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Showing papers in "Cartographic Journal in 2000"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The problem is approached by introducing a model for a multiple representation database (MRDB) system that satisfies the varying multi-purpose needs of geographic data in a flexible manner and offers a means for solving updating problems.
Abstract: The maintenance and updating of geo-databases has today become an urgent problem in national mapping agencies. In this paper, the problem is approached by introducing a model for a multiple representation database (MRDB) system. The term 'multiple representation' refers to a database structure in which several representations at various scales of the same geographic object are included. This structure offers several advantages, one of which is that an MRDB satisfies the varying multi-purpose needs of geographic data in a flexible manner and offers a means for solving updating problems. The system can be supported by an object-oriented approach. However, the most central requirement for the system is that bidirectional connectivities are supported among the various representations. This requirement has been examined in a case study that was implemented in an object-oriented GIS environment. The difference between an MRDB system and a traditional map-product database system are illustrated and discu...

52 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An integrated technique for the generalization of contour maps consisting of an objective line generalization algorithm (Li-Openshaw algorithm) and an algorithm for the derivation of a new contour from two original neighbouring contours, which guarantees very smooth resultant contours.
Abstract: This paper describes an integrated technique for the generalization of contour maps. The technique consists of an objective line generalization algorithm (Li-Openshaw algorithm) and an algorithm fo...

31 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide an extensive, descriptive rationale and a graphic solution for the many difficult problems associated with map lettering placement that are not treated specifically in Imhof's (1975) landmark article.
Abstract: One of the essential ingredients in any map is the lettering. Just as point, line and area symbols are designed to depict various geographic features, lettering, also referred to as labels, type, text, etc., is used as symbols to make various features. Selecting an appropriate style and size for map lettering (Shortridge, 1979) is equally important to efficient cartographic communication as the placement of map lettering. This paper provides an extensive, descriptive rationale and a graphic solution for the many difficult problems associated with map lettering placement that are not treated specifically in Imhof's (1975) landmark article.

21 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The hydrography of Cat Island, a rather small, albeit interesting feature in the Gulf of Mexico, is the subject of six generalizations executed with a procedure that replicates and extends Julian Perkal's proposal for an objective generalization.
Abstract: The hydrography of Cat Island, a rather small, albeit interesting feature in the Gulf of Mexico, is the subject of six generalizations executed with a procedure that replicates and extends Julian Perkal's proposal for an objective generalization. The automated procedure, based on the two operations known as waterlining and Medial-Axis Transformation, is shown to lead to results that should be similar to those achieved by a trained cartographer working with the traditional manual method. Three aspects of generalization are covered by the procedure: line simplification in general, and dropping and aggregation of features of simple configurations. As regards Perkal's original objective, this presentation proves that it can be achieved by a combination of waterlining operations. The Medial-Axis Transformation, a concept developed within Pattern Recognition, is proposed as the best choice for spanning Perkal's boundary zones. The six generalizations are offered as evidence that the method preserves the...

17 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The use of wavelet filtering has shown a disposition to extract the general trend of a line, essential to reduce drastically the scale, but also to establish classifications and segmentations depending on the homogeneity and the sinuosity of the features.
Abstract: Cartographic generalization is one of the main difficulties when dealing with digital cartography and GIS. First works on automatic generalization of linear features were mainly devoted to algorithms of simplification, being their main target to reduce the number of co-ordinates to store. However, the use of techniques in the frequency domain provides us with a new research area. In this paper the use of wavelet filtering has shown a disposition to extract the general trend of a line, essential to reduce drastically the scale, but also to establish classifications and segmentations depending on the homogeneity and the sinuosity of the features.

16 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper addressed various mapping issues such as visualizing, analysing and exploring cyberspace from different aspects as well as providing some clarification on how virtual worlds can be distinguished from the physical world the authors live in.
Abstract: With the development of computer technologies such as the Internet and reality, the notion of cyberspace has been emerging and it has been increasingly studied by researchers in various disciplines involving the computer sciences, sociology, geography, and cartography. Cybermaps, as special maps for cyberspace, have been produced and used as a tool for understanding various aspects of cyberspace virtual worlds. Virtual worlds can be distinguished in many ways from the physical world we live in. Because of these distinctions, it is a big challenge for cartographers to offer some clarification. This paper addressed various mapping issues such as visualizing, analysing and exploring cyberspace from different aspects.

16 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A mapping system was designed using the advanced macro language (AML) and menus of ARC/INFO at the Curriculum for Evaluation and Management Centre (CEM) in Durham University to automate the mapping process, so that any user can map pupils' locations of any school in the United Kingdom simply by entering some key information.
Abstract: Over the last three decades, the information revolution and technological advances have led to a paradigm shift in cartography. Recently, the major emphasis has been on 'democratization of cartography', where individuals can be empowered with electronic tools to analyse and visualize spatially referenced data (Morrison, 1994). But, an ordinary user can not effectively use the available GIS tools to visualize geographical data. Therefore, cartographers and/or GIS experts need to develop user-friendly map making systems to facilitate the democratization of cartography. A mapping system was designed using the advanced macro language (AML) and menus of ARC/INFO at the Curriculum for Evaluation and Management Centre (CEM) in Durham University to automate the mapping process (extending from spatial and non-spatial data extraction to the printing of a final map), so that any user can map pupils' locations of any school in the United Kingdom simply by entering some key information. The procedure followed ...

6 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
Bruce Maxwell1
TL;DR: The cartographic elements of a system for classifying and visualizing high-dimensional geographic datasets to develop regional and global typologies of coastal zones using large multi-variable datasets are presented.
Abstract: This paper presents the cartographic elements of a system for classifying and visualizing high-dimensional geographic datasets. The system has been developed as part of the Land Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone (LOICZ) project. The goal of the system is to develop regional and global typologies of coastal zones using large multi-variable datasets. Our implementation bring together statistical clustering algorithms with visualization capabilities to allow easy analysis and comprehension of the result. The two main tasks of the visualization are to allow for discrimination of multiple classes and to show relationships between those classes. These are accomplished in two different visual presentations. In both cases, the system selects colors appropriate to the purpose. In the latter case — showing relationships — the system uses a novel iterative refinement algorithm to select the colors. The result show that the system is successful at both generation the classes and visualizing the relations...

6 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In their pre-war heyday Batholomew, that most famous of British commercial mapmakers, had a huge worldwide business in every sort and scale of map and atlas for every purpose; not to mention, at one time, an extensive general printing trade.
Abstract: In their pre-war heyday Batholomew, that most famous of British commercial mapmakers, had a huge worldwide business in every sort and scale of map and atlas for every purpose; not to mention, at one time, an extensive general printing trade. But, even so, their name became firmly associated in the public consciousness with one particular design of map on one particular scale — the half-inch to one mile (1.126 720) layer colored map of Great Britain. This study deals with the early history of the phenomenon, in the context of the firm's other work. It concludes with the completion of the England and Wales series, and the moment when it could be said, in the most elevated and objective of contexts, that the British map buyer — trade and public both — had, thanks to this map, acquired 'the Bartholomew habit'.

4 citations



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Philcarto is an 'interactive cartomatic' program designed specifically to map spatially aggregated data for censuses or specialized surveys in which the 'national space' is divided up into spatial units (regions, departments, municipalities, etc.)
Abstract: In the world of the Physical sciences geographers often specialized software packages for their scientific work that are directly applicable to their own domain and related domains of research. Philcarto and philexplo for the Apple Power Macintosh are two such examples of this kind of software package. They are designed specifically to map spatially aggregated data for censuses (population and flats, agriculture, etc.) or specialized surveys (education, health, etc.) in which the 'national space' is divided up into spatial units (regions, departments, municipalities, etc.). Philcarto is an 'interactive cartomatic' program. Using two or three mouses clicks the user redefines the characteristics of the map which he wishes to obtain (the mode of representation, type of 'discretization', colours scales, symbols sizes, final annotations of the map, etc.). The value of this software does not lie with its methodological novelty, but with the ease of its use and the immediacy of displaying a map often com...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is concluded that it is as yet completely unknown when and where the very idea behind the Iranian cartographic grid was first conceived, and that the quest for their historical background is still open.
Abstract: In this paper the cartographic grids engraved on two antique instruments from Iran for finding the sacred direction and distance to Mecca are discussed. It appears that these grids can be well explained in terms of the Mecca-centred retro-azimuthal orthographic projection described in 1968 by J. E. Jackson. In this projection the lines of constant latitude reduce to a set of ellipses with their major axes parallel to the equator and the lines of the constant longitudes reduce to a set of non-equidistant straight lines parallel to the north-south direction. It is shown that the curves actually engraved on the instrument conform to this projection and can be fairly easily constructed. This interpretation of the grid on the Iranian instruments stands in contrast with another explanation, recently proposed by King (1999), which is based on medieval Arabic concepts such as the so-called 'methods of the zijes'. Insufficiently accurate workmanship makes it impossible to distinguish between the two explan...