Mapping cyberspace: visualising, analysing and exploring virtual worlds

In the past years, with the development of computer networks such as the Internet and world wide web (WWW), cyberspace has been increasingly studied by researchers in various disciplines such as computer sciences, sociology, geography, and cartography as well. Cyberspace is mainly rooted in two computer technologies: network and virtual reality. Cybermaps, as special maps for cyberspace, have been used as a tool for understanding various aspects of cyberspace. As recognised, cyberspace as a virtual space can be distinguished from the earth we live on in many ways. Because of these distinctions, mapping it implies a big challenge for cartographers with their long tradition of mapping things in clear ways. This paper, by comparing it to traditional maps, addresses various cybermap issues such as visualising, analysing and exploring cyberspace from different aspects

Dynamic maps: a visual-analytic methodology for exploring spatio-temporal disease patterns

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Epidemiologic studies are often confounded by the human and environmental interactions that are complex and dynamic spatio-temporal processes. Hence, it is difficult to discover nuances in the data and generate pertinent hypotheses. Dynamic mapping, a method to simultaneously visualize temporal and spatial information, was introduced to elucidate such complexities. A conceptual framework for dynamic mapping regarding principles and implementation methods was proposed.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The spatio-temporal dynamics of <it>Salmonella </it>infections for 2002 in the U.S. elderly were depicted via dynamic mapping. Hospitalization records were obtained from the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services. To visualize the spatial relationship, hospitalization rates were computed and superimposed onto maps of environmental exposure factors including livestock densities and ambient temperatures. To visualize the temporal relationship, the resultant maps were composed into a movie.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The dynamic maps revealed that the <it>Salmonella </it>infections peaked at specific spatio-temporal loci: more clusters were observed in the summer months and higher density of such clusters in the South. The peaks were reached when the average temperatures were greater than 83.4°F (28.6°C). Although the relationship of salmonellosis rates and occurrence of temperature anomalies was non-uniform, a strong synchronization was found between high broiler chicken sales and dense clusters of cases in the summer.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Dynamic mapping is a practical visual-analytic technique for public health practitioners and has an outstanding potential in providing insights into spatio-temporal processes such as revealing outbreak origins, percolation and travelling waves of the diseases, peak timing of seasonal outbreaks, and persistence of disease clusters.</p

From Ortelius to OpenStreetMap - Transformation of the Map into a Multifunctional Signpost

Artykuł prezentuje ocenę rozwoju w ciągu ostatnich 40 lat kartografii jako dziedziny dotyczącej narzędzi do podejmowania decyzji. W latach 1980. rozwój automatyzacji na gruncie kartografii przeszkodził wykorzystaniu rezultatów badań psychofizycznych. Obecnie ma miejsce podobna sytuacja - rozwój badań funkcjonalności map jest zagrożony przez procesy partycypacji społecznej.Ortelius collected reliable map material from Europe best cartographers before publishing the first modern atlas in 1570. Since then much has changed and one of the exponents of those changes is the recent OpenStreetMap project, in which volunteers collect topographical information on their own. It is part of achieving a well-mapped society, whereby everyone has access to the spatial information that she needs, anytime and anywhere. The last 40 years saw important paradigm changes in cartography. In 1970 it still meant production omaps, notwithstanding the application of the grammar of graphical language in the presentation of geographic information in the preceding decade. That combination supplied the impetus for a scientific approach to information transfer, based upon empirical research: by comparing what map readers read off a map with what cartographers inserted on it, one could measure the effectiveness of a map design. This played a key role in the development of cartography, because it opened the door for psycho-physical research. It also led to a new definition of cartography in the 1980s, as the production and use of maps. That development was interrupted however by the onset of automation. Gradually it became clear that the computer could do more than only produce maps: once one had stored the spatial information needed to draw maps in the computer, the map contents could be flexibly adapted for various purposes. With the new methods of analysis, the door had opened to geographic information systems. It be-came possible to separate the storage function of the map from the communication function which changed the content of the term cartography once again: now cartography stands for passing on spatial information to support decision making. Simultaneously this process is affected by the democratization of cartography (everyone is now producing her own maps, frequently without sufficient cartographic knowledge). At the same time much cartographical information is no longer publicly available because files are no longer printed but kept in the computer. That has led to the development of Public Participation GIS, an attempt to make GIS techniques and government data files clear and accessible to a broader public, which helps in providing the public with realistic possibilities to share in decision-making. The public is also adapting digital techniques like GeoTagging or mash-ups to its mapping needs and is circum-venting copyright laws by generating freely available geographic data such as for road maps and city maps, as in the OpenStreetMap project. In this same context, atlases and maps are proposed that provide frameworks, within which user-generated data as well as such social digital networks as Web 2.0 and Wiki can be easily integrated. In this way people would be enabled to incorporate information that they consider relevant. But is this consistent with optimal spatial information transfer? Ortelius collected information from the world's best cartographers, and that madę his atlas such a success. So should we now allow atlases to be filled by crowd-surfing processes? Is active civilian participation enough? In my opinion we are running the risk, with cartographic materiał to which anyone and everyone can contribute his own information, that - without exercising professional control over the contents to be added - we are replacing quality by consensus, so that in the long run no one will any longer be able to truły depend on the data

Basic cartography

Basic Cartography: For Students and Technicians; Exercise Manua

Visualization support for fuzzy spatial analysis

Visualization techniques benefit fuzzy spatial analysis in at least two aspects. One is in the field of exploratory analysis, and another is in the representation of uncertainty. This paper intends to discuss the first issue. Fuzzy spatial analysis may be distinguished from conventional analysis in that the former is a form of concept analysis which is closer to natural language and the latter in most cases refers to numerical processing. Due to the fuzzy nature of the analysis approach, suitable visualization techniques to support the analysis process are highly needed. In this paper, the fundamentals of fuzzy spatial analysis are outlined and consecutively, the visualization tools supporting the exploration process are focused on. Finally, an approach towards a complete system framework for exploration is presented using some advanced techniques such as the object-oriented system building approach, Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) and hypertext techniques.