summaries
O.A. Bouma - The 'Witsen' project: searching for the ideal
map of The Netherlands
Keywords: visualisation, regional planning cartography, research
In the State Physical Planning Agency of The Netherlands a need
existsfor a map which is able to give a good and immediate
impression of the actual physical appearance of the current Dutch
landscape. Such a map does not exist yet. The Agency therefore
commissioned the so-called 'Witsen Project': an investigation into
the possibilities ofrealizing such a map.
The article reports on those investigations. Initially, the purpose
of the map, its users and the scale were determined. After deciding
on the content of the map, a legend with associative symbols was
designed. Next to various types oflanduse, relief and humidity of
the soil have been incorporated. Afirst sample map, based on
analogue sources, was produced to test the design (Utrecht and
surroundings).
Evaluation showed that some adjustments were required. The next
step was to investigate whether a map with approximately the
same visual appearance could also be based on digital sources.
The article gives an overview ofthe existing digital sources used
to build a 'Witsen database' and ofpossible production lines to
produce a hard copy 'Witsen map' from this database. A secon
sample map of the Randstad (enclosed) shows the result. The final
map (at scale 1:200,000) will be approximately 1.5 x 2 meters.
D. Schenk M. van Lingen - Space for 2015, impression of the
spatial development of The Netherlands
Keywords: visualisation, digital cartography, applications
The Dutch Physical Planning Agency took the initiative to produ
ce a map ofThe Netherlands in order to visualize - as concretely
as possible - the physical characteristics of the country in the year
2015. The poster is enclosed in this issue ofthe Kartografisch
Tijdschrift. Its main map consists ofthree layers of Information,
each reflecting a different policy level. Local structures and pat-
terns can be recognized in the composite Landsat image, which
forms the base. At national level the main structure isformed by
urban and rural areas. Policies applying to the different areas are
shown by transparant colours in the second layer. In the broader
perspective of Northwestern Europe, The Netherlands can be
characterized as 'Waterland'. 'Distributionland' and 'Urbanized
land'. This is represented in the third layer by emphasizing certain
hydrographic elements, main ports, communication lines and
urban nodes. The main map is accompanied by a series of compo
site photographs, which on the one hand serve as a legend and on
the other hand attempt to show how tomorrow 's landscape will
look like. The small scale maps at the bottom also serve as legend
and contain some further policy information.
Design and production were carried out by VRTI Design. The
dataset consisted of some 45 Arclnfo coverages (over 3 gigabyte
storage space), which had to be combined with the enhanced com
posite satellite image.
Currently the Physical Planning Agency and VRTI Design are
producing an Interactive cartographic presentation System, which
will serve as a prototype for possible future CD-ROM Solutions
for such complex projects.
H. Post A.A. van der Veen - A presentation System for the
health impact Statement of Schiphol Airport
Keywords: GIS/LIS, thematic cartography, applications
At the National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Pro
tection GIS has been introduced for environmental health
research. It has been applied for the assessment ofthe impact on
public health of environmental pollution emitting from activities at
and in the neighbourhood of Schiphol Airport. To facilitate the
assessment by a team of researchers, a presentation System con-
sisting ofslide shows has been developed in a SPANS-GIS envi-
ronment. It contains cartographic representations ofalmost all the
data considered to be relevant for the research. The data are inte-
grated in the GIS. The main topics dealt with are topography,
demography, environmental pollution - by odour, sound and air
pollutants - and indicators of public health, such as the occurence
of certain deseases and complaints about air traffic noise. The aim
ofthe presentation System was to allow the researchers to gain a
quick overview ofthe characteristics ofthe area concerned and of
the suitability ofthe available data.
Furthermore, the aim was to illustrate the possibilities of a GIS to
analyze and present data in environmental health research. The
article describes the design and Implementation ofthe System and
acldresses problems encountered during the development. It con-
cludes that the system came up to expectations.
Y. T. Bouma - Research on the quality of citymaps
Keywords: map use, urban cartography, research
This paper describes a research project about the quality of city
maps which was carried out by the Cartography Section ofthe
Faculty of Geographical Sciences ofthe University of Utrecht on
behalf ofthe Netherlands Consumers Organisation.
The maps which were subjected to the test reflected the commer-
cially available maps ofthe populär tourist eitles in Europe, on
sale in The Netherlands. The cities were selected bij the Consu
mers Organisation.
In the maps, those items were tested that have been identified as
being important to the tourist.
In total eight items were checked: relevant mapitems, legibility,
completeness, accessibility, up to dateness, extra information,
KT 1994.XX.2
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