This Presentation

• Reviews aspects of mapping cartography cf.

Introduction to Cartography cartography as defined by UN.
• Highlights salient features of cartographic
By developments.
Eugene H. Silayo • Relates GIS and cartography to the other mapping
Department of Geomatics sciences.
Ardhi University, D’Salaam
• Examines the main cartographic product, namely
the map.
• Classifies maps, and
• Considers the scale of maps.
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A Preview About Cartography

• Defined as practice and theory of map making Production of early maps
and use.
• It has always been closely associated with • Maps are one of the oldest known forms of ART.
• Early man drew pictures of animals and
Geography and Surveying environment around him. He drew them on walls
• Grew from very simple beginnings in ancient of caves and on sand.
times as a means of graphic communication. • Early maps were simple, and were mostly made
• The main function of cartography is to serve as a for travellers, soldiers and mariners.
means of graphic communication to convey • The main function of early maps was to describe
information about data/features/phenomena and places, for example: areas where there was
treasure such as salt.
spatial relationships between them.
• Oldest maps not available today.
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Why are old maps not available today? Development of Cartography

• Nature of materials used: • Oldest known drawings date as far back as 3800
– Not durable. BC in Mesopotamia where clay tablets depict the
– Destruction because of values of materials of earth as a circular disc with Babylon in the centre.
which they were made e.g. gold, stone, silver,
• Ancient Egypt used it to depict cadastral maps.
bronze.
• Chinese too made maps about 6000 years ago.
• Lost
• The Greeks, in 540 BC, understood that the earth
• Effect of fire and Floods was a sphere, thus doing away with a slab earth.
• Theft Eratosthenes (276-196 BC), a librarian at
• Willful destruction to keep them from being Alexandria, carried out angle measurements and
captured by enemy. accurately calculated the circumference of the
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earth.
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 Development of Cartography contd. Development of Cartography contd.
• Hipparchus (2 BC) used latitudes and longitudes • Claudius Ptolemy lived in the 2nd Century
to locate places. AD. He was a Greek Astronomer,
• Strabo (63BC-24AD), a Greek geographer, a Cartographer and a librarian at Alexandria.
traveller and a reporter, studied works of others at He set the future of cartography.
the Library in Alexandria and wrote about them
eg. He wrote about the works of Eratosthenes. • Ptolemy (90-168 AD) is regarded as the
• Strabo conceived the ideas of map projections and father of modern Cartography. He:
the trouble of laying off a map of the world on a – Defined the elements and form of
flat surface because of the spherical shape of the scientific geography
earth.
– produced guidelines for mapmaking
• Strabo left a record of the past that was then
known.
(Geographica) & map projections.
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Development of Cartography contd. Development of Cartography contd.

– Proposed use of coordinate system to describe locations. - As Portolan charts were to aid navigation,
– Conceived idea of map series. they emphasized shorelines.
– made maps and produced the first atlas.
- Astronomy facilitated measurement of
• In the 9th Century AD Ptolemy’s works were translated to
location
Arabic.
• Scientific inventions & explorations developed Cartography, - Invention of the printing press in Germany in
among them: 1450 AD, enabled replication of Ptolemy’s
- Invention of the magnetic compass in 13th Century in works. This stimulated production of maps
Italy, helped exploration. The sailing charts (Portolan and atlases.
charts) appeared. The portolan charts were drawn on sheep - Gerhardus Mercator (Kremer, (1512-1594
skin and oriented according to magnetic north.
AD), made globes in 1536.

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Development of Cartography contd. Development of Cartography contd.

• He published world map in 1538. • The invention of the theodolite
• Published a great World Conformal Map on (17th and 18th Centuries) helped
Mercator Projection in 1569, a projection
used today by navigators. He made but did topographic mapping in France and
not complete his book of maps that he Britain’ trigonometric surveys.
called ‘Atlas’ ( a word used today)
• Advancement of knowledge of
• Abraham Ortelius, a map seller, published a
map projections, e.g. by Lambert
book of maps that he called ‘Theatre of the
World’ (for Atlas) in 1570. (1728-77).
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 Development of Cartography contd. Development of Cartography contd.

- The 17th and 18th Centuries were a • Aerial Photography & the two World
period of Industrial Revolution. Wars.
Therefore, thematic Mapping was • Modern Cartography started in 1891
developed quite substantially.
following proposal for the International
- Holding of Population censuses in
Map of the World (IMW).
Sweden (1749), USA (1790), Britain
(1801), etc. provided mappable data. • Emergence of Photogrammetry,
- Photographic processes for map photolithography and Satellite images
reproduction developed in 1830.
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Development of Cartography contd.

Cartography Becomes a Distinct
• The Computer revolution communication
technologies. Mapping Discipline
• Technological shift has led to:
– Change from analogue cartography to digital
cartography. • Development of cartographic
– Cartographers relying on equipment that contain
algorithms and sensors to which they cannot access. communication models.
– Many of the tools used for cartography are now – Cartography as a distinct branch of knowledge.
available to people without foundations of cartographic
principles, e.g. GIS and GPS experts. – map making as a monopolistic profession.
• Integration of cartography with computer science
led to the development of GIS.
• GPS and GIS

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GIS and Cartography GIS and the Mapping Sciences

• Cartography concerned with the representation
of spatial data - the maps.
• GIS as a computer based system for data input,
management, manipulation, analysis & display.
• Can GIS be concerned with analytical
manipulation of spatial data, while neglecting
representational aspects?

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 Impacts of GIS on Cartography
GIS and the Mapping Sciences contd. • Opportunities and Challenges
– Large amount of data handled at high speed, efficiently and
cost effectively. Thus quick mapping is possible.
• Cartography as an eminent entity. – everyone is potentially a map-maker. can’t rely on the skills
– Past scenario - cartography to each of professional cartographers. Anyone can make maps from a
separately. GIS system. BUT what’s the look of maps made by non
cartographers in GIS systems?
– Present scenario - Each to GIS & then to – Are cartographers marginalized?
cartography for output. – Are GIS software tailored for cartographic purposes?
• Has cartography gained or lost its past – Proliferation of maps without ethics!
– Community now receiving any maps - whether good or
eminent position? misleading?
– Are effective maps for decision making getting lost?
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Why do we make maps?

What’s a map? • To supply the need for geographical/spatial
information.
• A graphic representation of the features on the
earth’s surface on a plane surface to scale. • Graphics are the most efficient means of
transferring such information.
• Representation should preserve relationships of
features mapped. • A map can thus be considered as a geospatial
information system that gives answers concerning
• Since we can’t present features to actual size, scale the area depicted namely; distances between
is used. objects, the position of objects, the size of areas,
• Scale makes it possible to reduce a region and and nature of distribution patterns (Kraak and
display it as a whole on one view. Ormeling, 2003).

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The Functions of Maps

• Maps serve for purpose of orienting or What is mapping then?
navigation e.g. road maps.
• Mapping (or cartography) is the translation
• Maps for project and town planning.
of geographical information into graphic
• Maps for educational purposes, e.g. atlases, symbols.
wall maps, etc.
• Maps used for codification e.g. showing
(land) property rights – cadastral maps.
• Maps for strategic planning, e.g. military
operations.
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 What type of map are we going
Questions answered by maps
to make?
• The answer depends on two things which • All maps must answer the following questions:
– WHAT? WHERE? AND WHEN?
must be known in advance, viz.
• What question – Focuses on the theme (contents)
– The purpose of the map and the visualization of maps, eg. Land use, land cover
goal.
• Where question – Identifies the spatial location of
– The characteristic of the map user. the objects mapped eg. Where is Mt. Meru?
• When question – Addresses time at which
something occurred eg. When was Mt. Meru
formed?

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How are maps used? The map as a medium of communication

• To locate places on the surface of the earth. • A map conveys a message (information) to a
‘receiver’.
• To show patterns of distribution. • It is a medium of communication between author
• To discover relationships between different and reader.
phenomena by analyzing map information. • The author and reader work under different
conditions and their expectations may not be
compatible.
• Map efficiency is tested by evaluating conformity
between message sent and message received
→tests of visual perception.
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Map Types
• Maps can be:
Classification of Real and Virtual maps
– Mental maps
– Real maps
– Virtual maps
• Mental maps are images of the environment that we carry • Real and Virtual maps may be classified
in our heads. according to:
• Real maps (hardcopy) are tangible map products.
– Contents
• Virtual maps are digital or computer generated maps.
• Real and Virtual maps are based on collected data. – Scale
– Data-type
• Mental maps are based on our direct experiences.
– Method of production.

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 Classification According to: Classification according to:
• Contents: Contd.
– Topographic
– Thematic
• Scale • Method of production:
– Large scale, e.g. 1:500 – Analogue
– Medium scale, e.g. 1:50,000 – 1:100,000 – Digital
– Small scales, e.g. 1:200,000 – 1:1,000,000.
– Atlas scale, scales < 1:1,000,000.
• Data type
– Basic map, made from primary data.
– Derived map, made from secondary data.

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Examples of Further sub-classification Idea of large and small scale maps

• Thematic maps:
– Quantitative maps
– Qualitative maps.
• Large scale maps:
– Very large scale maps called plans.
– Just large scale maps.
• Atlas maps:
– School atlases
– Library atlases
– Reference atlases
– National atlases
– Thematic atlases
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Purpose of maps
Examples of Further
Classification contd. • A map must have a purpose, otherwise it is
a waste of time and resources for both
• Digital maps: author and reader.
– Raster maps • Basically maps are a medium of
– Vector maps communication of information. Hence:
– A Particular information leads to a specific
purpose and user of a given map.
– Accordingly, before mapping identify specific
purpose and user.

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 Specific map purpose influences Basic Characteristics of Maps
• Design of map
• All maps:
• Contents
– Are drawn to scale
– Type,
– Quantity (generalization) – Are a result of abstraction & generalization
– Are a result of geometric transformation from
• Scale and sheet size.
the spherical earth to the plane surface (map
• Condition of its use projection)
• Number of copies to be produced and hence – Employ symbols to represent real world
the method of production. elements.
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Scale expressed as:

The Scale of a Map • A Ratio or Fraction
• Scale as a ratio of map distance to • In the fraction the numerator represents map
corresponding real world distance. distance and the denominator represents the
real world distance using same units.
• Scale can be expressed as:
– On maps the numerator is made unity and
– A numeric number which is either a ratio or a
Fraction e.g. 1:500 or 1/500. the denominator is always a simple round
– A Graphical scale line/bar number. E.g. 1/50,000 NOT 1/50,573
– A statement.

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– The denominator is called scale

number and the fraction a Expression of Scale contd.
Representative Fraction
• A Graphical line or a Linear scale
– The magnitude of the denominator – This is a subdivided line drawn on the map to
determines the order of the scale as the same scale as that used in plotting the map.
being large, medium, small etc. – The divisions are numbered to show distances
on the map that represent given distances on the
– A large denominator gives a small ground.
scale and a small denominator a
large scale. km 10 5 0 10 20 km

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 Expression of Scale contd. Question
• A statement scale is stated in words that are • If the scale of a map is 1:50,000, what is the
written on the map. E.g. One centimetre on map distance that corresponds to a ground
the map represents two kilometres on the distance of 5 km?
ground.

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Solution Solution contd

• The interpretation of the scale: • Alternatively use:
• 1 km on map is equivalent to 50,000 km on • Scale=Map distance/ ground distance.=
the ground. But since map distance is 1/scale number. Let d be the map distance
usually in cm or mm, lets use these. in cm
• Hence: 1 cm on map is equiv to 50,000 cm
on ground or 500 m on ground or 0.5 km on • Therefore: d cm /(5 kmx100,000) cm =
ground.Multiplying both sides by 10 we get 1/50,000.
10 cm on map is equiv to 5 km on ground. • From which d = 10 cm

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Factors that Influence Choice of Scale Aerial Photographs and Maps

• Purpose of map. Map Photograph
• Is an abstraction of reality • Shows all objects
• Needs of the map user. – Contents generalized to
fulfill map purpose and – Contents are not
• Complexity of map contents. scale generalized.
• Size of the area to be mapped. • Contents are annotated • Contents are not
• Features are symbolized
• Maximum size of the map (screen size or using discrete graphic
annotated.
ease of paper map handling). elements viz. points, lines • Continuous tone used.
and area symbols.
• Needed accuracy of the map. • Variable scale
• Constant scale
• Orthographic projection • Central projection
used used.
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 References
• Brown L.A. (1960). Map Making-the art that
became a science, Little, Brown & cO, Boston,
Toronto.
• Kraak, M. J. and Ormeling F., (2002).
Cartography – Visualization of Geospatial Data,
Second Edition, Prentice Hill, Glasgow.
• Thrower, N. J.W. (1972). Maps and Man. An
Examination of Cartography in Relation to
Culture and Civilization, Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
• Wilford, J.N. The Mapmakers.
http://mathrice.edu/~lanius/pres/map/maphis.html

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