Blog Bear 1 (extreme cartography)

Hmmm...I'm not exactly sure how to address this one because there are so many different interpretations of what extreme cartography might be. I think I'll discuss the different versions that could constitute extreme cartography and then throw my most recent experience into the loop.

Version 1: Cartography in desolate regions.

Until the 20th century, there was only one way to know what was out in the big, bad world and that was to travel it on its surface. Please realize that I am talking about before the age of airplanes and satellites. There are maps that covered the entire globe well before man ever left the ground to do this reconnaissance and it is quite amazing to me that this was possible. But amazing as it might be, it was done and with a pretty high degree of accuracy. Having been someone who has traveled the world a few times over and done a fair amount of hiking, I have alot of respect for the way maps were made in the past. Both the information gathering and production. Someone had to cover the land being mapped and I think that very much qualifies as extreme cartography.

Version 2: Cartography using early aviation.

This version I believe to be extreme because the first use of aviation for cartography was in World War 1 for drawing the battlefield. Not only were these early aerial cartographers in constant danger of being shot down by both ground and aerial fire, but the technology for these aircraft wasn't what it is today and they were quite mechanically unreliable. But these cartographers made accurate depictions of the battlefield and were able to bring that information to their units for better tactical planning. With no other explanation necessary, I believe this too, qualifies as extreme cartography.

Version 3: Mapping disasters, both natural and unnatural.

My last version of extreme cartography isn't really extreme in its collection so much, but rather depicting and modeling the damages from disasters. Granted, some data is collected from the field during the event, but I am mostly focusing on what happens afterward. These maps that show the destruction are showing the extremeness of the events and the aftermath in order to give meaning and relevance to the event. Once again, I think this is pretty self-explanatory and could be counted as extreme cartography.

MY VERSION: Skydiving!

Okay, so I realize that while I was skydiving during spring break, I didn't make a map of the area that I saw, but while plummeting to the earth, I realized a couple of things. 1: I could recognize features that I had seen on the ground just minutes before that were also on the directions map to the skydiving center, and 2: I could easily re-create a rough map from the landmarks that I saw. Like I've said in previous blogs, I don't' think I could do that by hand, or keep the ratio's correct, but with G.I.S., I could easily trace the flight route of the airplane from take-off to drop point and track our descent. I'm also confident that I could compare that to either G.P.S. recordings or the pilots flight route on a map and be relatively close. So while this adventure wasn't intended to practice anything I've learned in school, I wanted to relate it if only for the fact that it's the most extreme thing I've done in a while :).

3-D Cartography...

Once again, one of my favorite parts of cartography. I think that everyone had a globe when they were a kid. It just seems to me that, for some reason, you ended up getting one for either your birthday or Christmas. Now, in the realm of globes, we all know from experience of receiving at least one throughout our lives that they are not all created equal. Take the standard generic globe for instance. These are all properly labeled with cartographic rules in mind, but lack any real creativity. They may include very cheaply made parts as well as a some very boring color schemes. Now we will travel to the other end of the spectrum where globes are made of exotic rocks and weigh in the neighborhood of 30-40 lbs. These globes may not have the most interesting color schemes, but the intrigue is really the fact that it is made of different types of rock while still keeping the proper proportions of the earth in mind. But...there is that globe somewhere in between that isn't really all that expensive, but shows us things that neither of the two before mentioned globes do and that is contour. Granted, only the largest of the land features can be represented because of the surface being represented, but these 3-D globes allow their audience to recognize some of the earths more prominent land features and even the occasional day dreamer to have thoughts of what each of those places would be like in real life. This is my earliest exposure to 3-D cartography.

Now days, 3-D cartography is being used by taking satellite imagery and creating different contours through G.I.S.. Although the paper is flat, by making these maps with the shading in the right place, they can appear to be 3 dimensional. This not only aids the viewer in seeing what that location would look like in real life, but it allows the cartographer to capture the interest of their audience much quicker. The cartographer also has the ability to influence the focus of the audience such as in this 3-D map to the right. This map has a lot of information in the foreground, but the 3 dimensional mountains in the background capture the audiences attention first. Simply put, contour is more interesting if you are looking at this map for the first time.

Although 3-D maps aren't very useful for navigation when distance is being tracked manually, it is extremely useful for someones first exposure to an area. While in the military, we could use this type of imagery to plan flight routes and outline possible enemy locations if the intelligence agency didn't have information for the area we were operating in.

Hiking is another area where 3-D imagery could prove very useful. Although most 3-D cartography doesn't include ways of measuring distance covered, you can plan a route very effectively by analyzing terrain ahead of time and outlining possible dangers. This makes the trip much more familiar when using a standard UTM topographic map.

All in all, I find 3-D cartography amazing and enjoy using it from time to time. Although I don't use it for critical purposes like the ones I discussed before, I do enjoy using functions of "Google Earth" to see what things really look like compared to just a simple flat image and I'm very excited to see what developments take place within 3-D cartography in the future.

Old Map, New Map...

Well, this one is one that I have really looked forward to because I have considered myself very very lucky to have been part of the G.I.S. community and had the ability to make maps with computers rather than pencil's and papers. I have alot of respect for those that have been trained to make maps by hand, but I know this: I would not be one of those people if G.I.S did not exist.

I'll be the first to tell you that yes, i can draw, but I can hardly ever keep my scale consistent within what I draw. I do realize that vintage maps were created with the use of mathematics, special tools and techniques, but I don't believe that I would have been one to whom that appealed much. Take the map to the right for instance. To me, this map looks as though it may cover an area of less than 50 square miles. And although there may be minor discrepancies within the map, it took a good deal of knowledge of the area in order to create it. The intimate details of location such as the houses in relation to the rivers, streams, forest and mountains and even the smallest detail of the location of the mountains and their orientation depicted by the direction of the shadowing. These are art features that I apparently lack although I can recognize them. Now the next example I have is one that I know for a fact I could never have a complete and thorough knowledge of and that is the entire continent of North America. These are the things that I have so much respect for cartographers of the past for because I can never seem to figure out how they are able to make these caliber of maps with such accurate detail . But they did and often times, these kinds of maps were used for navigation; both on land and sea. So, the one thing that I must say is: thank goodness for computers!

With the use of computers, these kinds of maps are just a click of a button away if you want to simply just download a completed one. If you are trying to make them, the process is almost as simple and all you have to do is know where to get the data and what data you actually need to complete your map. To some "old timers" just looking at a computer is enough to make them sweating, but to the younger generations, this is their way of life. Information is no longer page after grueling page in a book, but rather the right word entered in an Internet search engine away. The same is true for making maps. It is not uncommon for maps to be made of places that the map maker has never been. And the reason for this is the simplicityy of being able to access information on the Internet, download it and use it in standard map making software. Once again, take the image to the right here. It covers the same portion of the United States that the map above it does, but the scale is perfect throughout the entirety of the map and was probably created in a very short amount of time. This type of map does not require a cartographic expert to assemble, but rather, can be put together by a G.I.S beginner in an entry level class. My point being this: I know the limits of my drawing capabilities, and without the use of computers, there is no way, I would be able to partake in cartography. So, while in my opinion, it takes much more skill to make the maps of the past, I am very glad that I am able to create new maps here and in the future.

Interactive and Animated Cartography

This theme is one that has come to surface into the mainstream within the past few years. I can remember when the term "interactive and animated cartography" was pretty much limited to maps that were simply put into slide shows for what ever reason the presenter saw fit to explain their point. And although my knowledge of this subject isn't on the cutting edge of the technology that we have now, I do know that it has grown by leaps and bounds and that we are now able to make and view complete animations using G.I.S. and satelite imagery. These animations are not only impressive, but extremely useful in presenting information and keeping the audience interested in this technology based world. Please be reminded that what I am talking about is the animated cartography portion here. In its simplest form, animated cartography is just a slideshow of maps. Now days, you can view areas of the earths surface in three dimentional forms as though you are in an airplane or a bird even flying through the air looking at them. When constructing these animated presentations, you can change everything from the level of zoom you want your audience to see, to the different features you want either included or omitted. These features make this sort of cartographic presentation very effective to prove points and inform audiences.

When we delve into the interactive cartography, we are exploring another form of electronic cartography that allows us to obviously interact with the map. One of my favorite examples of this is something that I generally take for granted because I use it so frequently. I never really realized that I was using this form of interractive cartography because it was just a new feature in a common search engine I use. When searching the local location for things, often times you are presented with a list of the search results and a simple map with these locations mapped on it. Usually, these are small baloons with letters that correlate to the list that is also provided. But, these balloons are clickable for further information. A perfect example is the link I'm providing of my latest search (http://www.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=car+wash&near=Reno,+NV&ie=UTF8&z=12&ll=39.518344,-119.800415&spn=0.114149,0.2314&om=1) This search took me a matter of seconds and I was able to pick the car wash closest to my location. With out the interactive feature of this map and being able to zoom in and out, I would have been searching for up to an hour trying to figure out what kind of car wash it was and if it was close by referencing the addresses to a map of some sorts. So although, very very complex in terms of composition, these interractive maps are so very easy to use on a day to day basis and they are quickly becoming part of many peoples daily lives. And remember, this is just a drop in the bucked compared to what is actually out there, but I wanted to give an example of something that many people use day to day in order to show that this is becoming part of many people's lives and they don't even realize it.

Maps and the American Identity

Yes, I understand how behind I am on these, but I finally broke into the wiki and I'm ready to do some damage starting with this blog. As with all of these vague blog assignments that can be taken one way or another depending on one's mood, I sat here thinking of the best way to address this. Having traveled around the world on my military experiences, I have never taken a strong look at the maps made in other countries. Some maps that I remember pretty well include: subway maps from Korea, bus route maps from Iraq, and the normal military maps that we used throughout our travels. I'm sure that there were many more maps out there; some useful, some not, but these are the ones that are still very vivid in my mind.

So, by now you may be wondering what exactly this has to do with maps and the American identity. Well, one thing I notice about traveling around the United States, is that maps are readily available for everyone and almost everywhere. These locations range from gas stations to restaurants, grocery stores to book stores. Could this be because we are such a traveling nation that maps are in a constant demand and our diversity is such that maps must be continusouly made in order to suit our needs? I believe that is exactly the fact! The abundance of maps that we Americans need to suit our identity is enormous because of how diverse we are and what kind of needs we have. We are a very high maintenance culture which requires much traveling at times to keep us satisfied. Hence, every map produced within the United States, for the United States is a direct reflection on our way of life.

While contemplating this issue once again, I thought of a few examples of the kinds of maps I've seen that represent our identity as Americans. These examples include recreation maps for any given area, maps of historic significance, and the various maps that outline political boundaries. In my opinion though, the main thing that sets us apart from the vast majority of the world is the fact that we have a map for just about anything, and if it doesn't exist, we can easily create one through the use of G.I.S. .