A comparison of the limitations and accuracy of both obstructed prism and obstructed non-prism measurements

Whether it be through the implementation of either prism based measurements, or non-prism based measurements, when an obstruction is introduced into the equation, and a clear unobstructed view between the instrument and target no longer exists, there is a strong possibility of a distortion of some magnitude being introduced into any recorded data. The aim of this report is to compare and contrast both the limitations and accuracies of obstructed prism based (both ATR and manual pointing) and obstructed non-prism based field measurements and to derive the reliability as well as the repeatability of such measurements. The instruments being tested in this project include the Topcon DS-203AC Total Station, the Leica TPS1103 Total Station and the Trimble SPS930 DR+ Total Station. A series of physical obstructions were placed at different distance intervals between these instruments and targets so that the view to the target from the instrument was obstructed. These distance intervals between the instrument/ target and the obstruction were altered in proximity to both the instrument and target in order to best simulate a variety of field conditions. The overall distance between the instrument and the target were also varied to simulate different situations. Results obtained from this investigation indicated clear trends amongst the instruments through all of the obstructions. Whilst some obstructions had little impact on the accuracy of the instrument readings, other obstructions introduced some significant and intolerable errors. After all of the results had been analysed, a set of recommendations was compiled from the analysed data that indicate the accuracy and repeatability of each of the different methods of measurement through different obstructions and how the resulting errors can best be mitigated and minimised

Totalitarianism and geography: L.S. Berg and the defence of an academic discipline in the age of Stalin

In considering the complex relationship between science and politics, the article focuses upon the career of the eminent Russian scholar, Lev Semenovich Berg (1876–1950), one of the leading geographers of the Stalin period. Already before the Russian Revolution, Berg had developed a naturalistic notion of landscape geography which later appeared to contradict some aspects of Marxist–Leninist ideology. Based partly upon Berg's personal archive, the article discusses the effects of the 1917 revolution, the radical changes which Stalin's cultural revolution (from the late 1920s) brought upon Soviet science, and the attacks made upon Berg and his concept of landscape geography thereafter. The ways in which Berg managed to defend his notion of geography (sometimes in surprisingly bold ways) are considered. It is argued that geography's position under Stalin was different from that of certain other disciplines in that its ideological disputes may have been regarded as of little significance by the party leaders, certainly by comparison with its practical importance, thus providing a degree of ‘freedom’ for some geographers at least analogous to that which has been described by Weiner (1999. A little corner of freedom: Russian nature protection from Stalin to Gorbachev. Berkeley: University of California Press) for conservationists. It is concluded that Berg and others successfully upheld a concept of scientific integrity and limited autonomy even under Stalinism, and that, in an era of ‘Big Science’, no modernizing state could or can afford to emasculate these things entirely

Geographically touring the eastern bloc: British geography, travel cultures and the Cold War

This paper considers the role of travel in the generation of geographical knowledge of the eastern bloc by British geographers. Based on oral history and surveys of published work, the paper examines the roles of three kinds of travel experience: individual private travels, tours via state tourist agencies, and tours by academic delegations. Examples are drawn from across the eastern bloc, including the USSR, Poland, Romania, East Germany and Albania. The relationship between travel and publication is addressed, notably within textbooks, and in the Geographical Magazine. The study argues for the extension of accounts of cultures of geographical travel, and seeks to supplement the existing historiography of Cold War geography

In search of the authentic nation: landscape and national identity in Canada and Switzerland

While the study of nationalism and national identity has flourished in the last decade, little attention has been devoted to the conditions under which natural environments acquire significance in definitions of nationhood. This article examines the identity-forming role of landscape depictions in two polyethnic nation-states: Canada and Switzerland. Two types of geographical national identity are identified. The first – what we call the ‘nationalisation of nature’– portrays zarticular landscapes as expressions of national authenticity. The second pattern – what we refer to as the ‘naturalisation of the nation’– rests upon a notion of geographical determinism that depicts specific landscapes as forces capable of determining national identity. The authors offer two reasons why the second pattern came to prevail in the cases under consideration: (1) the affinity between wild landscape and the Romantic ideal of pure, rugged nature, and (2) a divergence between the nationalist ideal of ethnic homogeneity and the polyethnic composition of the two societies under consideration