Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
because general engines were not available for vector map publication. Several
layers were provided, but the relief was excluded as the DTA-200 did not include
contour lines. The original paper maps had this information, but when these map
sheets were digitized, the military cartography decided to omit this content due to
the contemporary hardware and software limitations. The development of the test
version was financially supported by the government; however, the service was
suspended after a few years (before the beginning of the web 2.0 era).
The civil NMA of Hungary offers raster versions of the state topographic maps
in 1:10,000, 1:100,000 and in 1:200,000 scales (although the last two scales legally
are not state topographic maps). The DITAB-10 V.0 is a real vector-based GIS
database (object-oriented database structure) of the 1:10,000 scale topographic
maps, but it has two serious drawbacks:
• not freely available,
• very slow update circle.
The innovations of recent years are also characteristic in the development of
maps as mass media. Maps on the Internet or those developed for mobile devices
reach a further variety of social classes and more than ever can shape the behaviour
and attitudes of individuals or communities, as well as opinion former. Addition-
ally, maps can be characterized in these new use environments by their temporary
nature; they vary constantly and can be adapted and removed by the users at any
time (Faby and Koch
2010
).
Conclusion
Maps have always been models of the real world and never simply a reflection
of a perceived space. This paper reviewed the digital cartographic/topo-
graphic databases of Hungary, concentrating mostly on the 1980-1990
years. When I studied this area, I faced a characteristic problem: the contem-
porary literature is void and the contemporary digital files have already been
lost or they are available in a format which is not known by the recent
applications. One of the main reasons of writing this paper was to save this
information for future users. I hope that experts of this area will complete this
information and users of other countries will write their summary in order to
make the transition process understandable.
One of the most interesting parts of this research is to recognise and
identify the relationship of the development of information technologies
and their effect on the maturation of the digital cartography. The first step
of the creation of digital cartographic databases was the implementation of
digital technologies (to be familiar with computer hardware and software).
The second and most time-consuming process was the digitization of the
existing state topographic (and cadastral) maps. From one aspect, it was much
easier to manage the digitization of cadastral maps, because these maps are
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