Modern cartography as a science
!
• Background
Modern cartography as a science
Menno-Jan Kraak
• Why maps
• Why Cartography
• Present
• Explore
• Geovisual analytics
Background
• Chair GeoVisual Analytics and Cartography
(GVAC)
Education / Research !
!
• How to map time (changes)
!
!
• Vice-President of the International
Cartographic Association
Why maps?
Why maps?
Maps tell stories
• Maps are abstractions or models of reality, in which geographic space
is represented by map space
• The spatial layout of maps enable users to see: - patterns - relationships - trends
http://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/snow/snowmap1_1854.html
Maps tell stories
Why cartography?
The art and science of making and using maps
• What is the most suitable graphic
representation?
‣ design
‣ geocomputational support
‣ reasoning based on graphics
PROBLEM
user tasks
Task
Working environment
(Geospatial) Data
Graphic
representation
Function
tools
data framework
• What is the best working environment?
‣ functionality /visualization strategy ‣ web-based
‣ multi resolution data integration
visualization framework
• Does it work?
‣ efficiency
‣ effectiveness ‣ satisfaction
Why cartography?
Why cartography?
Why cartography?
Why
cartography?
Cartography
Maps to present
!
๏ start: facts to be presented
are fixed
French troops
๏ process: choice of
appropriate visualization
technique
visualization process
How do I say What to Whom,
and is it effective?
November 26
Geographic
Data
Map
๏ result: high quality
visualization presenting
facts, the single best map
๏ emphasize: on map design
Cartography
Expectations?
Today, people demand up-to-date, or (near-)real-time, information,
about virtually anything, anywhere, and anytime.
Data characteristics
Change
Data collection
and dissemination
techniques
(Google!), mobile
devices, etc.
• Most important challenges facing science, business, and society have a
fundamental geographic component
• However the data is - Voluminous
- Heterogene
- Time-space
- Multivariable
Demand-driven
mapping,
usability issues,
mobile
applications,
Web 2.0, etc…
New
representation
variables, 3D
and dynamic
data modeling,
What happens in cartography? (interaction)
[source: New York Times]
What happens in cartography (panic)
Cartographers and map makers (type A)
Flying
http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/
Cartographers and map makers (type B)
Crowd-sourcing
Maps to explore
Data spaces
!
attribute space
๏ start: data without hypothesis
about the data
what?
๏ process: interactive,
undirected search for
structures and trends
t
๏ result: visualization that
provides hypothesis, different
alternative views
when?
where?
๏ emphasize: enabling
‘discoveries’
location space
Working environment for visual exploration
Location space
MAP
Attribute space
DIAGRAM
TIME GRAPH
Time space
Exploratory tools
t
time space
Beyond Cartography: Visual Analytics
• The science of analytical reasoning facilitated by interactive visual
interfaces (Thomas & Cook, 2005)
http://nvac.pnl.gov/agenda.stm
Geovisual analytics
!
• Geovisual analytics focuses on visual interfaces to analytical methods
that support reasoning with and about geo-information – to enable
insights about something for which place matters !
(MacEachren, 2012)
Detect the expected
and discover the unknown
Detect the expected and discover the unknown
Running
• Alternative insight in performance
1
2
1
2
Running
1
Behavior in the city
Behavior in the city
2
Traffic jam?
a)
Explore
Explore
Explore
Does it work?
d)
Opportunity http://www.gem-msc.org/application/general/
Georgia member?