Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Mapping Disorder: An Exploratory Study
David Fairbairn
Introduction
The nature of geographical reality is such that disorder, complexity and dynamism
are inherent properties of all geospatial datasets reflecting the environment. Both in
the natural sphere and in anthropogenic environments, chaotic phenomena are
evident in the form of fuzzy boundaries, indistinct objects, moving features,
uncertain classifications, dynamic processes, and complex systems. Examples
range from the diversity of tropical rainforest habitats with uncertain boundaries
and complex classification schemes, to the manifestation of diurnal commuter
patterns exhibiting complex networks showing a dynamic human activity with
significant regular and irregular patterns of change. The requirement to address
the possible representation of such phenomena in map form is part of the process of
mapping—defined here as the abstraction of geographical reality using carto-
graphic transformation.
The functions, tools and techniques available for cartographic transformation
have, throughout history, concentrated on using static, single-view,
two-dimensional graphics to communicate a distillation of reality captured as a
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. Such maps are created to give an ordered insight into the complexity
and unpredictability of reality.
In general terms, this paper suggests that a new paradigm of cartographic
representation is required to address the task of moving away from such standard
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snapshot
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maps to representations which reflect the disorder of spatial reality. This
is a major ambition, so this paper specifically attempts to contribute, in a more
limited and preliminary manner, to an investigation of one example of disorder—in
this case in topographic landscapes. It involves the assessment of disorder; its
snapshot
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