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Ligue des Bibliothèques Europeénnes de Recherche, Groupe des Cartot
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© LIBER and author
Published from: LIBER Quarterly, the journal of European research
libraries, ISSN 1435-5205, Vol. 8(1998), No 2. With permission from K.G. Saur Verlag, Munich, Germany
E-mail: Hartmut Asche
I take pleasure in presenting this keynote address at your international conference on "Planning the 'New' Map Library". By addressing some recent developments in mapping technology and map use affecting the status and function of the map library, I would like to contribute to the discussions on this conference from a cartographer's perspective. To outline the status of present-day digital mapping, I will first describe some major changes in the technological as well as conceptual framework of cartographic modelling and map production. Within this context, I will deal with the concept of "electronic" or "interactive" mapping, as principles and potential of digital mapping can best be illustrated by this up-to-date approach to spatial data use. I would secondly like to draw your attention to the impact of digital technology on map use by briefly discussing some issues concerning the prerequisites, consequences and benefits of digital map use. Against this background, I would finally like to comment on some of the challenges facing the "new" map library as well as the map curator in the age of information technology.
Introduction
During the last three decades, the global spread of information technologies has not only led to a flood of information in almost all fields of our environment but also has made the bulk of this information available in digital form. In the earth sciences the dramatic increase in all kinds of geographic data is closely associated with the start of operational remote sensing and digital image processing as well as the development of computer-assisted cartography and geographic information systems. The need to manage ever larger volumes of information has sparked the development of digital systems for automated processing of alphanumeric bulk data.
A first approach - as early as the mid-1960s - has been to apply these so-called information systems to the management of space-related information. To stress their geographic reference, such systems were labelled "Geographic Information Systems" (acronym GIS). Based on off-the-shelf workstation or microcomputer hardware, GIS by now have become the standard tool for the storage, management, and analysis of a broad range of geocoded data. A second approach, combining traditional concepts of data compression with digital technology, to structure and exploit vast volumes of largely alphanumeric data is to transform them into graphic form. More recently, the fundamental Visualization in Scientific Computing report (ViSC report; McCormick et al. 1987) has emphasized the decisive role of visualization for the effective communication, analysis and presentation of digital data. A traditional form of analog data compression, visual presentation of mass data is common in statistics and the earth sciences since the nineteenth century, and both topographic and thematic maps are well established and familiar tools to visualize geographic information. In the age of information technology, geographic visualisation applies computer-assisted methods to the multidimensional retrieval, presentation
and analysis of geographic information including static map production, animation and multimedia as well as Internet mapping, interactive map/data navigation and application-oriented map use.
Changes in Map Design and Production
In any cartographic information processing, adequate visualization of geographic information in map form is of fundamental importance for the quality, clarity and comprehensibility of the resulting map graphic. The process of transforming a variety of spatial data into 2D and 3D graphic models is in fact essential to create useful maps that facilitate effective visual communication, intuitive cognition of geographic data structures and meaningful map use. In the era of conventional map production technologies, spatial data processing has largely been restricted to modelling the "optimal" static paper map. In the era of automated cartography, information technology is removing this limitation by presenting a wide range of options for the selection, manipulation and presentation of geographic information.
Conventional to Desktop Mapping
In conventional map modelling, the visualization of spatial data involves a number of design tasks including the preparation of a compilation manuscript which is manually rendered into a sketch map as the graphic reference for subsequent map production. The implementation of digital mapping has brought about major changes greatly increasing the creative potential of map design. Desktop mapping environments provide the professional cartographer - as well as the layman - with a multitude of intuitive and flexible drawing and design functions (Whitehead/ Hershey 1990, Asche/ Herrmann 1991). By directly interacting with the digital mapping system, the cartographer is able to manipulate the map data and experiment with their graphic presentation on a computer screen before hardcopying them. Ultimately digital as well as conventional cartographic modelling aim at design and production of single "optimal" maps for analog hardcopy output in classic paper map form.
Interactive mapping
Once digital technology is not only utilized for map design and production but also for map publication and use, digital map data promote the creation of multimedia map products called "interactive" or "electronic" maps in analogy to the electronic book. Unlike conventional paper maps, these products are primarily designed for softcopy display on computer monitors and not for hardcopy output, i.e. for use on graphics workstations or "electronic" mapping systems (EMS).
Interactive map modelling is based on the concept of links between the geographic data visualized on the map and additional spatial information in the map database which could not have been integrated into the map face by conventional methods. Therefore interactive maps consist of a number of graphic screen displays or softcopy "screens". Interactive controls and "hotspots" on each of these screens facilitate user-controlled access to latent database information, and navigational tools provide choices of which data to move to next. At a conceptual level, interactive mapping requires the design of a set of conventions for each and every part of an application, specifically for the visual presentation of information, or screen design, and ways to access and explore all information available in the system, or database navigation. Interactive mapping supports the integration of animation, video and sound as well as optional system guidance by virtual "agents" (Ormeling 1993, Asche/ Herrmann 1994). By providing user-defined access to complete sets of geographic data, interactive mapping enables cartographer and map user alike to experiment with the presentation of this information. As a result, the "optimal" single map solution is neither the only nor the ultimate product of interactive mapping.
Geographic databases
Apart from map graphics increasing numbers of so-called geographic base data are available to the end user from federal map agencies. Constituent parts of geographic data models (like the DLM of Germany), these feature-based data contain digital descriptions of spatial location and selected thematic attributes but not of their symbolization. In the long run this digital spatial data base will substitute conventional topographic maps as a reference for geocoded environmental data. Geographic base data are distributed as files which can be transformed into map form by symbolizing and presenting them by means of GIS and DTM environments. One familiar form of visual presentation of geographic base data will be the topographic paper map provided by federal mapping agencies, although with modified map design.
Internet mapping
Rapidly spreading global data networks (like the famous internet) are already confronting cartographer and map user alike with a range of options for map production and map use not possible with conventional stand-alone computer systems. So-called clickable maps or metamaps available in data networks (WWW, internet), on-the-fly map production from map data available from interactive map servers (like the Xerox Parc Map Viewer or the Canadian National Atlas Information Service) as well as geographic information retrieval (like Geoweb or ImageNet) are only the most relevant of these new developments. For the time being, their impact on map production and map use can only be estimated. Nevertheless it is undisputed that they will have substantial influence on map use environments including the map library.
Impact on map use
Both conventional and digital paper maps support all forms of conventional analog map use from general information and data exploration to in-depth geographic analysis. All of these tasks exclude direct interaction with the information presented in the map on the user's part. Regardless of their technological basis or their specific application, digital maps share some basic functional characteristics essential for digital map use. Any digital map use requires a digital mapping environment assembled from off-the-shelf standard hard- and software components. Microcomputer-based systems, in particular, provide powerful performance coupled with ease of operation, great potential for the cartographic visualization of spatial data and cost effectiveness.
Like static paper maps, interactive maps are graphic instruments to effectively communicate and analyze geographic information. By integrating the abilities of the computer, interactive maps provide the user with a variety of intuitive tools to access and interact with the multidimensional geographic information presented in many different ways. User-controlled on-screen interaction and interactive data exploration can be identified as key concepts of interactive mapping stimulating the user's motivation to explore the evaluation potential of interactive maps by allowing him/her to acquire more and more specific information. Interactive maps thus enable map users to become actively involved not only in the evaluation of spatial data but also in the application-specific visualization of geographic information. Additionally, interactive mapping systems enable the user to summarize his/her single- or multi-dimensional evaluation of the data including annotations in user-defined map form.
Scope and scale of extensions added to the conventional forms of analog map use by the extra dimension of interactivity is closely correlated with the range of options for operation and navigation implemented in interactive maps on the one hand and presumed abilities of the potential map users on the other. Interactive map use options include map browsing, view-only and exploration tasks as well as data manipulation and visualization functions. Data exploration may vary from screen map interaction by non-professional users to extensive database manipulation by professional geoscientists. Subject to specific applications, systems features can either be restricted to view-only use or include the full range required for complex high interaction data manipulation tasks.
Whether conventional or digital, a strong correlation exists between mapping and the state of technological development. Concepts of map design, the kinds of map data, methods of map production and reproduction as well as map use have always strongly reflected technological advances of the time. Some basic correlations between geographic data, cartographic modelling techniques, graphic presentation and the final map product are summarized in this flow chart. An important driving force behind this relationship is the double challenge cartography has faced in each period: the continual demand for maps more timely, accurate, and complete, coupled with the claim for greater accessibility to low cost maps (Robinson et al. 1995: 28). While adjustment to technological change is a characteristic feature of professional cartography, it took the impact of digital technology to highlight the close relationship existing between map product and map use options.
Challenge for the "new" Map Library
Judging from the strong impact information technology is having on mapping techniques, map products and map use, there is little doubt that the global diffusion of digital cartography will present a major challenge to the traditional role of the map library and map curator as well. It is one of the prominent goals of this conference to discuss the nature and effect of this challenge. Without anticipating any of the possible arguments or results here, I would like to identify some of the most obvious challenges facing the present-day map library from a cartographer's perspective and point to some of the consequences information technology is likely to have on the role of the "new" map library in a fully digital cartographic world.
1. Conventional paper maps are, in increasing quantities, supplemented by interactive softcopy maps facilitating variable presentation of geographic data sets. Due to the spread of interactive mapping, map use is no longer limited to static paper maps collected in the traditional map library. As a consequence, map libraries are already extending their scope of map collection and storage to interactive map products. Coinciding with this development, alphanumeric geographic databases are made available to the general public in various scales by federal mapping agencies. To facilitate visual exploration and use, these feature-based spatial data need symbolization and presentation by means of DTM or GIS tools. As digital map data require computer environments for display and use, the provision of digital mapping systems as the standard tools for digital map use in the map room is an essential obligation to retain the map library's central role in public map use.
2. Global data networks provide worldwide access to increasing numbers of digital maps, metamaps, map data, and geographic information retrieval services in federal mapping agencies, map publishing houses and possibly map libraries all over the world. Although only at its beginning, this field of Internet mapping is a fast-developing branch of digital cartography. Assuming a computer graphics system "wired" to data networks is available on the map user's private desk, Internet map data can be downloaded either from the creator or a specific map library even without personally visiting a map room. To keep up its traditional commitment for public map use in this changing technological environment, the map library will have to provide online network services in the map room in addition to electronic mapping facilities. One important factor in this development is that through the use of global data networks it is possible for the map user to access map and map data stocks available online in worldwide map libraries, thus adding a "virtual" dimension to the "real" map library.
3. At the same time, information technology presents new opportunities for storage and conservation as well as improved user access to the large stocks of old and early paper maps, among them numerous and rare manuscript maps. To keep up with parallel developments outside the map library, it is fundamental for any "new" map library to develop concepts for analog/ digital conversion of large numbers of old paper maps. This includes the acquisition and implementation of a digital mapping system potential configurations and components which have been discussed at a roundtable meeting (See: Planning the new map library, The LIBER Quarterly, Vol 7(1997)2, p...). By this means, digital old maps can be hardcopied or even printed on demand in any size or scale for conventional paper map use or display on existing digital mapping systems. Digital old map data can even be diffused on global data networks to researchers or map collectors all over the world.
4. To resume the implications of information technology for the map library, it can be stated that the process of change towards a "new" digital map library including analog stocks is well under way. Digital mapping environments will supplement and, in the long run, substitute conventional skills and expertise in map collection, map storage and map preservation. These developments are undoubtedly challenging the professional role of the map curator as expert collector and keeper of paper maps. There seems little doubt that the map curator's key competence will shift to expertise in digital mapping management and map data diffusion as well as spatial data use consulting.
Conclusion
By outlining some of the recent advances in digital mapping I have tried to address some implications these developments will have on the map user and map use options. What impact these developments will have on the future role of the "new" map library is subject to further research and discussions. One thing seems clear, however: If the "new" map library is to flourish in the fully digital cartographic world of the 21st century, redefinition of its aims and functions is inevitable to retain its traditional role, i.e. to efficiently collect and provide the two principal cartographic products - the database and the visualization - to the public user.
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