Comments on: Topology and Projections: 21st Century Cartography

By: projector components

projector components — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 18:04:02 +0000

projector components…

[...]Topology and Projections: 21st Century Cartography « Kelso’s Corner[...]…

By: News Dots (Slate) « Kelso’s Corner

News Dots (Slate) « Kelso’s Corner — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:00:26 +0000

[...] Washington Post, and 20 other nodes. This project is one step forward in the vision I outlined in Topology and Projections: 21st Century Cartography. Disclosure: Slate is owned by the Washington Post Company, my employer, but I was not involved in [...]

By: Kelso’s Corner » Blog Archive » Global Forces Converge to Drive up Oil Prices (Wash Post)

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 05:25:28 +0000

[...] thru our 2008 work in the Washington Post and was reminded how it fits in with my geography and projections as network topology thesis. Lines on this map of “Major Global Trade Routes” of oil connect each geographic feature [...]

By: Kelso’s Corner » Blog Archive » Instant-Messagers Really Are About Six Degrees from Kevin Bacon (WaPo)

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 04:20:41 +0000

[...] note: Topology makes internet searches faster, makes cool maps, and connects people in social [...]

By: nathaniel

nathaniel — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 05:30:18 +0000

Thanks for your comment, daan! I wonder if we're coming to a point where the raster distortion grids and "bump" mapping techniques of 3d can get graphed back into the 2d cartographic main stream? The computer processing power seems to be here. Now we just want good algorithms and tools. I see tools like Bernhard Jenny's MapAnalyst (http://mapanalyst.cartography.ch/) which evaluates the "inaccuracy" in old maps and think this could be turned into a forward projection algorithm. Indeed, Bernhard's other tool, Flex Projector (http://www.flexprojector.com/) allows cartographers to "mashup" their own projection based on mathematical formulas. Photoshop's mesh-distort free transformation tool makes it so I don't even need to know the original projection to "deproject" the hurricane maps I get from NOAA before projecting them onto a new projection. Amazing! The next step is to represent such novel projections not as formulas but as distortion grids and store the final positional distortions resulting from cartogram creation logic ala Josh's Dorling cartogram programming in this format (http://indiemaps.com/blog/2008/02/i-got-better/). This can then be the filter geographic long-lats can be projected thru. For an example showing the London Underground map in this format with diagrams, see: http://jenny.cartography.ch/pdf/2006_Jenny_DistortedNetworkMaps.pdf. Having implemented an interrupted map projection (look, 6 projections in 1!) for a forthcoming project for The Washington Post I totally hear you on the time and resources needed to accomplish this. I remember when ArcMap couldn't deal with the 180° seam. Hopefully we'll be able to deal with interruptions in a like fashion in the future. Let's hope people like Bernie and Josh keep advancing this area of cartography. _nathaniel

By: daan Strebe

daan Strebe — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 23:10:00 +0000

These are good examples of how to improve map imagery. There will be hurdles. Mapmakers rely heavily on automated tools. It’s hard to get paid for labor-intensive processes. Many of these techniques will remain labor-intensive because they defy algorithmic construction. Most cartograms and other topological mapping devices introduce discontinuities in the mapping function, an inconvenience which shuts down analytic solutions. There are ways to assist the mapmaker analytically, but ironically it’s usually easier either to work completely manually or completely automatically when it comes to a single step of a process, foregoing mixed human/machine processes. Mixing automated assistance with manual work requires the mapmaker to thoroughly understand the entire process, not just its results. It also requires purveyors of the tools to understand how a mapmaker might approach a partial solution and to believe a mapmaker would even be willing to. Hence, while papers get written on automated cartogram algorithms, few of them see their way into real maps. Lack of tools, lack of deep understanding of the process, lack of reward for the effort, and lack of a culture that encourages such rich imagery — formidable obstacles.

Kudos for pulling together a compelling editorial.

– daan Strebe