Developments in the Theory and Practice of Cybercartography (eBook)

Applications and Indigenous Mapping

D.R. Fraser Taylor (Herausgeber)

eBook Download: PDF | EPUB

2013 | 2. Auflage
380 Seiten
Elsevier Reference Monographs (Verlag)
978-0-444-62717-9 (ISBN)

Infos

Developments in the Theory and Practice of Cybercartography-awarded an Honorable Mention in Earth Science at the Association of American Publishers' 2015 PROSE Awards-examines some of the recent developments in the theory and practice of cybercartography and the substantial changes which have taken place since the first edition published in 2005. It continues to examine the major elements of cybercartography and emphasizes the importance of interaction between theory and practice in developing a paradigm which moves beyond the concept of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Geographical Information Science.Cybercartography is a new paradigm for maps and mapping in the information era. Defined as 'the organization, presentation, analysis and communication of spatially referenced information on a wide variety of topics of interest to society,' cybercartography is presented in an interactive, dynamic, multisensory format with the use of multimedia and multimodal interfaces.The seven major elements of cybercartography outlined in the first edition have been supplemented by six key ideas and the definition of cybercartography has been extended and expanded. The new practice of mapping traditional knowledge in partnership with indigenous people has led to new theoretical understanding as well as innovative cybercartographic atlases. Featuring more than 90% new and revised content, this volume is a result of a multidisciplinary team effort and has benefited from the input of partners from government, industry and aboriginal non-governmental organizations. - Honorable Mention in the the 2015 PROSE Awards in Earth Science from the Association of American Publishers - Highlights the relationship between cybercartography and critical geography - Incorporates several new cybercartographic atlases produced in cooperation with Inuit and First Nations groups - Showcases legal, ethical, consent and policy implications of mapping local and traditional knowledge - Features an interactive companion web site containing links to related sites, additional color images and illustrations, plus important information to capture the dynamic and interactive elements of cybercartography: http://booksite.elsevier.com/9780444627131/

Textauszug

Chapter 1

Some Recent Developments in the Theory and Practice of Cybercartography

Applications in Indigenous Mapping: An Introduction

D.R. Fraser Taylor,    Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre (GCRC), Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Abstract

This chapter summarizes some of the recent developments in the theory and practice of cybercartography discussed in this book and the substantial changes that have taken place since the first edition of the book was published in 2005. The seven major elements of cybercartography outlined in the first edition have been supplemented by six key ideas, and the definition of cybercartography has been extended and expanded. The new practice of mapping a traditional knowledge (TK) in partnership with indigenous people has led to a new theoretical understanding as well as innovative cybercartographic atlases. The chapter explores the nature of TK as a ‘people’s way of knowing’ and how to best represent this. A cybermap is a physical artifact but also a cognitive and social construct. The chapter considers the relationship between cybercartography and critical cartography, volunteered geographic information and the relationship with the individual user. The holistic nature of cybercartography is explained and important legal and ethical issues are explored. The chapter includes a brief description of key issues reflected in the 22 chapters of the book and concludes that cybercartography meets the challenges posed by Tim Berners-Lee for the Web 3.0 era.

Keywords

Arts and humanities; Cybercartographic theory; Geocybernetics; Indigenous mapping; Legal and ethical issues; Multisensory research; Preservation and archiving; Traditional knowledge

1.1 Introduction

This book is a substantial update of Cybercartography: Theory and Practice published in late 2005. In the last paragraph of that book the following statement appeared. ‘…the chapters in this book suggest that we are at a breakthrough point in the development of cartography and that the paradigm of cybercartography is well worth further exploration. There are, however, many questions still to be answered, and much further research is required if cybercartography is to reach its full potential’ (Taylor, 2005:558).

Several challenges and directions were identified for future research:

• The need for more practice;

• and for more rigorous theory;

• design challenges;

• relationships with the arts and humanities;

• the utility of cybercartography;

• the need for multisensory research; and

• the challenges of preservation and archiving.

Since the first edition of this book was published substantial changes have taken place in both the theory and practice of cybercartography and many of these are the results of extensive new practice, especially in cooperation with indigenous communities in Canada. The interaction between theory and practice is a major facet of cybercartography and practice creates a new theory that in turn leads to improved practice. Cybercartography is essentially an iterative process and is holistic in nature. This chapter will outline some of the new theoretical and applied directions of cybercartography since the publication of the first edition.

1.2 The Elements of Cybercartography

In the first volume, seven elements of cybercartography were identified as follows:

• Cybercartography is multisensory using vision, hearing, touch, and eventually, smell and taste;

• uses multimedia formats and new telecommunications technologies, such as the World Wide Web;

• is highly interactive and engages the user in new ways;

• is applied to a wide range of topics of interest to the society, not only to location finding and the physical environment;

• is not a stand-alone product like the traditional map, but part of an information/analytical package;

• is compiled by teams of individuals from different disciplines; and involves new research partnerships among academia, government, civil society, and the private sector (Taylor, 2005:3).

In general terms, these seven elements are still in place but have been refined, modified, and expanded around six key ideas. These six key ideas, which are a reflection of the original seven elements, are:

• Individuals use all of their senses while observing what is around them: cybercartography is therefore exploring the possibilities of using all five senses in its representations in order to make cybercartographic atlases as reflective as possible of sensory realities.

• Individuals have different learning preferences and prefer teaching and learning materials in different formats. Cybercartographic atlases have great potential in both formal and informal education and they provide the same information in multiple formats allowing users the freedom to choose which format or combination of formats and modalities they wish to use.

• Educational theory suggests that individuals learn best when they are actively rather than passively involved. This applies both in formal and informal learning situations. Engaging the user requires carefully thought out interactive engagement strategies including the design of effective user interfaces.

• The social media revolution has given people the power to create their own narrative and cartography is challenged to respond to individual and community needs in ways that previously did not exist. The Nunaliit Cybercartographic Atlas Framework is a software platform that provides a mechanism for people to enter their own data into cybercartographic atlases. Cybercartography provides a means for people to tell their own stories as part of a holistic information package. The Framework is open source, provides a metadata structure for the information, and is designed with an interface that does not require special knowledge in order to enter information.

• Many topics of interest to society are complex and the same set of ‘facts’ on topics such as climate change are open to a variety of representations. Even when there may be an agreement on the facts, there can often a wide variety of interpretations. There are often no simple ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers to many questions. Cybercartography allows the presentation of different ontologies or narratives on the same topic without privileging one over another. The user can consider the various narratives presented and have a greater understanding of the complexities and uncertainties surrounding many topics. Traditionally, the map was an authoritative source. Cybermaps are much more nuanced.

• Traditional cartography was supply-driven. National mapping agencies supplied the definitive and authoritative maps, which the public used. Technological change allowed for a much more demand-driven approach and cybercartography takes this one step further and empowers individuals and communities to create their own maps including the choice of what to represent and what not to represent. Individuals are new ‘prosumers’ rather than simply ‘cybercartography is consumers’ and, as a result, democratizing mapping in new ways. Indigenous people, for example, have often been largely ‘invisible’ on maps or have been represented by others. Cybercartography gives voice to indigenous people and other community groups both literally and metaphorically.

1.3 Definition of Cybercartography

In 2003 cybercartography was formally defined as ‘…the organization, presentation, analysis, and communication of spatially referenced information on a wide variety of topics of interest and use to society in an interactive, dynamic, multimedia, multisensory, and multidisciplinary format’ (Taylor, 2003:406). This captures some of the elements of cybercartography but has to be read with the major elements and ideas described in Section 1.1 and 1.2 in mind. It is the combination of these elements and ideas in a holistic manner and the iterative interaction between theory and practice, which defines cybercartography as well as the processes by which cybercartographic atlases are created, which sets cybercartography apart from other approaches. Pyne has recently described cybercartography as a distinctive critical cartographic approach and as ‘a set of concepts and tools…that provides an effective atlas building framework for approaching complex social, political and economic phenomena…’ (Pyne, in press).

And it has also been more simply described as ‘the application of geographic information processing to the analysis of topics of interest to society and the display of the results in ways that people can readily understand’ (Taylor, 2013:4). Cybercartography will continue to work in an iterative fashion as a result of the interaction between applications, technology, and theory. Each new practical application brings new theoretical insights as well as new technological developments and the results of each application are used as building blocks for the next.

1.4 New Practice

The first edition of the book...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 17.12.2013
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Mathematik / Informatik ► Informatik
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Geowissenschaften ► Geografie / Kartografie
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Geowissenschaften ► Geologie
• Themenwelt: Technik
• ISBN-10: 0-444-62717-0 / 0444627170
• ISBN-13: 978-0-444-62717-9 / 9780444627179