reliably abstract from and with geographic rep-
resentations. For this reason, cartographic representations are in many ways
inseparable from geographic representations. Good communication often
requires thinking of both simultaneously, although the process of creating
GI is often separate. In the end, a cartographic representation should main-
tain the integrity of the GI. Otherwise substantial errors and distortions can
occur. This chapter looks pragmatically at the principles of cartographic
design as a part of cartographic representation.

Maps and Visualizations

The focus of this chapter requires a distinction between maps and visualiza-
tions. Maps are well known to all: they are two-dimensional, or limited three-
dimensional, static, and usually printed on paper or some material with
many of the same properties of paper. “Visualization” refers to a broader

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