Radim Štampach

Practical Experience with a Contextual Map Service

A year ago, the development of a Contextual Map Service called Sissi began. As it has been introduced in previous research articles, the purpose of this service, which is based on the OGC WMS specification, is to implement the idea of contextual cartographic visualisation into the web environment. Today, we have the first functional prototype of Sissi, which was tested in November 2008 during a field experiment called ‘Transport of Dangerous Goods II’.

Dynamic visualization of sensor measurements: context based approach

Abstract An amount of data measured with sensors is increasing year to year. Every sensor has a location and sensor data are mostly measured for long time period, so visualization of location and regular updating of visualized value is necessary. Various characteristics (e.g. meteorological conditions) can be automatically read at frequent intervals and those readings can be aggregated into the interactive map visualization. This map must be not only legible but also understandable also for readers that are experts in their specialisation, however, not in cartography. This paper presents possibilities of using and implementation of adaptive cartography and visual seeking principles for interactive visualization and analysis of sensor based data measured in real time. Our solution is described on experimental application for precise farming that we developed during research project Agrisensor.

Selected Issues of Experimental Testing in Cartography

Kniha sestava ze dvou hlavnich casti. V prvni casti jsou představeny teoreticke koncepty ve vztahu k individualnim rozdilům uživatelů a výzkumu uživatelske přivětivosti. Druha caast je zaměřena na představeni software Hypothesis

Automated generation of tactile maps

ABSTRACT The Support Centre for Students with Special Needs at Masaryk University (the Teiresias Centre) in Brno, Czech Republic asked the team at the Department of Geography at the Faculty of Science to develop a technological procedure for the preparation of tactile maps from available sources of data. Most users would be blind and visually impaired students of Masaryk University. A set of scripts in Python language was prepared for the ArcGIS environment. The scripts prepare the source data, modify the layers, generate the layout of map sheets and export map sheets. The grid of map sheets covers the whole area of Brno City. Printed map sheets are combinable into larger areas. The scale of each map sheet is 1:2500.

Dynamic Cartographic Methods for Visualisation of Health Statistics

The article deals with interdisciplinary research on health status data analysis and so-called ‘health cartography’ mapping approaches. In the first part existing cognitive studies and recommendations on map design are discussed.

Health statistics in international databases and their cartographic visualization

Abstract. For health system management, relevant data and information are necessary. The first part of the paper describes databases of the important health data providers WHO, OECD, IARC and Eurostat. It analyses whether they are in discrepancy and whether it is possible to combine data from different databases. Cartographic visualization can be used for the analysis of situations and also for the publishing of statistics and other information. Selected international providers offering health maps are evaluated in the second part of the paper. There are differences in the possibilities offered to the user and in the quality of the provided maps.

Cross-cultural differences in figure–ground perception of cartographic stimuli

ABSTRACT This article reports on an empirical study investigating cultural differences in the visuospatial perception and cognition of qualitative point symbols shown on reference maps. We developed two informationally equivalent symbol sets depicted on identical reference maps that were shown to Czech and Chinese map readers. The symbols varied in visual contrast with respect to the base map. Our empirical results suggest the existence of cultural influences on map reading, but not in the predicted direction based on the previous cross-cultural studies. Our findings stress the importance of considering the cultural background of map readers, especially when designing reference maps aimed for global online use.

Geography in philately

The authors present 225 samples of stamps from 92 countries as interesting cartosemiothic examples. Their texts, numeracy and other modules including maps, atlases, and satellite images of our Earth, are an area of common interest of geographers and philatelists.

Clinical Stages in Patients with Primary and Subsequent Cancers Based on the Czech Cancer Registry 1976–2005

Of 1,486,984 new cancers registered in the Czech Cancer Registry in 1976-2005, 290,312 (19.5%) were multiple malignant neoplasms (MMNs), of which there were 65,292 primary and 89,796 subsequent cases in men and 59,970 primary and 75,254 subsequent cases in women. The duplicities were higher in women, and the triplicities and others (3–6 MMNs) were higher in men. The most frequent diagnoses were the primary cancers of skin, gastrointestinal and urinary tract, male genital organs, respiratory tract in men, and cancers of skin, breast, female genital organs, and gastrointestinal tract in women. The analysis of the early and advanced clinical stages shows that the number of subsequent advanced stages increased after primary advanced stages. Their time-age-space distributions visualized maps of MMNs in 14 Czech regions. These results support the improvement of algorithms of dispensary care for the early detection of the subsequent neoplasms.