Nature Gallery (Geography)

Modern Cartography
What Is Cartography?
Cartography is the art and science of creating maps. It
involves the gathering of geographical information, the
storage, processing, and editing of this information, and the
presentation of the data in map form. Cartography depends
on sound geographical knowledge of the surface being
mapped, as well as the many skills and tools instrumental
to the mapping process.
Early Cartography
Cartography has been practiced since ancient times. For
many centuries its highest application was the production of
hand-drawn flat maps and charts assembled from
information collected visually by explorers, and other
individuals. As a result, they were not as accurate as
modern maps, but are fascinating as a record of the level of
knowledge and thought at the time. Map reproductions
were also of great value because they were copied by hand.
Often these early maps were intended for specific purposes,
usually for military campaigns or for delineating the
boundaries of empires. The ancient Romans and Egyptians,
who created maps for these purposes, were among the
most scholarly cartographers of their time.
Today, as in ancient times, cartographers look for ways to
make more accurate maps, methods to reproduce them
more efficiently, and channels to distribute them more
conveniently. During the history of cartography, mapmaking has evolved with technology.
The Influence of Technology
The first major technological advance in map-making was
the invention of the printing press, first in China in the 12th
century and later in Europe in the 15th century. Printing

allowed more maps to be made in a shorter period of time,

which increased their availability and lowered their cost.
Prior to the European Renaissance, the maps most
European people were familiar with mixed Biblical and other
mythical themes with representations of real places.
Mythical figures were often used to represent unknown
parts of the world. However, advances in printing made it
easier to produce maps for strictly practical purposes,
especially navigation, and exploration continually reduced
the extent of the unknown.
Maps both encouraged and facilitated exploration, which in
turn stimulated cartographers to make more extensive and
more accurate maps. The interplay between mapping and
exploration can be seen in the rapidly increasing detail
filling the maps made by Spanish adventurers in North
America as they explored the continent between the 15th
and 17th centuries.
Similarly, the initial drawings of the Caribbean Islands made
by Columbus, and those of the California coast by Cortez,
were little more than squiggly lines. But such crude maps
helped guide the establishment of the Spanish New World
Empire. By the time this empire had reached its maximum
extent in North America, the maps had become far more
detailed and sophisticated.
The next major advance in map-making technology came in
the mid-1800s with the development of photography.
Photography enabled cartographers to capture detailed
surface data, and the invention of photogrammetryusing
special cameras and image projectors to translate
photographs into accurate survey mapssoon followed.
As photography became more practical and economical, its
use in reproducing maps also grew in importance. The
invention and refinement of modern printing methods
towards the end of the 19th centuryespecially lithography,
which allowed delicate detail and shadingprovided the
means to easily reproduce sophisticated maps.

Other factors contributing to the importance of cartography

during the late 1800s and early 1900s included the
development of public infrastructure in and around major
cities. This growing infrastructure, especially the
construction of transport systems, required extensive
planning and mapping by civil authorities. The emergence
of the field of statistics was also important to cartographers
since it allowed them to translate difficult mathematical
generalizations into symbolic geographical pictures, such as
the distribution of population density in an urban area.
Today, maps making geographical sense of complex
statistical information on a certain theme are known as
statistical or thematic maps. Also during this time
cartographic societies began forming, lending additional
authority to cartography as a profession.
Although cartographers found that recording data with
photographs was relatively easy, the only way they could
get an overview of the landscape for photogrammetric
purposes was to climb a mountain or an observation tower.
The advent of utilitarian hot-air balloons in the 1800s
offered new promise, but the balloons proved difficult to
control and the photographers cameras were not
sophisticated enough to capture sufficient ground detail.
Even worse, in wartime the balloons made easy targets for
the enemy.
Technological advances in the early 20th century helped
cartography make rapid progress. Smaller cameras gave
photographers more mobility, and more sensitive film
enabled exposures under a wider range of conditions.
However, the greatest leap came with the invention of the
aeroplane and true aerial photography. Detailed highaltitude photographs could be taken, making it easy to
render accurate orthogonal (perpendicular to the earth)
maps of relatively great extent, or fine detail. A fully
equipped photographer was among the first passengers to
fly in the Wright brothers experimental aircraft. Aerial
reconnaissance became extremely important in both World
War I and II, and today aerial photogrammetry remains the

most popular means of remote data gathering for many

types of map.
The Modern Era
Since the mid-1900s technology has helped professional
cartography undergo rapidly accelerating change.
Photolithography and photoengraving have merged
photography with printinghigh-speed multi-color
lithographic offset presses can rapidly produce maps of
almost any degree of detail, color scheme, or labeling
requirement.
Technology known as remote sensing has also enabled
modern cartographers to chart the depths of the ocean or
the frontiers of outer space. The space programme has
taken cameras into orbit, providing vast image collections of
Earth, other planets, and even other galaxies.
Equally far-reaching advances in cartography have emerged
from advances in electronic communication and various
computer applications. Modern computers can store and
transmit huge amounts of mapping data, and then control
the assembly of such data producing maps using
sophisticated digitizers, plotting machines, and electronic
typography.
Information-gathering technology has produced advanced
cameras that can transmit digital data from outer space,
and maps which show nearly any place or geographic theme
for which digital information can be retrieved. Geographic
information systems (GIS), described below, are the most
recent synthesis of these modern technologies.
Gathering Cartographic Information
Traditional methods of map-making involve character
description and detailed positioning based on ground
observations. Today, ground observation is used primarily
for verifying the details of maps made using more
sophisticated techniques. Maps generated only by ground

observations are still important but are usually unofficial,

for limited distribution, or they are local and small scale,
such as architectural plans and land surveys.
Conversely, data used to produce highly technical maps or
maps made for wide distribution are typically collected with
advanced technology such as aerial photogrammetry or
remote sensing from low Earth orbit. The data are then
processed and meticulously composed into the simplified
illustrations we call maps.
Global Positioning Systems
Global Positioning Systems (GPS) are devices that give an
Earth coordinate position based on the reception of special
satellite transmissions. The position is worked out, by
triangulation, based on the relative positions of at least
three satellites. Modern GPS unitssome as small as
cellular telephoneshave a simple LCD screen similar to
that on an electronic calculator, and a simple keyboard for
entering codes. These hand-held instruments can be
programmed to record and display the exact position of the
unit, the users ground speed and direction of travel, and
projected arrival times at certain points along a chosen
route.
The current system used for GPS is administered by the
United States, although the European Space Agency has
plans for a similar system. Because of military security
concerns, the US government regulates the resolution of
satellite transmissions available to the public for GPS use.
Although GPS units are theoretically accurate to within
several centimetres, their practical range today is about 3
to 30 metres (10 to 100 feet), not accurate enough for
collecting precise map data. Another problem with using
GPS to collect map data is that trees and steep terrain block
the reception of satellite transmissions. The most common
and rapidly growing use of GPS is in aircraft and ship
navigation, and some vehicle manufacturers are beginning
to install GPS in their cars. In Oslo, Norway, a taxi company
is installing GPS in all its taxis to help track indiviual cars

and provide security oversight for its drivers.

Despite its current limitations, cartographic use of GPS is on
the increase. Among other purposes, it is being used to
verify the location of boundary lines. A private, hand-held
GPS unit was recently used to substantiate that the legally
defined US-Canadian border is actually 800 metres (2,625
feet) north of its traditional map location between
Washington and British Columbia. GPS and related
technology will play increasingly important roles in
cartographic data collection as the accuracy of satellitebased positioning technology increases.
Geographic Information Systems
Geographic information systems (GIS)
are a means of storing, integrating,
analyzing, and presenting geographic
data. A typical GIS consists of a
combination of computers, databases,
and software, with skilled operators
who can process and present different
thematic data with reference to a
single geographic framework.
Each theme is a layer of data that is linked geographically
to other data layers of different themes. A GIS can be used
to project combinations of geographical interrelationships of
the various data layers onto a single map. Conversely,
individual themes can be separated from the overall matrix
and considered individually.
GIS can provide insights into complex relationships not
easily studied or observed by other means. Instead of
dealing with flat paper maps, cartographers use GIS to
produce spectacular three-dimensional images for use in
advanced applications such as virtual reality.
GIS in Action

The idea of using map layers is an old one. It was used, for
example, in the 19th century by Irish railway
commissioners. But computers have made the application of
this concept more practical. The Canadian government
created and used the first computerized GIS in the 1960s.
Since then, GIS have become a widespread and highly
sophisticated mapping and data analysis tool. GIS are
popular for modelling urban landscapes because they
enable city engineers and planners to view multiple
geographical data layers of the city and track the interaction
of these data layers over time.
For example, in Aix-en-Provence, France, city authorities
are using GIS to plan new housing for its citizens while
maintaining Aixs historical character. In other situations,
city planners can use GIS to determine how average income
levels, on a neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood basis, affect
the use of public gas, and electric supply lines sharing
transmission corridors. Similarly, zoning agencies are
beginning to use GIS to analyze complex land-use patterns.
GIS have inspired global approaches to resource
management that may help find solutions to major world
problems. In one example, in Hungary, the United Nations
(UN) is beginning to assemble a system of global soil
productivity monitoring that may allow more efficient
farming of land for sustained crop yield.
GIS are also extensively incorporated into scientific studies.
Ecologists study many different aspects of the earth, often
in geographically discrete areas, to learn how various
biological and physical factors interact. GIS enables these
scientists to separate major factors, including vegetation,
hydrology, surface terrain, soil type, and erosion, to study
how their interrelationships influence ecosystems.
In Finland, GIS is being used to map and manage forest
resources. In Italy, GIS and GPS are being used to map city
trees in Bolognas historical park at Villa Mazzacorti, and an
extensive park management system based on these
technologies is under development in the Emilia Romagna

region.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been using
GIS to monitor the boll weevil control programme in
southern Texas since the early 1990s. USDA cartographers
digitizedcoded as coordinates on a computer mapall
farms within an area of several hundred square kilometres.
They then used aerial photography to record which farmers
in this area tilled the cotton stubble in their fields under the
soil after the cotton was harvested. These aerial
photographs were digitized and fed into the GIS database.
Boll-weevil infestations were then mapped in all the fields
for several years and these maps were also entered into the
database. With the use of GIS, the USDA was able to prove
statistically that the stubble fields that had not been tilled
had more weevil infestations. The study supported the
hypothesis that stubble provides a winter refuge for the
beetles. The GIS also generated intricate practical maps of
boll-weevil trouble spots that could be used by the state
agricultural agency in controlling the infestations.
User-Friendly GIS
Although GIS are generally based on sophisticated
computer systems, some user-friendly GIS applications
have been developed, too. For example, one company in
California markets a system that enables citrus farmers to
monitor fruit production. This GIS, which can be operated
out of the home, receives ground data collected by the
farmer and aerial data fed to this system using satellite
cameras. All these data are fed into a desktop computer so
the citrus grower can monitor the various factors, including
fertilization, irrigation, and tree variety, that are responsible
for high versus low fruit production.
Remote Sensing

Remote sensing is the method of

collecting data about an object from a
distance. The first remote-sensing
devices were early telescopes used for
celestial observation. With his
pioneering telescopic observations of
the heavens, it is likely that Galileo
was the first scientist to use remote
sensing.
In modern times, remote sensing
involves not only the detection of
remote objects, for example observing
distant stars using powerful radio
telescopes, but also automatic
detection devices carried by special,
remotely operated vehicles.

The special robotic submersible vehicles used to explore the

icy depths of the North Atlantic for the wreck of the Titanic
are an example of this type of vehicle. Remote detection
and remote operation are perhaps most dramatically used
in space probes such as NASAs Mars Explorer space vehicle.
The visual phenomena recorded by remote sensing usually
require translation by special sensory devices so the human
eye can discern the data. Remote-sensing technology often
includes highly sophisticated sensory apparatuses such as
cameras fitted with special infrared detectors. For example,
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is used in reconnaissance
aircraft and in satellites to detect the spread of oil on the
sea after oil spills.
Remote Sensing and Cartography
Remote sensing has opened up new realms of geographic
information for cartographers. Extensive vegetation surveys
are made from high altitudes to show the distribution of
specific crops, weeds, or native plants amidst an expanse of

general vegetation.
High-resolution satellite cameras located at altitudes of
several hundred kilometres can record details as small as a
few metres in diameter on the surface of the Earth.
Satellites such as those in the LANDSAT series sweep the
globe with continuous scans to provide detailed up-to-date
maps of nearly the entire Earth. Satellite imagery is also
used to create up-to-the-moment weather maps.
Increasingly, data obtained from remote sensing are being
assembled into complex, highly refined electronic images
resembling photographs that are best viewed on colour
computer monitors or television screens.
Remote sensing is used to reveal obscure or misunderstood
phenomena. An example is the recent detection of the lost
city of Ubar in Oman, which was rediscovered with the help
of NASA satellite radar imagery. Image analysts used
cartographic methods to pick out clues from the radar
images, including caravan tracks that pointed them to the
buried city ruins.
Most maps and atlases use data from remote-sensing
sources to create some of its maps. Remote-sensing
sources used in these maps include SPOT satellite images of
cities, Earth by Day and Earth at Night composite satellite
images, and hypsography, or terrain and elevation data, for
the entire world. The Eco-regions data in Encarta World
Atlas is a combination of remotely sensed vegetation, land
cover, and climate data composed in a GIS setting.