----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Symposium on Cartographic Design and Research and Canadian Cartographic Association North American Cartographic Information Society Ottawa, Ontario, Canada August 7 - 12, 1994 Report Prepared by Alberta Auringer Wood Map Librarian, Memorial University of Newfoundland The cartographers began to gather on the night of August 6th arriving from far and near. Attendees came from England, Scotland, Wales, Brazil, Austria, Finland, Japan, eight provinces of Canada and at least 23 states of the USA. The symposium on cartographic and design and research was preceded in 1971 by one organized by Henry Castner and Gerald McGrath and held in Kingston, Ont. This one was organized under the auspices of the Canadian Institute of Geomatics (CIG). The second event was a unique cooperative joint annual meeting of two of the cartographic groups in North America.=20 Not everyone was able to attend both events, but registration for the first was 84, while it was over 130 for the second. The Symposium was a full and intense two days and evenings of cartography and cartographers. The sessions commenced on Sunday morning at 8:45 a.m. with introductory remarks by the Symposium Co- Organizers, Clifford H. Wood (Memorial University of Newfoundland and Immediate Past President of the CIG) and C. Peter Keller (University of Victoria). They introduced D. R. Fraser Taylor (Carleton University, also President of the International Cartographic Association) who gave the opening "keynote" address.=20 He feels that great changes are underway and that cartographers will influence their own fate with proactive and offensive responses to grow and advance. Cartographers and cartographic design must broaden their horizons. He had an optimistic view that at the core is creativity, imagination, and enthusiasm.=20 Fraser was followed by the first session on "Schools of Thought" which was moderated by Carolyn C. Weiss (Statistics Canada). The first speaker was John B. Krygier (Pennsylvania State University) who spoke on "Geography and Cartographic Design" that was a case study of a remote landscape in Pennsylvania whose design was shaped by geographic context. He used maps and documents with hypertext linkages and highlighted words. Nikolas H. Huffman (also Pennsylvania State University) followed to tell us "Can't Get Here from There: Reconstructing the Relevancy of Design in Postmodernism." He felt that culture shapes design objects, that design is a form of rhetoric, and used Richard Edes Harrison as an example. Political interpretations must be considered and postmodernists have done important critiques. After a short break, Mark Monmonier (Syracuse University) discussed "Cartographic Complementarity: Objectives, Strategies, and Examples." He advocated that maps would benefit from standard design and similarities to aid users. Coherence and flow are needed as in expository writing. Matthew Edney (SUNY Binghamton) was the discussant for this session. He summarized, compared and critiqued the papers and noted that all of them re-evaluate means to handle map design. He recommended proceeding along lines proposed in design theory and paying more attention to aesthetics. A question period followed. After lunch was the session on "For Whom By Whom" moderated by Michael R. C. Coulson (University of Calgary). The lead paper was "What does that Little Black Rectangle Mean? Designing Maps for the Young Elementary School Child" by Jacqueline M. Anderson (Concordia University). Using a video tape and slides, she described her Quebec case study of children's understanding of components of the graphic language. Mark Kumler (University of Colorado) followed to speak on "Gender Differences in Map Reading Abilities: What do We Know? What Can We Do?." His co-author, Barbara Buttenfield (SUNY Buffalo) was unable to be present. He indicated that his study had found possible differences in preferences in how landmarks are symbolized and for map orientation, but that these may be attributable to experience. Regina Vasconcellos (University of S=FEo Paulo, Brazil) informed us about her studies of "Tactile Map Design and the Visually Impaired User" through the use of graphic card pairs. Henry Castner (Pittsboro, N.C., formerly of Queen's University) was the discussant for this section. He noted that the research does not seem to be useful for getting down to design, and that we should change from identifying symbols to the process of symbolization. There was considerable further discussion among the speakers and the audience. Reconvening after a short break, Michel Rheault (University of Sherbrooke) chaired the session on "Complexity Through Added Dimensions." Irina Vasiliev (SUNY Geneseo) explained "Design Issues to be Considered When Mapping Time." She found five types by looking at a variety of maps (date, duration, standard time, time as distance, and space as a clock). She hoped that we will be better able to understand when to use which symbol. Roger Wheate (University of Northern British Columbia) suggested "Re-examining the Cartographic Depiction of the Third Dimension" with a lively and interesting presentation very appropriate for late afternoon.=20 He found that in the representation of topography that shaded relief seems to work better and more efficiently, especially in recreational maps. Christopher Board (London School of Economics) as discussant noted a common thread to carefully determine what users require. Additional questions and answers followed. Another short break for dinner was succeeded by "Rules and Expert Systems" moderated by C. Grant Head (Wilfred Laurier University). William Mackaness (NCGIA, University of Maine-Orono) addressed "Automated Cartography and the Human Paradigm." In an effort to get away from the usual way of doing research in automated design using cognitive artifacts he used a constraint based paradigm or a "honing" model. Michael Wood (University of Aberdeen, Scotland) followed with "The Practioner's View? A Pilot Study into Empirical Knowledge About Cartographic Design." He is surveying 130 members of the Society of Cartographers to investigate their views on design through an open ended questionnaire. He quoted an interesting definition of map as "a symbolized image representing selected features or characteristics of geographic reality resulting from the creative choices of its authors and designed for use when spatial relationships are of primary importance. He also past on the suggested term "cartomediographers" in dealing with the multimedia environments.=20 Robert McMaster (University of Minnesota) summarized the thoughts in each paper. He felt that there is a resurgence in interest in design in the GIS area. He did not agree with the paradigm presented. Questions followed until about 10:00 p.m. The symposium reconvened at 9:45 a.m. with a session on "Automation Challenges" chaired by Brian Klinkenberg (University of British Columbia). In beginning the session, he referred to the July-August issue of Business Geographics (vol. 2, no. 4) that has an article on good and bad maps. Jan Mersey (University of Guelph) was the first speaker. She discussed "Cartographic Symbolization Requirements for Microcomputer-Based Geographic Information Systems." She reviewed types of maps in eight recent atlases, including that of Newfoundland to see what to tell vendors of mapping software regarding needs. Proportional point symbols were used most with choropleth maps close behind. She also reviewed current capabilities of PC based mapping programs. Following this up was Matthew McGranaghan (University of Hawaii, Honolulu) in describing "An Experiment With Choropleth Maps on Monochrome LCD Panels." He found that background is significant, symbol ordering is not, and placement of legend labels is not. He recommended using light background and darker symbols for greater magnitude.=20 The discussant, Judy M. Olson (Michigan State University), posed questions for the speakers as well as summarizing their findings.=20 Other questions followed. I chaired the last session on "Research/Experimentation" that was held after lunch. PhD candidate Elizabeth Nelson (University of South Carolina) presented on "An Evaluation of Multivariate, Quantitative Point Symbols for Maps." She succeeded in making a very mathematical topic understandable. She measured the communication effectiveness of four different types of multivariate symbols. She concluded that boxed letters were better than Chernoff faces as cartographic symbols. Her co-author, Patricia Gilmartin (University of South Carolina), was unable to be present.=20 Robert Lloyd (University of South Carolina) presented the paper on "Feature Matching and the Similarity of Maps" co-authored with Elzbieta Covington and Theodore Steinke (both of University of South Carolina). They asked what can we do to understand how readers get information from maps. They concluded that those with more common symbols are viewed as more similar, while those that have distinctive symbols were viewed as less similar. The University of South Carolina trio concluded with David Patton, also a PhD candidate, who described "An Examination of the Effects of Task Type and Map Complexity on Sequenced and Static Choropleth Maps" co-authored with fellow PhD candidate, Rex Cammack, who was not present. They used chunking and sequencing in the study.=20 After a short break, John Belbin (College of Geographical Sciences, Lawrencetown, Nova Scotia) talked about "The Practical Application of Gestalt Theory to the Use and Placement of Text on Cartographic Products." He advocated use of a simple and easy to apply system, such as that developed by Newman Bumstead of the National Geographic Society. Borden Dent (Georgia State University) was the discussant. He noted that we should examine new paths and use less passive methodology, such as video taping. His questions for the participants were many. Time ran out! A very stimulating and invigorating closing keynote address was given by Phillip C. Muehrcke (University of Wisconsin-Madison).=20 He pointed out that cartography happens at the stage of design and noted that the split between practioners and researchers still exists. Gender differences presented the most touchy issue. The number of references to choropleth maps surprised him as GIS had promised dasymetric maps. Politically correct maps and capabilities of GIS were mentioned, such as the U.S.S. Vincennes with all the latest in computer mapping that shot down a commercial jet. He characterized the late Brian Harley as "Lassie" who brought home to cartographers that there was more to their maps than they realized. Three major points that he raised regarding the logic of cartographic design were that we must learn to compensate or neutralize distortions, determine what came first - the map or the concept the map illustrates, and utilize intuition and analysis. He closed by saying that we must do a better job of explaining the need for and the value of good design. Closing remarks were given by the conference organizers, Cliff Wood and Peter Keller. They indicated that proceedings would be out sometime in 1995. A reception was held for symposium attendees and accompanying persons in the Ramada Hotel following this. The Canadian Cartographic Association and North American Cartographic Society meeting began in an informal manner on Tuesday, August 9th, with tours of map collections, registration, executive meetings, opening of the Canadian National Map Display for the International Cartographic Association meeting in 1995 in Barcelona, and an Icebreaker Reception in the evening. I visited the University of Ottawa Map Library. The tour of the Carleton University Map Library was cancelled due to a flood. The map display included a number of maps produced in or of Newfoundland.=20 A number of these were selected to be among those sent to Barcelona. =20 The official conference opening was on Wednesday, 10 August, with welcoming remarks at 8:30 a.m. The first session on "Mapping Aspects of Landscape" began at 9:00 a.m. with a paper presented by Peter Keller (University of Victoria, co-authored by Lesley Grant) on "A Comparison of Canada's Official Tourist Maps and the User's Perspective." They found that there was no consistent look or character among them. Michael Wood (University of Aberdeen) followed with "Panoramas and Digital Terrain Models for Tourist Use: A Case Study with Classified Landsat Data Cover." This project investigated the map versus three dimensional views for mountaineering and walking. The break was followed by two concurrent sessions. One was on "Cartographic Animation and Innovation" while the other covered "Education and Research." I went to papers in each session. The first one given by Keith Rice (University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and co-authored by Aaron Wolf) was on "Fly-By Animated Terrain Maps: A Retention and Design Experiment." Its focus was the Los Angeles basin and required at least a Pentium computer to execute. While they found that recall from ordinary maps was superior overall, they found that the recall of the highest terrain was superior with the three dimensional views. I also heard the paper by Majella-J. Gauthier (Universit=82 du Qu=82bec =85 Chicoutime) about the "Electronic Atlas of the Evolution of Agriculture in Qu=82bec, 1981-1991." It has also been published on diskette. Dot maps are used to show density and change. After lunch there were another two concurrent sessions. One was on "Cartographic Theory" while the other presented views on "Public Sector Mapping." I attended the first session where the first paper was cancelled, but two presenters were there. Daniel Strebe (VirtualWare Inc., Japan) spoke on "Why We Need Better World Maps, and Where to Start" and Hansgeorg Schlictmann (University of Regina) discussed "Writing and Typography in Maps - The View From Semiotics." The former was primarily on map projection theory, including one of his own. There was an afternoon break followed by three concurrent sessions. The first one was a "Round Table Discussion" chaired by Joe Stoll (University of Akron) on "Keeping Your Cartography Lab Current and Busy" with a panel of lab directors including Memorial's Cliff Wood. The second one was on "Mapping for the Blind and Partially Sighted" with three papers. The third one was=20 two demonstrations. The first was of "ArcView as a Tool for the Visualization of Temporal Change" by David Broscoe (Algonquin College). He noted that it is pretty easy to learn, and that it is virtually impossible to corrupt the original data set. The second was of the prototype CD-ROM product on the "Territorial Evolution of Canada" as part of the development of multimedia products by the Canada Centre for Mapping. Lise-Aurore LaPalme-Roy came the talk and Eve Siekierska was her co-author. Another potential product on endangered species was displayed, as well. After a hurried dinner, there was the opening of the poster session from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. There were about thirty displays.=20 Some were from government agencies, such as the Geological Survey of Canada, and some were from commercial firms, such as Intergraph Corporation (Huntsville, Ala.) and H.M. Gousha (Comfort, Tx.).=20 Several were of projects done by cartography classes, such as University of Calgary and University of Helsinki. Quite a number were of recent products of cartographic laboratories, such as the about to be printed geological highway map of Newfoundland displayed by Memorial. Other labs represented were from Florida State University, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, University of Florida, Mansfield University, Georgia State University, University of Oregon, University of Toronto, University of Kentucky, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Ball State University, University of Akron, and Michigan State University. Another interesting poster was by Christopher Board (London School of Economics) on "Unfolding the Map - Some Neglected Aspects of Map Design" while Majella Gauthier (Universit=82 de Qu=82bec =85 Chicoutimi) displayed information on the "Electronic Atlas of the Evolution of Agriculture in Qu=82bec, 1981-1991." The next morning, August 11, a group gathered in front of the Ramada Hotel to catch the bus to Natural Resources Canada. This was "tour day!" Options included the Digital Cartography Systems of Topography Surveys, National Atlas Information Service's thematic cartography and geographical names, Aeronatical Charts System, Digital Systems and Products Development, Canada Centre for Remote Sensing, Digital Marine Charts, Geoscience Information and Communications Division, and the Map Library of the Geological Survey. Along with several others, I visited the Map Library first. Their more than 250,000 maps are kept in a compact space.=20 They have several electronic altases available for use. At 10:00 a.m. the chosen tour was of the area of the National Atlas Information Service. After an introduction by Iain Taylor of NAIS, we visited their offices. Iain noted that the final map for the fifth edition of the National Atlas of Canada is in process. A special sheet has been done on wildlife. He expects that NAIS will be on Internet by September 15. Use of this via Mosaic software was demonstrated. The maps included have areas highlighted that can be downloaded. It will also include geographical names, a sales list, a quiz section, information on the national atlas, a list of Canadian map producing agencies, and an index of map related "web" sites. Helen Kerfoot of the Secretariat of the Canadian Permanent Committee on Geographical Names described their work, noting that the provinces and territories have the authority to make names and to change them. The CPCGN publishes gazetteers and are working on a national one. They maintain the digital files for all the names and their detailed history. This has much more information and more names than will be available via the Internet.=20 We also heard that NAIS does joint ventures with other groups, such as a new wetlands poster with Ducks Unlimited and several forthcoming posters with Canadian Geographic. They are also working on a prototype electronic school atlas at a scale of 1:30,000,000. After lunch at a nearby Italian restaurant, there was a session on "Cartographic Animation Review" conducted by Michael Peterson (University of Nebraska at Omaha). He described two possible approaches as being frame based and cast based. He would like to encourage distribution of animation files, especially by Internet using FTP. He displayed several. The tours were repeated in the afternoon, as well. The map display was available for viewing until late afternoon. Both of the societies held their annual meetings in late afternoon or early evening. After these events the evening was open or attendees were offered the option of a dinner and cruise of the Rideau River on the "By-Towne Pumper." The poster sessions continued through Friday, August 12. In=20 the morning there were three concurrent sessions from 8:30 to 9:45 a.m. One was on "Orienting Ourselves in Space: Implications for the School Curriculu" chaired by Henry Castner (formerly of Queen's University) and including a paper by Scott Freundschuh (formerly of Memorial University now with the University of Duluth). The second was on "Analytical Cartography in the GIS Era" chaired by Alun Hughes (Brock University). The third was a demonstration by Philip Dodds (Intergraph) of "Map finishing with Intergraph on Microsoft Windows." After the break, there were three more concurrent sessions. One was a continuation of "Orienting Ourselves in Space" with two papers and then discussion. Another was on "Applications with GIS" chaired by Ron Bolton (U.S. National Ocean Service).=20 This included another demonstration of "NAIS on the 'Net". The final one was a demonstration of the "Electronic Atlas of the Evolution of Agriculture in Quebec, 1981-1991" that has been mentioned previously. Though it primarily used dot density maps, some choropleth maps were included. The base map information was from MapInfo. Lunch included a meeting of the Canadian National Committee for the International Cartographic Association. Among the major topics of conversation were plans for the bid for the 1999 ICA meeting. Efforts for this are being carried out by Geomatics Canada. Nominations are being sought for a potential Congress Director. Another set of three concurrent sessions finished off the afternoon. There was continued discussion on orientation and the curriculum. Three papers were presented on "Perceptual Research" chaired by David Tilton (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee). One of them gave additional information on the multimedia aspirations of the Canada Centre for Mapping. Another session on "Cartographic Education" included Paul Anderson (Illinois State University) speaking on "Transforming Cartographic Education with Microcomputers." The banquet was held in the evening at the Canadian Museum of Nature in an enormous room with very high ceilings. There was opportunity to see some of the exhibits before dinner. After a dinner of salmon and acoutrements, there were awards presentations and a banquet speaker. The conference organizers (Betty Kidd, Heather Stevens, and David Douglas) were given citations by each society. The Canadian Cartographic Association presented three awards for meritorious contributions to the field. These consisted of framed, decorative certificates designed by Gary McManus (Memorial University of Newfoundland). The honorees were Lou Skoda for contributions to commercial cartography, members of the Historical Atlas of Canada project for completion of that very significant atlas, and Fraser Taylor for his many contributions over the years to the CCA. The banquet speaker was Iain Taylor, Chief Geographer of Canada, who gave an illustrated lecture on "Official Mapping and the Creation of 'Canada'." On Saturday there was a "MicroCAM Workshop" conducted by Paul Anderson (Illinois State University) to introduce attendes to the use of this free software. There were also two organized field trips. One was a mini-van tour arranged by Henry Castner and narrated by Brian Osborne (Queen's University Professor Emeritus) of the Rideau Waterway. The other was a ride on the steam train to Wakefield. Conference goers were also encouraged to explore Ottawa on their own, and there was a Caribbean Festival Parade. Both of the societies had board or executive meetings to finish off the hectic week.