Transcript DIS 226 “General Reference Work: Atlases”

“Atlases and Gazetteers”
Dr. John V. Richardson Jr., Professor
“Information Access”
UCLA GSE&IS Department of Information Studies
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Presentation Outline
 Definitions
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Geography, Physical and Human (Cultural)
Cartography
Gazetteer
Atlas and Map
Types of Maps
Historical Cartography (in the US)
Standards for Evaluation
CD-ROM and WWW Examples
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Definitions
 Geographical information, often in the form of
visual information, involves spatial relationships.
SLA, Geography and Map Division, Bulletin.
 The formal study of geography as an academic
discipline involves:
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physical (soil, terrain, rivers, geological features such as
caves
human (or cultural overlays such as roads or buildings.
10-year trend: Historical atlases)
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More Definitions
 Cartography is the study of maps (sometimes
guidebooks) involves their creation and access to
this information
 Gazetteer (alphabetical volume providing place
names, description, longitude and latitude). Atlas
(collection of maps). Named for Greek mythology
(Homer) for the god who warred against Zeus;
required to bear heaven on shoulders and hands
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Gazetteers Continued:
 Where else would you be able to find the country with these place names?
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Mingocebos (literally, Eat Onions)
Beaufou (Beautiful Mad)
Saligos (Filthy Pig)
Cocumont (Cuckold Hill)
Trécon (Very Stupid)
 Ready to join the Society of Villages of Lyric or Burlesque Names?
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Atlas and Map
 Greek god of mythology; supporting the globe on
his shoulders in early illustrated books
 Map (OED says first use in 1527)
 from the Latin, Mappa Mundi (meaning world
map)
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mappa, napkin or towel and mundi, of the world
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Types of Maps
 Road maps (e.g., Thomas Bros. or Rand McNally)
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gasoline companies used to provide these free of charge
state governments (Dept. of Transportation) often still
do
county (Department of Highways)
township, Northwest Territory (early land records)
public libraries have circulating collections of such
maps
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More Types of Maps
 Topographic
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portrayal of the shape and elevation of the terrain
responsibility, USGS (1879) of the US Department of
Interior
strong military connotations; today, selecting industrial
sites, planning highways, locating communication
facilities, routing pipelines, and selecting dam sites, or
recreational uses (hunting, fishing, hiking, skiing,
camping, and off-roading)
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Even More Types of Maps
 Hydrographic
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nautical charts. Great Lakes, ship wrecks
 Aeronautic
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airways and airports
 Medical atlases
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photographic, mortality, and planning uses
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Map Use Strategies
 Thematic Atlases
 Older Atlases
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contain historical data
 National Atlases
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general user or businessperson
compare countries, economic strengths
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More Map Use Strategies
 Catalog using the standard form subdivision
“Maps” and “Atlases” and Description and
Travel”
 Foreign Language Dictionaries have place names
 General Adult Encyclopedias contain an article on
“cartography” along with place names, and insert
maps
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WWW Strategy
 Odden’s Bookmarks at
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Http://oddens.geog.uu.nl/index.html with more than
13,000 links
one of the single best gateways to locating maps on the
Internet
 Alexandria Digital Library at
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Http://www.alexandria.ucsb.edu
(Alexandria Digital Earth Prototype, ADEPT) allows
longitude and latitude to be entered
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Historical Cartography
 American continent in the 15 and 16th century
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coastlines first and then more detailed under colonial
administration of Spaniards
“oldest recorded manuscript…showing discovery of
New World is Juan de la Cosa’s map of 1500”
first printed map, 1506
most accurate, John White who drew the coast from
Chesapeake Bay in Maryland and Virginia south to
Florida between 1585 and 1587
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Historical Cartography continued
 American continent in the 17th and 18th century
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first printed in US, wood cut map of 1677 “A Map of
New England”
high point, 1755, Lewis Evans’ Map of the Middle
British Colonies in America (engraved by Turner and
printed on Franklin's press).
Carey and Lea produced a war atlas (1794) and an atlas
(1832)
Tanner’s general atlas (1840)
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Standards for Evaluation
 Atlas as a Whole
 Range and Quality of Maps
 Index
 Supplementary Material
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Atlas as a Whole
 Authority
 Scope and Purpose
 Date
 Arrangement
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Authority
 Ethnocentrism = geocentrism
 Publisher versus cartographer (source material)
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Bartholomew and Sons, Scotland 150+ years experience
 Source of supplementary material (US Census
Bureau)
 Place of publication is unusual center of the world
 Place Names: Roma = Rome or Wien = Vienna
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Scope and Purpose
 NGS Atlas: to “supplement the efforts of
educators to eradicate scientific, political, and
geographical illiteracy.”
 Evaluate; do not just compare
 Do not rely upon publisher’s blurb or ad
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Dates
 Copyright
 Date on maps, the individual plates
 Field checked
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Arrangement
 location based on place of publication first
 order based on frequency of interest
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Range and Quality of Maps
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Authority
Date
Number and Adequacy
Type
Projection
Size and Placement
Scale
Method of Relief
Use of Colors
Detail
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Authority
 Reputation of the publisher
 U.S. Board of Geographic Names for spelling in
the United States
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Dates
 Look at the verso of the title page and for
individual plates
 Note political changes, since 1945, more than 40
countries have changed names. In Africa, there
have been 90 political changes. Former Soviet
Union is now ...
 Name changes, 500-1000 annually
 Study an area you know well to check; 5%
obsolescence per year
 5-year revision cycles; new printing vs. new
edition
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Number
 Count the number of maps
 New International Atlas: “The space allocated to
each region reflects its relative economic and
cultural significance on the world scene, as well as
its total population and area. In this atlas there is
an approximate balance between Anglo-America,
Europe and Asia, each with over one-fifth of the
total map pages. Africa, Oceania and Latin
America together account for the remaining onethird.” --Foreword
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Adequacy
 Rand McNally New International -- no trans-Alaskan
pipeline
 Concise Atlas of the World -- Great Wall of China
 New York Times Atlas (1972)
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Art Institute in the Chicago inset map is west of I-94
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Adequacy continued:
 Penguin World Atlas (1974)
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Pan American highway linked with Soviet Union with the South
Atlantic
 Times Atlas of the World (1975)
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Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City? The latter...
 Hammond New Contemporary (1977)
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Gaza strip is in the wrong place
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Adequacy continued further:
 Encarta Interactive World Atlas
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Kashmir
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Type of Maps
 Physical
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plate tectonics, earthquakes, volcanoes, world minerals,
climatology, vegetation
 Cultural
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world mankind, food potential
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Projection
 3-D is a sphere (globe) versus 2-D (sheet)
 Distortion: area distorted or distance distorted
 Read Goode’s World Atlas or the Oxford World Atlas
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Gerardus Mercator
 based on a cylinder
 longitude and latitude are straight lines
 utility in navigation because compass directions are true,
fine for middle latitudes
 edges distort
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Other Projections
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Lambert Conformal Conical (equal area)
Mollweide
Fuller
Robinson
Van der Grinten
Peters (equal area, southern hemisphere looks more
prominent)
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Equal-Area Peters Projection
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Polar Azimuthal Equidistant
 “Viewer is hovering over the North Pole with the rest of the
Earth falling away in a circle , with North America on one
side, Asia on the other.” LA Times, 9 April 1990, p. B2.
 utility is distances
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Size and Placement
 Top is North or is it East? Customary = Ethnocentric?
 McArthur maps have Australia at the top
 map margins; for identifying information and rebinding
 Note percentage of double page maps
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Orientation
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The Turnabout Map
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Scale
 Expresses the size relationship between the
features shown on the map and the same features
on the earth’s surface expressed as a ratio or
fraction: 1:24,000 or 1/24,000. 1 (inch) on map
equals 24 (inch) on earth
 Topographic maps are commonly 7 1/2 minute
(i.e., 1:24,000), hence large sheets
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Common Scales
 1:1,000,000
 1:500,000
 1:250,000
 1:100,000
1 inch equals 16 miles (USGS
standard)
1 inch equals 8 miles (USGS
standard)
1 inch equals 4 miles
1 inch equals 2 miles (GB’s
Ordinance Survey)
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Scale Principles
 same throughout, ability to compare easily
 no more than 2 or 3 scales for easier comparison
 consistent for comparison
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Method of Relief
 The use of lines…
 hachures (hatching) in the direction of the slope
(19th century)
 Baedeker’s Switzerland , 10th ed. (1883)
 isolines, contour lines replaced this technique
 dotted lines for vacant areas such as the desert
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Use of Colors
 Historical Principle
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Pink = British
Purple = French
Green = Portuguese
Yellow = Spanish
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More Use of Colors
 Higher the elevation, the darker the color
 Color according to temperature (typical satellite
photos)
 Utility (blue for water and tan for desert)
 Harmony of colors (garish examples)
 Use of placards to identify colors (which may
disappear)
 Five color printing (USPS)
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Detail and Use of Symbols
 larger the scale, the better the detail
 larger the scale, less distortion
 Topographic Map Symbols
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Index
 Index (to page with letter and number coordinates or
latitude and longitude) versus gazetteer (Omni G of the
USA, 11vol./CD-ROM)
 USGS’s National Atlas index is not copyrighted. Often
reprinted.
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Index continued:
 100,000 to 200,000 entries is not uncommon.
More is better
 Running index or gazetteer on the margin
 check for cross-references
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Supplementary Material
 Utility? What’s this added stuff I am paying for?
 “How to Use this Atlas”, metric conversions,
world temperature and rainfall, time zones, airline
distances, major world cities, marching times,
world chronology, bibliography, pronunciation
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Check the Binding of Print Sources
 Expense of the materials
 Guard -tabs
 Plates on hinges
 Loose-leaf? Advantage is update
 Boxed? Disadvantage is disorganization and filing
updates
 Ledger-style on Chicago screwpost
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CD-ROM and WWW
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Concepts Computerized Atlas (for the IBM PC), 1984
Interstate Travelmate (1990), $99.95
DeLorme’s Street Atlas USA (CD-ROM), 1990 $99
DeLorme’s Topo USA (1998) topographic maps with GPS
MapPoint 2000 from Microsoft $109
MapInfo’s MapInfo Pro or ESRI ArcView (Redlands)
1:2,500,000 interactive at http://atlas.geo.cornell.edu
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Just a Gentle Reminder...
 Remove the diskette now!
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