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1982 6: 106Prog Hum GeogrChristopher Board

Maps and mapping  

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Maps and mappingby Christopher Board

I Teaching mapwork

The renewed interest in map work in schools noted in the previous report (Board,1980, 437) has gathered momentum with the devotion of a session to it at the 1981 1Conference of the Geographical Association in London and the publications ofworking parties and research teams. The Schools Council’s Geography Committee(1979) has reviewed and distilled the best practice in teaching map skills to pupilsup to the age of adolescence. However, their choice of concepts for emphasis. (direction, height, location, plan, scale, symbols) can be criticized for omitting anexplicit discussion of the purpose of map making and use. Their bibliography ofrecent school texts on map work is extremely useful. The Inspectorate of theInner London Education Authority offers guidance on the development of graphi-cacy including map work in the primary school (1981). In a colourful manualaimed at teachers, it provides a progressive programme of work stressing, as doesthe Schools Council report, the importance of working from the familiar and the

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large scale towards the distant and small scale (whether topographic or atlas maps).More encouragement is given here to the development of motor skills, many ofwhich are map oriented. Catling, who was involved in producing the ILEA manual,contributes a valuable discussion of the objectives of map teaching and learning(1980). It is refreshing for someone to advocate using maps children are likelyto encounter as well as the more complex and traditional topographic map. FromAustralia, Gerber’s research (1981) was aimed at analysing young children’s under-standing of map elements and some of their underlying concepts. He reports aseries of tests made with 6, 7 and 8 year olds who did not perform as previousresearchers have indicated. Young children were apparently better able to dealwith discrete elements of maps rather than- whole maps. Encountering such ele-ments or objects in a concrete experience such as representing objects in a play-ground is valuable. Spatial arrangements present difficulties because young chil-dren often rotate or invert them or present them linearly. Their symbols are notunexpectedly photo-like drawings of the objects they represent and are highlyegocentric. Interestingly, it looks as if ILEA recommendations are in line withsuch findings. Based in Birmingham, Boardman and Towner have conducted some

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tests of map-reading ability in rather older pupils. Their full report (1979) out-lines all their tests and conclusions, while their article (1980) selects that partwhich deals with the correlation of the map and an oblique air photograph. Onceagain several lessons for teaching are noted with the warning that the basic mapusing skills tend to be neglected in the latter years of the school curriculumwhen they need to be repeatedly practised and reinforced.

One potentially important trend to emerge from studies such as these reviewedabove is the way in which cognitive mapping is being integrated with other mapskills and related both to the child’s developing awareness of his environmentand his skill at representing it for a variety of purposes. Seen in this light, mentalmapping or cognitive mapping need no longer be regarded with some amusement tobe dismissed as intriguing exercises with no special point to them, for as Pocockand Hudson (1978, 60) suggest they may truly be an aid to understanding howman mentally organizes his environment.

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II Mental maps

Strong confirmation for this comes from a report on the mental maps of 14 in-habitants of the Esplanade quarter of Strasbourg (Ribey, 1980). This penetratingstudy by a practising psychologist starts with the pedestrian, his (or her) individualperception of his physical environment and his mental map, but is concerned tounderstand how one may move back from the mental map to an individual’s per-ception of his environment. While the individuals were drawing their plans of theEsplanade quarter their comments and remarks were tape-recorded, thus addingmuch more information on how and why they drew the maps as they did. Ribeyrecognizes that such a procedure was second best to making a videotape of thegrowth of the mental map; however, by observing and noting the growth of eachmap, the author was able to obtain a fairly good idea of the process of creatingeach mental map. Ribey’s study establishes the influence of journey to work andshop and usual mode of transport on the characteristics of the mental maps. Thisconnection is mentioned by a teacher who reports changes in the local geographicalexperience and knowledge of his pupils over a period of 20 years in which the carhas become the dominant method of transport (Fay, 1981). There is obviouslyscope for research on the extent to which children’s mental maps vary with the

way they move in their localities. This would not only help teachers to modifytheir lessons as Fay has done but would help one to understand better how mentalmaps are formed.

Atlas use has received attention again from Sandford. In his first paper (1980a)he attempts to synthesize the conclusions reached in several decades of researchinto the design’of maps especially those in atlases for children. However, manyof the statements made in this comprehensive account are unsupported exceptby unpublished experience. Nevertheless, such remarks as that the portrait format,standard for printed books, is not particularly suitable for children’s maps (p.42)

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may well be true, but as a generalization needs careful testing before altering allatlases to landscape format. Those looking for topics to investigate are sure to finda wealth of challenging comment here. In his second paper Sandford (1980b)describes in some detail the results of several years’ work on directed and freesearch mainly of the general purpose maps in school atlases. It seems clear that

children freed from the drudgery of ’capes and bays’ questions about location andsize or height manage to see much in the realm of spatial relationships and corre-lations which requires a higher order of understanding of geographical pattern.The responses to questions such as what does the map tell you about Asia are insome ways parallel to the free-ranging graphic descriptions caught by the mentalmap and demonstrate that much useful information can easily be generated byrelatively simple techniques. Some general suggestions about typography, namingand the representation of the physical environment emerge, but one suspects thatevidence will have to be overwhelming before many publishers change the style ofwell-established atlases. Scope for experiment is certainly there, provided short-term profit is not absolutely vital.

III Experimental studies of map reading

Other aspects of experimental research on map use have been marked notablyby further papers by Dobson (1980a; b; c) and by Vanecek (1980). While they areboth very familiar with the fundamental work in psychology (largely in English)Vanecek. has not looked at symbols in the context of a map and appears to beunaware of Dobson’s contributions during the 1970s for most of the cartographicliterature cited is in German. Dobson’s multiple experiments with map-like patternsof proportional circles simulate one aspect of map reading, comparing the relativesizes of symbols in given locations when the volume of information given by thedisplay is varied. However, this research while definitely within a cartographiccontext is mainly relevant to the use of maps as areal storehouses or inventories.Hence there are as yet only a few lessons for the designers of thematic maps in-tended to put across geographical messages.

Appropriate tasks have been researched by Phillips and his associates in a con-tinuation of their work on searching for names. Their latest study, unlike theothers, employs map-like displays with random arrangements of names (Phillips,1980, 12; Noyes, 1980) and coloured squares (Phillips and Noyes, 1980). In thesecases eye movements were recorded as part of the programme of experimentation;the displays are spatial but highly abstract having no geographical context to enablethem to be referred to as maps. Such a procedure yields less ambiguous resultswhich at least should be applicable to further research in a real map context.This suite of experiments by psychologists makes an interesting contrast with themore cartographically oriented experiments by Dobson.

N Theoretical cartographyIn the theoretical field concerned largely with the definition of cartography and the

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modelling of the communication process using maps a notable report has beenproduced by Pravda (1980) working with a team in the cartography departmentof the Geographical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava.The author’s diagram of the structure of cartography makes an interesting com-parison with Freitag’s structure published in English in 1980.. The former is di-vided into theoretical, scientific-technical (engineering) and practical with separatereference to the history of and education in cartography. The latter is dividedinto theory, methodology and practice projected into comparative and historicalcartography. Despite the apparent differences in titles, the contents of the divisionsare very similar except that education is integrated into Freitag’s methodology.Pravda (p.155) revives the term metacartography for the sum of all theoreticaland methodological problem in cartography. What is interesting about the Slovakreport is the evident interaction between those doing more theoretical work andthose applying theory to the design of thematic maps whether geomorphologicalor equidemic (sometimes called isodemographic or quantitative area cartograms).

V Computer-as~sted cartography

As well as conference reports, the first full-length book devoted entirely to com-puter-assisted cartography has appeared (Taylor, 1980). It is the first of a seriesof volumes of essays on selected topics in cartography and contains 11 essays byacknowledged experts in the field. As a whole then it represents a review of thestate of the art. As might be expected in a field which has exploded technically,many authors look to the future. Morrison in particular indulges in some con-trolled speculation although it is clear that he writes from the standpoint of aca-demic cartography and what he writes does not necessarily apply to the carto-graphy of technical map production. However, the balance is restored by chapterson soil, geological and census mapping and Harris’s essentially practical approachto the automation of topographic mapping. Nevertheless Morrison’s vision (1980,21) of the prospect of creating your own map in colours of your choice and ofdialling up a map with features again chosen by the user such as a visitor to anational park is slightly tempered by Rhind’s caution that it may be some timebefore we all obtain our maps through a television set (1980, 35). Perhaps moreimmediately significant is the notion that cartographers freed from the drudgeryof mapping will spend more time on design and that decisions would henceforthbe based on defensible tenets (Morrison, 1980, 21). It is also refreshing to readBickmore (1980) arguing for the innovative aspects of computer-assisted carto-graphy going beyond the production of definitive end-products, such as experi-ments with ephemeral maps especially in colour. Computer-assisted cartographyis also stressed in the record of the fourth Australian Cartographic Conferenceheld in Hobart in 1980. While in the People’s Republic of China the reappearance

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of the journal Acta Geodetica et Cartographica Sinica makes it clear that auto-mation particularly of thematic maps is a well-established aspect of cartographic

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research and development (Wu and Liao, I98I; Liu et al., 1981). Not surprisinglythe major volume of publication in the field of computer-assisted cartographycomes from the United States, There, the fourth of the almost annual series ofconferences in the series AUTO-CARTO was held in the autumn of 1979 (Aangeen-brug, 1980). This progress report cannot possibly do justice to the content, norsingle out any paper for special mention, but it cannot be over emphasized thatthe published proceedings of such conferences are a major source of informationfor those ’working at the coalface’, for example those asked to help unsophisti-cated computer users to produce acceptable maps for their geographical research.For the immense benefit of having these papers soon after they were presentedone has to accept a certain lack of finish in some of the graphics themselves, butthis is a relatively small price to pay.

VI Historical cartography

On the historical front the long awaited history of the Ordnance Survey (Seymour,1980) gives an authoritative account of the vicissitudes of one of the most famousnational mapping agencies. Its future is still uncertain at the time of writing (July .,

1981) although it has been the focus of intensive examination by a governmentcommittee under the chairmanship of Sir David Serpell (Report of the OrdnanceSurvey Review Committee, 1979). The Director General of the Ordnance Surveyhas highlighted some of the committee’s recommendations and answered questionsput to him after the verbal presentation of his paper (Smith, 1980). Readers ofthe latter may like to ponder figure 1 (p. 79) which cross tabulates kinds of mapcontent against several categories of requirements: public, or private; essential,or desirable for progress to be maintained, and with reference to small and largescales of mapping. Since writing the last progress report the tenth internationalconference of the International Cartographic Association has taken place in Tokyo.Without the graphic illustrations many of the written papers will appear less in-teresting or even obscure, all the more so with poster sessions. However, thoseanxious to find out what topics were covered can consult the published Abstractsof Papers (1980). These appear in both English and French with the addresses,qualifications and main publications of their authors. The occasion of the con-ference was made an opportunity to display maps from many member and othercountries taking part. Especially memorable was the exhibition of Japanese carto-

_ graphy whose beautifully illustrated catalogue shows some of the elegance andclarity of ancient and medieval maps many of which are reproduced in the cat-logue which contains a full listing (Cartogruphy in Japan, official maps past andpresent, 1980). If participants to the ICA conference were impressed by the sur-prising and exotic nature of the exhibits in Tokyo, all those who managed to visitthe exhibition Cartes et figures de la terre at the Centre Georges Pompidou inParis will have realized that it was a tour de force. The lavishly printed ’catalogue’is more of an illustrated text to enable one to reexplore the themes of the exhibi-

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tion (Rivi6re, 1980). Not all of the maps, graphics and images are reproduced there,nor is there a complete list of all the exhibits or an index. Colour has been usedprofusely and the quality of reproduction is superb. Regrettably nothing can quitereproduce the impression of seeing the whole of France on the 180 sheets ofCassini’s topographic map compiled in the eighteenth century. Young and oldknelt down on the southern portion displayed perforce on the floor of the exhibi- .

tion hall looking for their home towns and villages.With an extremely catholic interpretation of maps and images of geographical

space the arrangement was by no means conventional. The greatest problem musthave been to integrate the numerous contributors and diverse displays. Hardly anaspect of cartography was left out. The concepts developed by the exhibition areseen most clearly in the leaflet with the same title as the exhibition, published asa special number of the weekly newsletter of the Centre Georges Pompidou. Inthis the layout is carefully ordered from ’where am I?’, through itineraries, wan-derings, unknown lands, centres of the world, betwixt land and sea, following acourse, territorial limits and possessions, spread of mapping, surveying, data cap-ture, depths of the oceans, mapping the earth’s surface, mapping the mobile, mapsas tools to manage the environment, images and codes, maps for war. The so-called catalogue adopts a different structure which at its broadest level is three-fold : travel aids, ways of determining position, decision-making tools. Althoughit is not intended to be, nor is, a textbook of cartography it is sure to inform andstimulate many who are fascinated with their environment and how people havedepicted it for long after the exhibition has been dispersed.

Department of Geography, London School of Economics, UK

VII References .

Aangeenbrug, R.T. editor, 1980: AUTO-CARTO IV. Proceedings of the Inter-national Symposium on Cartography and Computing: applications in healthand environment, 4-8 November 1979, Reston, Virginia. 2 volumes, xv + 623pp and xii + 477 pp. American Congress on Surveying and Mapping and Ameri-can Society of Photogrammetry.

Australian Institute of Cartographers 1980: Change, challenge, communication.Technical papers. Fourth Australian Cartographic Conference, Hobart, 4-7November.

Bickmore, D.P. 1980: Future research and development in computer-assistedcartography. In Taylor, D.R.F., 1980, 235-49.

Blakemore, M. 1981: From way-finding to map-making: the spatial informationfield of aboriginal peoples. Progress in Human Geography 5, 1-24.

Board, C. 1980: Map design and evaluation: lessons for geographers. Progress inHuman Geography 4, 433-37.

Boardman, D. and Towner, E. 1979: Reading Ordnance Survey maps: some prob-lems of graphicacy. Birmingham: University of Birmingham, Faculty of Edu-cation (96 pp.)

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1980: Problems of correlating air photographs with Ordnance Survey maps.Teaching Geography 6(2), 76-79.

Catling, S. 1980: Map use and objectives for map learning. Teaching Geography6(1), 15-17.

Dobson, M.W. 1980a: The acquisition and processing of cartographic informa-tion: some preliminary experimentation. In Kolers, P.A., editors, Processingof visible language, II, New York: Plenum Press, 291-304.

1980b: The influence of the amount of graphic information on visual matching.Cartographic Journal 17, 26-32.

1980c: Benchmarking the perceptual mechanism for map-reading tasks. Carto-graphica 17, 88-100.

Fay, N. 1981: Understanding maps - a ’child-centred’ approach. Teaching Geo-graphy 7, 39.

Freitag, U. 1980: Can communication theory form the basis of a general theoryof cartography? Nachrichten aus dem Karten- und Vermessungswesen 38(series II), 17-35.

Gerber, R. 1981: Young children’s understanding of the elements of maps. Teach-ing Geography 6(3), 128-33.

Inner London Education Authority, Geography Advisory Panel, 1981: The studyof places in the primary school. London, ILEA. (37 pp.)

Liu, Y., Liang, Q. and Cao, G. 1981: The study of the software of computer-assisted cartography. Acta Geodetica et Cartographica Sinica 10(2), 118-28in Chinese, English summary.

Morrison, J.L. 1980: Computer technology and cartographic change, in Taylor,D.R.F., 1980, 5-23.

Noyes, L. 1980: The positioning of type on maps: the effect of surrounding mat-erial on word recognition time. Human Factors 22, 353-60.

Phillips, R.J. 1981: Legibility criteria for maps. Final Report to the Social ScienceResearch Council for Project HR2917/1. (22 pp.)

Phillips, R.J. and Noyes, L. 1980: A comparison of colour and visual texture ascodes for use as area symbols on thematic maps. Ergonomics 23, 1117-28.

Pocock, D.C.D. and Hudson, R. 1978: Images of the urban environment. London:Macmillan.

Pravda, J. 1980: Some theoretical problems of the cartography and of the carto-graphic interpretation. English summary pp. 113-34 (original in Slovak).Bratislava, Geographical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences.

Report of the Ordnance Survey Review Committee London: Her Majesty’s Stat-ionery Office, 1979. (185 pp.)

Rhind, D. 1980: The nature of computer-assisted cartography. In Taylor, D.R.F., 1980, 25-37.

Ribey, F. 1980: Les cartes mentales. Perception mentale de l’espace et moded’éstablissement par l’habitant de la carte mentale de son quartier. (Reportfor) Institut de Recherche des Transports, 94114, Arcueil, France.

Rivière, J. 1980: Cartes et figures de la terre, Paris: Centre Georges Pompidou.(480 pp.)

Sandford, H.A. 1980a: Map design for children. Bulletin of the Society of Uni-versity Cartographers 14, 39-48.

1980b: Directed and free search of the school atlas map. The CartographicJournal 17, 83-92.

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Schools Council, Geography Committee, 1979: Understanding maps. London:The Schools Council. (55 pp.)

Seymour, W.A. editor, 1980: A history of the Ordnance Survey. Folkestone:Dawson.

Smith, W.P. 1980: The Ordnance Survey: a look to the future. The CartographicJournal 17, 75-82.

Taylor, D.R.F. editor, 1980: The computer in contemporary cartography. Progressin contemporary cartography I. Chichester: John Wiley. (252 pp.)

Tenth International Conference of the International Cartographic Association1980: Abstracts of Papers. (329 pp.)

Vanecek, E. 1980: Experimentelle Beitrage zur Wahrnehnbarkeit kartographischerSignaturen. Vienna: Osterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Forschun-gen zur theoretischen Kartographie, Band 6. (146 pp.)

Wu, Z. and Liao, K. 1981: The development of cartography over the past 30 yearsin the People’s Republic of China. Acta Geodetica et Cartographica Sinica10, 1-8.