Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
quantification, description and comparison; its characterisation; and its subsequent
representation. Contemporary technologies are opening up significant possibilities
in undertaking such tasks, most notably in representation and visualisation. It is
such opportunities which may well lead to the new paradigm sought, involving use
of animation, hyperlinked documents, interactivity with displays, and editing capa-
bility, perhaps in a multi-user environment, possibly connected and web-enabled,
certainly multi-sourced and easy to distribute.
At this stage, however, the examples chosen are familiar to the conventional
topographic cartographer, with the assessment and handling of spatial data in
landscapes being the focus for an initial study of disorder and its effect on mapping.
Handling Disorder in Landscapes
Landscapes, and the processes which create and influence them, can often be
dissected, uneven and disturbed. Such environments can be completely natural,
for example in peri-glacial areas, or can be anthropogenically influenced, for
example in areas which have sustained mining activity over many years. The
quantification of such disorder can be initiated by collecting spatial data using
direct measurements, by survey and by remote sensing, and subsequently
characterising the environments using standard metrics such as diversity, complex-
ity and order indices.
The indices of disorder then need to be translated into graphical representations
of space: this will involve a further stage, exploring and extending the range of
tools, techniques and technologies available in contemporary geo-visualisation,
including methods for communicating multi-variate, multi-dimensional, multi-
temporal, chaotic, disordered data.
Sporadic efforts have been made to undertake the first stages of quantifying
spatial disorder, most relying on the development of specific calculable indices,
such as entropy and diversity indicators. Both the terminology used and the
applicability of these indices are contentious, but a consistent and acceptable
approach to identifying, recording and measuring disorder is essential to fully
utilise this approach.
Example studies following this particular modus operandi have been undertaken
in the field of landscape ecology, a discipline which has led research into quanti-
fying diversity, complexity and order, and applying these to aesthetic and cultural
readings of environments (Arnheim 1972 ; Lewis 1982 ). The application and anal-
ysis of metrical indices, including those mentioned above, is considered more
recently by Ode et al. ( 2010 ) and Zurlini et al. ( 2012 ). Such indices are also
applicable in archaeology, where notable developments in high resolution
remotely-sensed surface data collection, notably by LiDAR, allow detailed mea-
surement of landscape disturbance and perturbation resulting from human activities
(e.g. mining, agriculture, military) (Doneus and K¨htreiber 2013 ; Kovacs
et al. 2012 ). Translated into map representations, and integrated with documentary
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