maps

Question 1

Maps as Social Constructions

Answer 1

Maps as practices and sites of power-knowledge
* Judgements of ‘best’ arise from privileged discourses which subjugate other cartographic knowledges (e.g. non-scientific, local, cartographies of resistance)
* Maps are transient rather than permanent (exploration rather than presentation)
* Cartographer-user dichotomy is conflated (the user as cartographer, e.g. web-mapping)

Question 2

key thinker behind social constructions

Answer 2

Brian Harley (1932-1991)

Question 3

Maps as Communicative Devices

Answer 3

• Scientific, functional approach to cartography
• Separation between cartographer and user
• Presentation of stable, known information by cartographer
• Map communicates information to the user
• Cognitive abilities of map user important
• Search for optimal (best) map through methods of communication

Question 4

key thinker behind communicative devices

Answer 4

Key author: Arthur Robinson (1915-2004)

Question 5

Disinformation and Propaganda

Answer 5

• Falsification of maps
• Territorial claims
• Omissions
• Use of shading and colour
• Naming
• See publications by Mark Monmonier

Question 6

areal aggregation

Answer 6

which areas we put together in boundary has an effect on what the map looks like

Question 7

what are the three dimensions of colour perception?

Answer 7

• colour hue
• colour value
• colour intensity

Question 8

colour hues

Answer 8

the attribute of colour that enables an observer to classify it as red green,blue,purple etc (thee human experience of particular electromagnetic energy wavelengths)
different hues are qualitatively different
appropriate for showing qualitatively differing map elements

Question 9

colour value

Answer 9

the perceived lightness and darkness of a hue
different values are quantitively different a
appropriate for showing quantitively differing map elements

Question 10

colour intensity

Answer 10

intensity (saturation) describes the purity of a fuel
appropriate for binary data

Question 11

2 different colour specification systems

Answer 11

predefined systems and perceptual systems

Question 12

predefined systems

Answer 12

predefined by name or code
will be converted to another colour specification system if printed by computer

Question 13

perceptual systems

Answer 13

based on human perception
set of colours that the average person can differentiate

Question 14

example of a perceptual system

Answer 14

Munsell system
will be converted to another colour specification system if printed by computer

Question 15

older map viewer problems

Answer 15

difficulty seeing colours, especially blue
require more saturated colours
would benefit
from increased font size

Question 16

colour vision impaired map viewers

Answer 16

red and green often look the same
consider using reds and blues or greens and blues instead

Question 17

colour connotations

Answer 17

colour often has symbolic connotations that influence the reaction of viewers
western culture and colour connotations

Question 18

type variation advice

Answer 18

Type style (serif or sans serif) to symbolise nominal (qualitative ) information
avoid more than two type styles on a map
avoid combining two serif or two sans serif styles
avoid decorative type styles

Question 19

Type weight variations

Answer 19

Bold type implies more, regular type less
bold implies power and significance
use bold instead of underlining

Question 20

map layout : map elements

Answer 20

frame mine and neat line (have a defined line around frame around map) ( avoid thick ornate lines)
mapped area (there needs to be enough space around the area to locate all the different elements that we need, not too much white around the map and not too close to the margin
inset
title and subtitle
legend (not the same title as the map,
data source (primarily attributed data)
scale
orientation