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Geoinformatics_05-2009
review map reading and map analysis esri book on map use the sixth edition of the book map use: reading and analysis is meant as a comprehensive, philosophical, and practical treatment of map appreciation. menno-jan kraak discusses its contents and compares this new publication with the classic first edition from 1978. gps and land partitioning by menno-jan kraak the book is split into two major parts, one on map reading and one on map analysis. each chapter is introduced by a short text that puts the content of the chapter into perspective. a reference list ends each chapter. the content of the chapters is well illustrated and explained in detail. it makes the book useful for college students, but its depth also makes it useful for those seriously interested in a practical topic such as the use of gps and maps. both sections are preceded by an introduction that explains the basics of the map. here, next to mental maps they use the term cartographic maps, a term which i find a bit strange, since i would argue that any map is cartographic . in this section i found one of the cartoons that characterized the earlier editions. it shows how a child s mental map might work (see image page 21). the introduction is also an advertisement for maps giving four major arguments why maps are popular: they are convenient to use, they simplify our surroundings, they are credible, and they have a strong visual impact. these seem to be good arguments, but happily the authors also discuss the other side of the coin. for instance, the credibility argument is not always right, and the map reader should be on the alert for distortions, errors and omissions, which might happen by accident or even on purpose. the map reading section is split into 10 chapters, each discussing an aspect of the map as a whole. here the book has the most overlap with common cartographic textbooks. chapter 1 describes the earth and geographic coordinates. the notions of ellipsoid, geoid and graticule are well explained and illustrated. chapter 2 deals with the notion of scale. in chapter 3 the need for and effects of map projections are treated by dealing with their properties. several common projections are discussed in more detail. examples of planar projections are the orthographic projection (the google earth view) and the gnomonic projection. examples of cylindrical projections are mercator and the transverse mercator, and as an example of the conic projection the lambert conformal projection is given. this one is often applied on north american maps. the july/august 2009 addition they make a distinction between the tangible map and a user s mental or cognitive map, and when appropriate discuss commercial products. title: map use: reading and analysis authors: kimberling, a.j., buckley, a.r. muehrcke, p.c. & muehrcke, j.o. publisher: esri press academic price: 75, isbn: 9781589481909 it is common knowledge among cartographers that when you put four of them in a car it will never reach its destination. using maps is quite different from making maps. a lot has been written about map design and production and far less on the actual use of maps. the book map use: reading and analysis is one of those that treats use and it is a classic. as a student i used the first edition from 1978, then authored by philip muehrcke. opening the current 6th edition is a pleasant surprise. a full color book with well designed illustrations. the earlier editions were issued by a small private publisher, the 6th edition has been published by esri press. it is obvious this publisher loves books and maps. it is also a guarantee for the authors that the book gets exposure in the right environment. another reason for the quality of the illus- trations is related to the fact that kimberling and buckley (now an esri employee) have long experience at oregon state university and have been involved with the atlas of oregon. many map samples are devoted to oregon. a disadvantage of this, despite the quality, is the bias towards north american cartography. the authors position their book as a bridge between academic indoor map use and military way finding. as they state: this book offers its readers a comprehensive, philosophical, and practical treatment of map appreciation . they intend to reach that objective by what they define as a fluid definition of a map: a graphical representation of the environment that shows relations between geographic features , a definition that originated in robinson and petchenik s the nature of maps from 1976. in 20
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