GEOG 260 FINAL

Represent Absolute data
Each dot equals a number of phenomena
Not normalized data
Location of the dot does NOT represent the exact location of the phenomena

Not on known location, but on center of distribution (spatial proxy)

Enumeration units boundaries should not have too much control on location of dots- for eg county lines, not for countries

Should be guided by additional knowledge or filters in mapping software

Anti-dot diatribe: unless you are familiar with your data’s context and can manipulate dot placement, you should avoid using dot maps, you should also avoid dot maps if your viewers are not familiar with the dot map method

Size is the only visual variable for representing quantities (numerical)

Size can be used for hierarchy (ordinal)

Eye can estimate ratios between values (estimations are better in one dimension (line) than in 2 (square, point)

Eye perceives only few classes (5 max)
Very wide lines are not always a good idea (eg cover too much real estate)

1. Material: follows a network (ex: irish railway commission atlas of 1837)
2. Immaterial: only the starting and ending points are known (ex: circle migration plots also called circular flow plots)
3. Somewhere between material and immaterial (common in early maps)
Distorts known geography to focus on flow

Graduated: each symbol is a part of a class
Easier to see distinct class in data
Easier to match particular symbol on map to legend
Less data detail
Same ideas as choroleth

Proportional: each symbol is unique
Legend includes representative symbol sizes
Harder to see distinct classes of data
Harder to match particular symbol on map to legend
More data detail

Perceived size of proportional symbols does not correspond totheir mathematical size

Readers tend to underestimate the size of larger symbols

non-contigous cartogram: blank spaces between elements
contiguous: no blanks

RGB: computer, additive
CMYK: print, subtractive

affected by...

light source, surface of map, surrounding colours, age of viewer, colour blind viewer, colour connotations

2 different colour hues
Quantile scheme is usually the best method
Standard deviation if the distribution is not too skewed
Jenks and manual methods should be avoided

“A form of multivariate mapping specific to encoding 2 data variables into a single product, for the purposes of investigating a relationship”
intra-symbol encoding- Size and value
Ex can combine graduated symbol map and choropleth map- colour in symbols
Inter-symbol encoding
Ex choropleth map as background with graduated symbols on top

Made of specific, discrete shapes that can be points lines or polygon
Attribute info can be appended to each feature and stored in related database
GPS, public and private geodata
graphic design software

represents continuous geographic features by dividing the world into discrete square or rectangular cells in a grid. Each cell has a value that is used to represent some characteristic of that location
Length and width of cell= cell resolution
High resolution raster files have smaller cels
Jpeg, tiff, pix
photo editing software

GIS furthers a positivist way of knowing the world based on a mathematical system of coordinates and geometries of point, line and polygons

Assign x and y coordinates and GIS warps the image so it fits to other spatial datasets. The result will create a new raster data set for use in GIS

The amin conceptual breakthrough that the net manifested was that there was no longer one service that corresponded to one network but rather a unique network can offer multiple services simultaneously

Breakthrough came from ARPANet- intention military but actually used for academic

Wikipedia of maps- anyone can edit
Created in 2004 by steve coast
Free and open source
Used in 2010 following the Haiti earthquakes

strength:
You can add missing data
Anyone can use to make decision and plan projects

Challenges:
ethical/political: avoid reproducing social/political divides/ hierarchies
Who is the mapper vs the mapped

2013
Free, open source software platform
Developed by openstreetmap france
UMaps source code is available on GitHub, enabling members to collaborate
Free, easy, open source (Floss/Foss)

different users work on the same map
You cannot add categories- only map maker can

Drawbacks:
Relies on 3rd part proprietary data management systems such as google sheets renders a uMAp project no longer completely open-source and can be inappropriate for projects that involve sensitive data
Since 2018 google began requiring valid credit card info from every user of its Maps API and would otherwise display the text ‘for development only’ on map tiles

Designates a vast and complex project that enables anyone to contribute geolocated data through different means such as clickable maps, text messages or online forms
Ex: ushahidi, queering the map, crowdspot

Basically it's a critique of
Mapping practices and processes
The politics of mapping
What maps are and how they are used to measure and meaningfully represent the world

Map making process whereby communities appropriate the state’s technique of formula mapping and make their own maps as alternatives to those used by govs

Cartography today is the outcome of a long series of contesting ideas and uses that developed over time
‘how can this map be made to represent what I/we are experiencing?
Don't explicitly confront the social, political aspects
Reject the notion that dominant mapping conventions
pay more attention to the creative power of the map maker
Reviving the ‘use’ of maps by associating them with other tools

Counter-cartography→ ‘in whose interests-and by what ideology-is this map made?
Alternative cartography → ‘how can this map be made to represent what I/we are experiencing?

Helps trigger and share fading memories
Reveals the global extent of intimate geographies of grief
Reactivates and strengthens connections with people that live far away
Mapping-ofrenda is then as much about (re)connecting

Naima and the fabric map --> 2 spheres- domestic and work

mapping as an open, processial, material, non-textual and creative event

“A book of maps with an authoritative tone an encyclopedic ambition a spatial and/or thematic unity and a narrative structure”

Ex: national atlas of canada
One of 1st world national atlases
1st edition in 1906

turn of 21st century, national atlases became interactive (eg Tirol Atlas was the 1st to use scalable vector graphics and tech (SVG) in 2001), available online and were not only giving access to media and data but to services as well

1. Unveiling cartographic construction
How cybercartography can serve to improve our understanding of Canadian cinematographic territories
2. Geographies of stories
Mapping 4 dimensions key to study narratives (spatio-temporal events)
3.
Mapped in mtl
Film tourism
Mapping cinema circuits
Mapping life stories of exiles
4. Mapping rohwandan stories

– Release of NASA World Wind (2014) and Google Earth (2015)

Provides directions & collect data - “location-targeted ads as being a very, very large business opportunity.”

vary significantly by scale / Often a social or political agenda