summaries
P.W. Geudeke - The Topographie Service: a national geo-
graphic Institution?
At the beginning of the previous Century topographic map
produetion started as a military task. An early attempt in
1820 to Start a national base map for all users resulted in
failure.
Up to the present the produetion and revision of the various
map series has been in the hands of a central Organization
which has remained a part of the Ministry of Defence.
This article examines the way in which the civil interests are
looked after by the Topographic Service and the Ministry of
Defence over a period of 175 years.
Recent developments may lead to the transformation of the
Topographic Service into a real national geographic Insti
tution.
L. van Zuylen -175 Years maps and map makers
As founding date of the predecessor of the Topographic
Service is considered the Royal Decree of 18th February 1815,
nr 108, in which the tasks of the second section of the Topo
graphic Bureau are stipulated.
Since then many maps and map series have been published.
The techniques of map making changed continuously and
many technical developments are connected with the names
of persons. This article discusses maps and techniques which,
and people who, played an important role in those 175 years.
J.J.C. Piket - Topography from Babylon up to Emmen
The topographic map is the oldest and most enduring map
type; in its 4500 year history it has adopted itself again and
again to changing public needs. Topographic knowledge of
the Earth as well as methodologies of map making and carto-
graphic representation both improved step by step. By com-
paring older and newer maps the differences and the relations
between topography, terrain and landscape become clear.
Modern times have brought the possibility for a combined In
terpretation of topographic maps with their representation of
the permanent, unchanging terrain information, and of satel-
lite image maps with their representation of the more chang
ing terrain phenomena. This stimulates insight into the es
se nee of landscapes with their dynamics and their problems
of deterioration and decline. As landscape problems extend
across national boundaries, the contents of topographic maps
of neighbouring countries should be well adjusted, in particu-
lar regarding the representation of vulnerable small terrain
objects.
G.A.M. Vrijkotte - Automation at the Topographic Service
The Topographic Service will create and keep up to date 4
topographic data bases. The contents of these data bases will
correspond to the map series 1:10,000, 1:50,000, 1:250,000 and
1:500,000.
This article describes how far these data bases already exist,
which methodologies have been used and what plans the
Topographic Service has for the near future. Automation and
particularly digitization started in the Seventies. After a peri
od of preparation, and purchase of equipment the digitization
of the map series 1:10,000 started as an experiment.
In view of the effort and time required to digitize The
Netherlands at the scale 1:10,000 it was decided to start at the
other end of the scale ränge. The first project suitable for this
experimental phase was the municipality boundaries map of
The Netherlands at the scale 1:400,000. The next project was
the map series 1:250,000, of which the first edition has been
produced between 1979 and 1984. The experience gained and
the Software developed could be used for building up the
data base for the 1:50,000 series, which started in 1983. Now
the work on the 1:10,000 data base has started and should be
completed in 1997.
The above outline shows that after the initial 'large scale' ap-
proach the choice was made to build up in steps from smafl
to large scale. The discussion of automation aspects in the ar
ticle follows this progression.
N.J. Bakker - Map use and map user
Topographic maps are used for countless purposes and there-
fore find a general distribution to governmental institutions,
public Utilities, engineering Offices and private persons. In
short topographic maps can be considered as multi-functional
maps, initially produced for military purposes but soon find-
ing a permanent place in the civil sector. The number of ap-
plications is diversified so that it is necessary to classify them
in some way.
In this article map users and map use will be illustrated from
various points of view.
Firstly as consumers: are the users private persons, busi-
nesses or governmental institutions?
The second approach concerns the purpose for which the
maps are used, such as recreation, inventory, management,
scientific work.
However, the categories are not clearly distinguishable, as a
user often has multiple applications for the map.
Thirdly those types of map use are chosen, which we find
in cartographic manuals: map reading, map analysis and
map interpretation.
The physical nature forms the fourth approach to map
use. Nowadays not only analogue maps on paper or in the
form of transparencies are involved, but also digital topo-
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