D. R. Fraser Taylor

The Concept of Cybercartography

Publisher Summary The increasing use of maps and the Internet requires a new paradigm for cartography. Computer and telecommunications technologies are revolutionizing cartography but the challenges facing the discipline are not only technical but also conceptual. Maps and Mapping will take on new functions in the 21st century as a process, as an organizational concept, and as a product. This chapter suggests a new definition of cartography and elaborates the seven major elements of the concept of cybercartography. Cybercartography is a multi-sensory, interactive multimedia which is applied to a wide variety of subjects. It is part of an information package, compiled by interdisciplinary teams. It provides new research partnerships and involves new ways of engaging and understanding the user, and new integrated research frameworks. Research to create two new cybercartographic products, a Cybercartographic Atlas of Antarctica and Canadas Trade with the World, is also described in the chapter.

The history and development of the theory and practice of cybercartography

Abstract This paper describes the development of cybercartography since the introduction of the term in 1997. Although the origins of cybercartography were largely conceptual in nature, the evolution of cybercartography to date has been an iterative process reflecting the creative interplay between theory and practice. A major step forward was made in 2002 when the Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre at Carleton University received a

A “Living” Atlas for Geospatial Storytelling: The Cybercartographic Atlas of Indigenous Perspectives and Knowledge of the Great Lakes Region

2.5 million grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to explore the utility of cybercartography to what was described as the New Economy. By 2006, the interaction between theory and practice had led to considerable advances in cybercartography as a holistic, location-based concept and two new cybercartographic products, the Cybercartographic Atlas of Antarctica and the Cybercartographic Atlas of Canadas Trade with the World, were produced. Between 2006 and 2009, cybercartography was further developed as a result of interaction with indigenous communities, especially in Canadas north and new interactive atlases such as the Kitikmeot Place Names Atlas and the Community Atlas of Arctic Bay were created in cooperation with the communities involved. The Nunaliit Cybercartographic Atlas Framework, built using open source software and open specifications and standards, was developed to facilitate direct input to these atlases. Cybercartography is now entering a new phase in both theory and practice building on a recently completed prototype atlas of Indigenous Perspectives and Knowledge.

Cybercartography: Maps and Mapping in the Information Era

This article presents and discusses the cultural and technological contexts of the development of the Cybercartographic Atlas of Indigenous Perspectives and Knowledge of the Great Lakes Region in Ontario. The atlas was developed to enhance the capability to recover the systemic nature of traditional Indigenous knowledge by electronically interrelating different forms of expressive culture (language, oral traditions, items of material and visual culture, historical documentation). To reach this goal, this atlas includes a “living” geospatial database that serves as an artefact repository and enables communities to contribute geographically relevant knowledge and to develop their own interactive, multimedia online geospatial stories through modules or sections. Two of these modules are discussed here: a treaties module focusing on the survey phase of the Lake Huron treaty process, and a culture module geared toward engaging Aboriginal artists, community members, and high school students in contributing to t...

Mapping Indigenous Perspectives in the Making of the Cybercartographic Atlas of the Lake Huron Treaty Relationship Process: A Performative Approach in a Reconciliation Context1

The world of maps and mapping is rapidly being transformed. Recent technological developments have brought maps into the daily life of societies all over the world in unprecedented ways. Maps are everywhere: on our cell phones, in newspapers, in art galleries, on television, in books, and, obviously, on our computer screens. According to Michael Peterson (2005), maps are now second only to weather information in the number of World Wide Web search requests. This widespread use of on-line mapping has attracted the interest of large corporations such as Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft. Recently, the almost instantaneous success of Google Map, Google Earth, and Microsoft Digital Earth (Goodchild 2005) has demonstrated the increasing presence of maps in our daily life. This success is also transforming the way we access, use, and interact with maps. User-friendly technologies and high-resolution images now allow users to create maps that respond to individualized demands.

Establishing a sustainable and cross-boundary geospatial cyberinfrastructure to enable polar research

ABSTRACT This article discusses a two-pronged approach to designing and developing an online, interactive multimedia – cybercartographic – atlas that combines critical academic perspectives with Anishinaabe approaches to understanding in order to “tell the story” of the Robinson Huron Treaty process in a way intended to enhance awareness of Anishinaabe perspectives and expose the epistemological and ontological roots of colonialism. Building on the work that created the Treaties Module of the Living Cybercartographic Atlas of Indigenous Perspectives and Knowledge, this atlas project continues to reflect the comprehensiveness and multidimensionality of Robinson Huron Treaty–based relationship processes. The article focuses on some of the performative aspects of this atlas project, such as iterative processes and spatializing history, that contribute to its success in reflecting Anishinaabe perspectives and providing the basis for a richer understanding of the treaty process.

What is Cinematic Cartography

Polar Regions become increasingly important as places for (1) natural resources, (2) sensitive indicators of human activities and global, environment, and climate changes, (3) preserving histories of the Earth and biological evolution, and (4) space-Earth interactions and answers to many other 21st century challenges. To facilitate the research, exploration, and development for better understanding, utilizing, and protecting the Polar Regions, a Geospatial CyberInfrastructure (GCI) is needed to help us collect data, integrate information gathered or data in real time from in situ and satellite sensors, and model the geophysical, biological, ecological, and social phenomena to provide better decision support information for policymakers. This special issue of GCI and polar research captures the recent advancements in polar research and the requirements for a GCI. Through a rigorous review process, four papers were selected based on their relationships to polar research and their scientific/technical merits. This paper is a review that surveys the field, introduces the selected papers, and discusses future research.

An Open Source Development Framework in Support of Cartographic Integration

Maps are ubiquitous in movies. They appear constantly and in a variety of forms: hung on the wall of a classroom, framed in an office, and unfolded by gangsters on a table. In movies maps serve a variety of purposes: They serve as decoration, as a means of location, to aid narration, as metaphors as well as to increase the dramatic tension of a sequence. They can play a prominent role in the unfolding of the action or appear only for a split second behind a closing door. They can serve to address the audience or as a mean of interaction between characters. They can be classic and static, or unique and dynamic. This pervasive presence of diverse cartographic artifacts in films contrasts dramatically with the marginal impact that cinematographic techniques, concepts and artifacts have had on cartography over the course of the last century. There has been substantial use of cartography in cinema but this has had very limited impact on the theory and practice of cartography. The production of this special issue is the first ever dedicated to cinematic cartography, and is an attempt to help address this imbalance. Some of the interactions between geography and cinema have been studied (Mauduit and Henriet 1989; Lukinbeal 2004), while cartographic readings of films have been developed, especially in the important book on cartographic cinema by Tom Conley (2006), but cinema has never been a focal point in cartography. In this introduction we provide a brief historical review of some of the major phases of the different interactions between cartography and cinema in order to provide a context for the papers in this issue. A key question for this special issue, and for this introduction is of course what is ‘cinematic cartography’?

Geo-cybernetics: A New Avenue of Research in Geomatics?

Developments in Internet mapping have been dynamic in terms of emerging tools, services, databases and participants. New products developed by the private sector and open source projects are providing new means for constructing and disseminating maps. However, there is a need for research and development to support the creation of cohesive information products that synthesize information, such as Web-based atlases. Existing products tend to focus on processing and representation of primary information resources which are not highly integrated or ‘mediated’.

Chapter 7 The cartographer as mediator: Cartographic representation from shared geographic information*

AbstractThe term “geomatics” has existed in the literature for more than a decade, but an overall consensus on the definition of this emerging discipline has not yet been found. The knowledge domain of geomatics has developed in the “interaction space” among converging disciplines (e.g., geographic information systems, cartography, remote sensing, geodesy, and photogrammetry), but its borders are “complex and fuzzy.” Taking cybernetics, both classic and second order, general systems theory, modelling, and complexity as basic building blocks, the research group at CentroGeo is conducting empirical and theoretical work on three main avenues of research: (1) cybercartography, (2) complex solutions in geomatics, and (3) collective mental maps. Recent research results on cybercartography have indicated the value of building a comprehensive theoretical framework that would combine the essence of these three research avenues as a body of knowledge and add to the base of knowledge on geomatics. This article discu...