Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
While some software packages assist users
through the inclusion of manual-based tutorials
(e.g. MapViewer), templates (e.g. MapSheets), or
specialised topics (e.g. Whitener and Creath 1997
(Excel)), more often than not the help offered is
merely practical guidance in using the software to
help to create a map but with little emphasis being
placed on the visual quality of the end product.
The MapViewer tutorial, for example, leads to the
production of a rather garish and colourful
choropleth map. The software also allows the user
to create a wide variety of different types of map
using the same data, some of which may not be
appropriate. Other mapping software simply does
not offer any guidance at all, which can lead to
what is ultimately a very powerful toolbox being
used to create a poor map product that does not
effectively communicate the information
contained within it.
Although attempts have been made to provide
specific guidance in the form of reference colour
charts to aid in the use of colour, map composition
templates to aid in map layout, and even
knowledge-based systems that run alongside the
mapping package designed to offer appropriate
guidance, very few commercially available systems
have been developed, and as a result the software
user is still left with a powerful toolbox to create
whatever they want. The situation is made worse
by the fact that many of the software packages
encourage the user to simply duplicate the
traditional paper map product in an electronic
medium, while others that at least offer greater
flexibility in the electronic medium do not offer
sufficient control over the end product. The
electronic medium offers a great deal of potential
for the modern-day map maker, which goes far
beyond simply recreating a paper map 'on screen'.
Nevertheless, there are elements of traditional
cartography that are very relevant to the electronic
medium, and at the very least the end-user should
be aware of these.
more traditional roles as a practising cartographer,
in the national mapping agencies, or in GIS. In
many geography undergraduate degree
programmes, cartography (either traditional or
computer-assisted) was and still is taught as a 'skills
course' e.g. University of Aberdeen—second year
component of mapping science (topographic
science, surveying, remote sensing, aerial
photointerpretation, GIS, GPS (global positioning
systems) and fourth year honours module (http://
www.abdn.ac.uk/geography). Cartography and
digital mapping are also taught as postgraduate
courses in a number of institutions, e.g.
Department of Geography and Topographic
Science, University of Glasgow (http://
www.geog.gla.ac.uk/courses/cartogit.htm).
Today numbers in cartography options are
often small, with more and more students
choosing the more popular GIS modules or
degree courses. Relatively few of the GIS courses,
however, seem to offer students (especially those
with a limited background or exposure to
cartography from non-geographical backgrounds)
an opportunity to explore cartography in the
context of map design, communication,
visualisation and use in an electronic medium.
Furthermore, there are still relatively few texts on
maps in an electronic medium.
Map design—colour
Colour is a key element in visual communication
and one that is very important in map design.
Colour choice and selection, however, is difficult at
the best of times. Although the use of colour is well
documented in both the art and cartographic
literature, much of the latter concerns colour use in
a paper medium. To date, less has been written
about colour choice and use in an electronic
medium (see, e.g., Brewer 1994; Green 1991; 1993;
Brown and van Elzakker 1993). While knowledge
and understanding about colour use in a paper
medium is important, it is very different in a
computer environment. The problem has been
exacerbated by the significant improvements in
colour display and output devices (monitors,
graphics cards, printers and plotters), providing the
Education
Cartography still offers many graduating students
a job at the end of their programme, either in
