Visualization in Modern Cartography

by Alan M. MacEachren (Editor)

Visualization in Modern Cartography explores links between the centuries-old discipline of cartography and today's revolutionary developments in scientific visualization. The book has three main (1) to pass on design and symbolization expertise to the scientific visualization community - information that comes from centuries of pre-computer visualization by cartographers, and their more recent experiences with computerizing the discipline; (2) to help cartographers cope with the dramatic shift from print cartography to a dynamic virtual cartography for which their role is changing from that of map designer to one of spatial information display (and/or interface) designer; (3) to illustrate the expanded role for cartography in geographic, environmental, planning, and earth science applications that comes with the development of interactive geographic visualization tools. To achieve these goals, the book is divided into three parts. The first sets the historical, cognitive, and technological context for geographic/cartographic visualization tool development. The second covers key technological, symbolization, and user interface issues. The third provides a detailed look at selected prototype geographic/cartographic visualization tools and their applications.

Paperback

First published October 21, 1994

About the author

Alan M. MacEachren is Professor Emeritus of Geography at Penn State. His career has focused on cartography, data visualization, visual analytics, spatial cognition, and geographic information retrieval, with applications in public health, crisis management, and environmental science. During 42 years in academia, he authored two books (How Maps Work: Representation, Visualization, and Design and some Truth with Maps: A Primer on Symbolization and Design), co-edited many scientific publications, and authored or co-authored well over 200 research papers. Recent awards include: The International Cartographic Association’s Carl Mannerfelt Gold Medal (2021), the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science Research Award (2022), and the Cartography and Geographic Information Society Distinguished Career Award (2022). MacEachren’s long career included travel to many parts of the world, offering chances to pursue a non-academic avocation – birding. Starting in 1991, his “life list” is 1,519 bird species. He has posted over 7000 eBird reports (from 22 countries), including 1629 eBird reports from sites in Pennsylvania in 2021.