WEEK 9

Conceptual Material and Application
Mapping Concepts, Classical and Contemporary

  • Transformation
    • Classical map projections
      • Lat/long--blackboard example
      • one-point compactification--reference to Week 2 lecture--blackboard example
      • classification
      • ArcView: 
        • illustration using software (extra extensions which may or may not be useful--disable virus checking software first).  Canada maps--variety of projections, including orthographic for animated globes. 
        • Image to map transformer utility:  http://www.co.seminole.fl.us/growth/gis/extents.htm permits the relatively easy insertion of a raster image behind a vector image (as in, for example, an aerial photo behind a GIS map).  Sample raster image.
          • raster--grid locations--all values in a pixel assigned same numerical value
          • vector--point locations--each point has a unique location.
    • Classical transformation--from Thompson to Tobler
  • Systems Mapping
    • Chaos--different views -- a parabola and y=x--quadratic and linear system
      • simple dynamical system--seeking stability--blackboard examples
      • complex dynamical system--not seeking stability--blackboard examples
      • suggestion of intervention opportunities
    • Applets
  • Notes about thematic maps 
    • When you have a range of data, use a range of color to match the data:  an increase in numerical value in the database should correspond to an evident color increase--from pink to rose to magenta to red to burgundy--not from pink to orange to burgundy to yellow to chartreuse.
    • When you are partitioning a range of data, explain how you treat gaps.
    • When comparing one thematic map to another, standardize the data partitioning procedure; if you also have another series in which standarization is not evident, explain.
    • Think about how you choose to partition data and explain why one choice is better than another, for your purposes.  Map your data using more than one data partitioning scheme--it can give insight into how others might choose to view your data.
    • You might want to save your legend as a .avl file (and remember to move it with the map).
References:

John P. Snyder, Flattening the Earth:  Two Thousand Years of Map Projections, University of Chicago Press, 1993.

D'Arcy W. Thompson, On Growth and Form, Cambridge University Press.

Waldo R. Tobler, Map Transformation of Geographic Space.  Ph.D. dissertation University of Washington.

Feigenbaum, Mitchell J.  Universal behavior in non-linear systems.  Los Alamos Science, summer, 4 - 27.

Gleick, J. 1987.  Chaos:  Making A New Science.  New York:  Penguin Books.

Hofstadter, D. R.  1981.  Strange attractors:  Mathematical patterns delicately poised between order and chaos.  Scientific American November:  23-43.

Sandra L. Arlinghaus,  John D. Nystuen and Michael J. Woldenberg. "An application of graphical analysis to semidesert soils." Geographical Review. New York:  The American Geographical Society. July, 1992, pp.244-252.