Landmarks in Mapping

50 Years of the Cartographic Journal

Alexander Kent

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781909662384
• eBook ISBN: 9781351191210
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: Technology & Engineering

"Founded by the British Cartographic Society (BCS) and first published in June 1964, The Cartographic Journal was the first general distribution English language journal in cartography. This volume of classic papers and accompanying invited reflections brings together some of the key papers to celebrate 50 years of publication. It is a celebration of The Cartographic Journal and of the work that scholars, cartographers and map-makers have published which have made it the foremost international journal of cartography. The intention here is to bring a flavor of the breadth of the journal in one volume spanning the history to date. As a reference work it highlights some of the very best work and, perhaps, allows readers to discover or re-discover a paper from the annals. As we constantly strive for new work and new insights we mustn't ignore the vast repository of material that has gone before. It is this that has shaped cartography as it exists today and as new research contributes to the discipline, which will continue to do so."

Stylistic Diversity in European State 1:50 000 Topographic Maps

ALEXANDER J. KENT AND PETER VUJAKOVIC

Originally published in The Cartographic Journal (2009) 46, pp. 179–213.

To what extent do European state topographic maps exhibit unique styles of cartography? This paper describes an investigation to classify and analyse stylistic diversity in the official 1:50 000 topographical mapping of 20 European countries. The method involves the construction of a typology of cartographic style, based upon the classification of distinct graphical legend symbols into mutually exclusive thematic categories. In order to identify stylistic similarities between national symbologies, hierarchical cluster analysis was performed to compare the relative proportions of symbols within each category. This was complemented by a qualitative analysis of various aspects of cartographic design: colour, ‘white’ space, visual hierarchy, and lettering. The results indicate a high degree of stylistic diversity throughout Europe, with the symbologies of Great Britain and Ireland demonstrating the strongest example of a supranational style. The typology of cartographic symbologies is shown to be an effective method for determining stylistic association among maps of differing geographical (and potentially historical) origins and it is suggested that the cartographic language paradigm should be revisited as a means for understanding why national differences persist in state cartography. A version of this paper was presented at the Twenty-third International Cartographic Conference in Moscow.

Introduction

Topographic maps are among the most familiar — and most trusted — of all cartographic products, maintaining a unique status in the history of cartography and possessing especial relevance to the growth and development of nations. Maps aiming to provide detailed and accurate observations of topography were among the first maps to be made, and according to Piket,¹ they form the ancestral line in the cartographic family tree from the origins of mapmaking to the present. The spread of the idea of drawing to a fixed scale revolutionized topographical mapping in the sixteenth century² and maps became increasingly valuable tools for exploring, understanding, and controlling our environment. The relevance of topographic information for military and cadastral purposes provided the motivation for the first initiatives in state mapmaking and gradually, the methods of survey and cartographic production developed and improved to allow topographic maps to be regarded as the ‘supreme achievement of the modern age of cartography’.³ More recently, David Rhind, formerly Director-General of Ordnance Survey, proclaimed that ‘the core of all mapping is that of the topography of the Earth’.⁴

Topography is defined by The Oxford English Dictionary primarily as ‘the science or practice of describing a particular place, city, town, manor, parish, or tract of land; the accurate and detailed delineation and description of any locality’.⁵ It is intriguing that the words ‘science’, ‘accurate’, and ‘detailed’ are mentioned in this definition, as in pursuing a tradition of accuracy from scientific survey and institutionalized production, topographic maps have come to be regarded as authoritative, objective, and truthful representations. Indeed, as Tyner⁶ claims, many people react to maps as though they were not representations but objectively the world itself, and, as Dorling and Fairbairn⁷ add, routinely accept them as ‘truth’.

This view may lead to the assumption that official topographic map symbols are internationally standardized, perhaps within the European Union in particular, where homogenizing principles pertaining to currency, law, and agricultural produce, for example, might suggest the existence of such a regulation. However, the degree to which topographic maps vary in style remains a contentious issue. While Board⁸ exclaims that ‘there is no question’ that official topographic maps demonstrate different styles, Taylor’s⁹ foreword to Eric Böhme’s three-volume Inventory of World Topographic Mapping insists that ‘the general style adopted for the representation of topographic features is virtually universal’. If different national mapping organizations (NMOs) use cartographic conventions (e.g. surrounding the use of colour, such as blue for water, brown for contours, green for vegetation, and black for ‘cultural’ features) on topographic maps, should this not give rise to a ‘supranational’ cartographic style, where variations in the appearance of such maps simply correspond to variations on the surface of the Earth? Indeed, according to Dorling and Fairbairn,¹⁰ ‘Standardization of content is such that topographic maps from widely differing landscapes, produced by different national mapping agencies, employ notably similar representation’. It would be easy to propose that the basis for any fundamental difference simply lies in the contrasting characteristics of physical landscapes.

However, maps of the same geographical area covered by different NMOs do vary in appearance, as may be demonstrated by the 1:50 000 topographic map series of Austria and Slovenia (Figure 1). Although the two maps share a similar colour scheme, their subjects have been symbolized differently. For example, road and vegetation classifications contrast prominently, labels are different in both content and in appearance (the Slovenian example also includes Slovene settlement names as exonyms), the Austrian map generally seems to include more topographic detail, and it is also clear that different grid systems have been used.

FIG. 1. Left: extract from sheet 202: Klagenfurt from the Austrian 1:50 000 topographic paper map series,¹¹ and right: an extract of the same area shown on sheet 12: Jesenice from the Slovenian 1:50 000 topographic paper map series,¹² (both extracts enlarged to 240%)

The cartographic style of a national series of topographic maps is derived from how the landscape is symbolized, in terms of both content and appearance. Through the processes of abstraction and generalization, its character is suggested through a particular selection of features and their expression...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Original Title
• Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• Introduction
• Automation in the Preparation of Thematic Maps
• Reflections on ‘Automation in the Preparation of Thematic Mapping’
• Visual Perception and Map Design
• Reflections on ‘Visual Perception and Map Design’
• The Map as a Communication System
• Reflections on ‘The Map as a Communication System’
• Topographic Relief Depiction by Hachures with Computer and Plotter
• Reflections on ‘Topographic Relief Depiction by Hachures with Computer and Plotter’
• A Knowledge Based System for Cartographic Symbol Design
• Reflections on ‘A Knowledge Based System for Cartographic Symbol Design’
• The Role of the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain
• Reflections on ‘The Role of the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain’
• Line Generalization by Repeated Elimination of Points
• Reflections on ‘Line Generalization by Repeated Elimination of Points’
• Map Design for Census Mapping
• Reflections on ‘Map Design for Census Mapping’
• ColorBrewer.org: An Online Tool for Selecting Colour Schemes for Maps
• Reflections on ‘ColorBrewer.org: An Online Tool for Selecting Colour Schemes for Maps’
• Mapping the Results of Geographically Weighted Regression
• Reflections on ‘Mapping the Results of Geographically Weighted Regression’
• Cultures of Map Use
• Reflections on ‘Cultures of Map Use’
• Usability Evaluation of Web Mapping Sites
• Reflections on ‘Usability Evaluation of Web Mapping Sites’
• Unfolding the Earth: Myriahedral Projections
• Reflections on ‘Unfolding the Earth: Myriahedral Projections’
• Stylistic Diversity in European State 1:50 000 Topographic Maps
• Reflections on ‘Stylistic Diversity in European State 1:50 000 Topographic Maps’
• Visualization of Origins, Destinations and Flow with OD Maps
• Reflections on ‘Visualization of Origins, Destinations and Flow with OD Maps’
• Reasserting Design Relevance in Cartography: Some Concepts
• Reasserting Design Relevance in Cartography: Some Examples
• Reflections of ‘Reasserting Design Relevance in Cartography’