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in cartography by statement: “…cartographers must continue to apply
their aesthetic judgment in seeking to present the subject of their maps in
the best way possible…” It follows Keates (1996) perception of “a map as
an artefact” , that means object whereon artistic approach is applicable.
Cinematography with its broad viewpoint can serve as a base representing
aesthetics ideals of our time and in this way is a good platform for carto-
grapher to connect with these ideals. It also represents feed-back how maps
are viewed by their audience, how they are used and, last but not least,
which functions are, or in future may be found, as useful (compare also
Caquard 2009 or Caquard and Wright 2009). The following example of
various film adaptations of one adventure novel demonstrates how these
different backgrounds result in a map portrayal in a movie.
2- A vision of map
To demonstrate changes in the vision of the map in film production, re-
occurring theme is needed. And of course a theme that works with map is
needed. As was mentioned above - where is journey there will be map.
Whole adventure genre is about the journey for something. One of these
genre classics is novel King Solomon's Mines written by British novelist
H.R. Haggard. This novel was several times re-adapted, always with suffi-
cient time lag.
When King Solomon's Mines was published in 1885, cinematography was
not even a known term (first public showing of “moving pictures”
occurred exactly ten years later). The novel was published two years after
highly successful R.L. Stevenson's Treasure Island and quickly become
quite popular (Bleiler 1948). Although both novels include a map, each of
them is of a shade different kind. Stevenson offers fairly detailed topogra-
phy of the entire island (red crosses indicating the location of treasure are
mentioned inside the text: „… three crosses of red ink … and beside
this…"Bulk of treasure here."…“ ) and leaves it on treasure hunter to find
his way (citations from the topic courtesy of Maps in Literature database).
Haggard on the other hand gives readers only the most basic and on details
poor sketch without even slight additional information about the surround-
ing landscape. Nevertheless, the map is efficient and is comparable to the
most modern navigational maps for mobile mapping ( Figure 1a, 1b )
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