5.1 Growing concern for cartographic communication and
research
The rapid development of cartography and the growing
demand of maps gave birth to attemps to establish a rational
base for theoretic cartography. Today, a map is not only
defined in descriptive terms, but also functionally as a means
of visual communication on the spatial arrangement of data.
The descriptive aspects can be best analysed by "semiology"
or general sign theory, which contains theoretical considera
tion on graphic symbols, their relationships with the features
or phenomena they represent, and their effectiveness in
communicating information. At present, semiology forms an
essential part of cartographic theory. The functional defini
tion of maps is derived from the general communication
theory. It was not until the development of communication
theory that cartographers, so far almost exclusively concerned
with the production of cartographic work, began to wonder
about the effectiveness of what they did and consequently
incorporated the receiver of their graphic information into
their considerations. The map user became the object for
investigation. In terms of communication theory, the map is
regarded as a communication system or channel, into which
bits of information are coded and transmitted from the
cartographer to the user, who with the assistance of the
legend, decodes or perceives the information. Optimum
communication between the two can be achieved only, when
the cartographer has attained a thorough understanding of
how his message is decoded or perceived by the user. Research
into perception is therefore essential.
A review of literature on cartography during the past two
decades reveals a persistent increase in the concern for these
problems of communication and perception. Several seminars
and symposia on national and international levels dealt with
the matter, and in 1972 the General Assembly of the Inter
national Cartographic Association established a special
Commission to study Communication in Cartography. It is
beyond the scope of this paper to follow this perception
research that is currently conducted in the USA and various
other countries in detail. Sufficient to say that in order to find
a scientific basis for the visual efficiency of their maps,
cartographers had to draw on psychophysics, a branch of
psychology concerned with the relationships between
physical stimuli and mental response. The final practical
outcome of this kind of research, is not yet certain. Some
expect that it will result in narrowing down cartographic
design to a mere application of graphic rules, accessible to
each non-artistic draughtsman. Others are rather critical.
5.2 Increasing demand for thematic maps
Thematic cartography has a dualistic character. According to
its methods of representation, it belongs to cartography;
according to its subject or theme it belongs to other disciplines
such as geology, soil science, demography, economy, etc. In
recent decades the number of applications of thematic carto
graphy has rapidly increased as a growing number of dis
ciplines, assimilated with cartographic methods and tech
niques for the spatial display of their data. Thematic maps,
representing the various aspects of the natural environment,
have been the tools of geo-scientists since long ago. In our
days the whole complexity of the environment has been
broken down into hundreds of analytical thematical maps
demonstrating a great variety of symbolization and presenta
tion. Thematic maps on socio-economic and even political
issues, such as the spatial characteristics of natural resources
and production, the regional distribution of income, unem
ployment or population density, or of the results of elections,
are the indispensable stand-bies of economic and political
management today.
According to an official report of the Federal Republic of
Germany to the UN Regional Cartographic Conference for
Asia and the Far East in Bangkok, in January 1977, 80-85%
of all maps issued annually are thematic. It is expected that
this flow will even gain in volume, as the economic develop
ment and the urbanization of the world increases and the
efforts of mankind for the conservation of the environment
intensify.
5.3 New Branches of cartography
Parallel to this increasing production of thematic maps, new
branches of cartography are developing, such as 1. regional
planning cartography, 2. natural resources mapping, 3. land
use mapping, 4. vegetation mapping, 5. school cartography,
6. tourist cartography, etc., each of them with their specific
responsibilities and problem areas. Some of these branches
have grown into vast industries, such as the tourist carto
graphy, which became one of the largest and most profitable
fields of map production in Europe, or the school cartography
specializing in the production of wall maps and school
atlasses, reaching immense circulations.
This is illustrated by recent figures from the Soviet Union,
where annually 120 million school atlasses and 30 million
wall maps are produced, and where 60% of all maps produced
are intended for education. To illustrate the specific problems
in various fields of thematic map production, two new fields
of thematic mapping will be considered more closely.
5.3.1 Regional planning cartography
Regional planning is characterized by an extremely large and
varied demand of map products, ranging from highly
accurate large-scale engineering maps to small-scale thematic
maps, from simply prepared working maps for internal use to
highly sophisticated presentation maps in colour. Moreover,
in different stages of planning, different thematic maps are
required successively.
1. Maps to provide basic spatial information about the
character of a region ("inventory" or "catalogue" maps).
2. Maps as analytical tools to be used by the research
workers, either to examine the spatial distribution of
information or as a means of bringing together informa
tion on several topics, for example areas subject to certain
conditions, or areas free from various restrictions ("sieve"
maps).
3. Maps to illustrate research findings, usually accompanying
written research reports.
4. Maps to illustrate plan proposals.
Maps for regional planning present the cartographer with
special difficulties.
1. First of all, there is the complexity of the planning pro
blems and the great multiplicity of variables to be
mapped.
2. Real planners' maps distinguish themselves from conven
tional maps depicting existing situation with a "minimum
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