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Cartographica
Volume 55, No. 1, Spring 2020
Cartographica Online: http://bit.ly/carto551
Articles
The Production of Space in Western Canada, 1850–1914
Gustavo Velasco
Studies that investigated the rate of settlement in the Canadian prairies used decennial census or provincial census records to estimate the flow of population into the area. I use, instead, detailed data from individual land offices across western Canada. What the analysis shows is that dividing the land into small plots does not mean that the allocation of land was successful or more democratic, as several studies claim. The HGIS analysis helped to estimate the area of influence of each land office and thus to evaluate with more precision the dynamics of prairie settlement. By incorporating georeferenced data into the study of the region, I provide a new toolset to study a changing geography in time and space. The importance of this method resides in the fact that even though several works performed micro-studies of small communities or areas, nobody has yet produced a complete record of the region. I provide another methodology for a more comprehensive estimate of the production of space in western Canada.
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The Place Names of French Guiana in the Face of the Geoweb: Between Data Sovereignty, Indigenous Knowledge, and Cartographic Deregulation
Matthieu Noucher
French Guiana, the only overseas region of Europe located in South America, is faced with the claims of identity politics, particularly those of indigenous peoples, who propose alternative place names. This critical analysis of the process of a posteriori recognition of toponyms is based on deconstruction of local, national, and international toponymic databases circulating on the geoweb, supported by interviews with the advocates of these corpora. We propose a critical analysis of toponymic data flows, examining how these data transit through the Web and disappear into the limbo of the Internet or gradually become definitive. This highlights the complexity of the current digital geographic information landscape: national institutes defend a form of data sovereignty for their territory, but they are caught between the digital empowerment of local communities now able to produce counter-cartographies and planetwide cartographic deregulation emanating from the Web giants.
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Towards a SpatioTemporal Data Model for Traditional Ecological Knowledge/Indigenous Knowledge
Kierin Mackenzie, John Pirker, Femke Reitsma
Indigenous peoples have been making maps and utilizing GIS for some time, and have been mapped and cadastralized for some time as well. Models of Indigenous spatiality have been the topic of some work, but the data for modelling Indigenous spatiotemporality remain scant, and the subject matter is rich. This paper suggests another layer of representation for GIS when dealing with complex data with a strong relational and qualitative component. In this paper, we present a new data model that we are calling the spatiotemporal motif. It is an open data model incorporating choric (coordinate) as well as topic (attribute) space and chronic (coordinate) as well as kairic (attribute) time. The model aims to fill gaps in other data model depictions concerning lack of support for cyclical time, multiple constraints on what constitutes a proper time or place for a given activity, fluid and dynamic spatiotemporal boundaries, support for narratives and contingencies, and privacy and sensitivity concerns.
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The Global Antarctic: Map Assemblages and the Performing of Territory
Jørgen Alnæs
To understand what maps do, it is necessary to scrutinize the relation between a map and its surroundings. In critical cartography there has been a tendency to denaturalize maps, but little research has been done on the relation between map and textual context. However, there is a need to scrutinize how maps work in textual and visual contexts, how the reader utilizes surrounding information to use and understand maps, and how the understanding of maps influences the understanding of the other elements. This article explores the interplay between different textual and visual elements that are supposed to be read together and in relation to each other. To do this, the article proposes the term “map assemblages.” The case chosen for discussion is the unsettled territories in Antarctica and three Norwegian news articles that refer to a Norwegian land claim in Antarctica. Furthermore, the article argues that through the interplay between maps, pictures, and text, the Norwegian territorial claim in Antarctica is reproduced and strengthened.
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Technical Notes & Ephemera
First-Year Engineering Students’ Research Experience in Web Mapping
Claire Mah, Daphne Hong, Vanessa Chen, Emmanuel Stefanakis
Involving undergraduate students in research projects has been a growing trend in post-secondary education. This paper introduces three Web mapping applications developed by first-year engineering students at the University of Calgary. The projects were carried out over 16 weeks by students who did not have any previous knowledge of mapping or geospatial information systems. The outcomes clearly demonstrate the high competence and creativity of the students. According to the students’ reflections, these projects have been a unique learning experience and an excellent starting point in their academic career.
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Cartographica is an international and interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journal that publishes transformative research, education, and practice contributions to the social, political, technological, and historical aspects of cartography and geovisualization.
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