CARTOGRAPHY AND VISUALIZATION I

Lesson 6

By Mwaura Joshua | @openmapsCo on Twitter

Lesson 6: Cartographic Animation

Mapping Change

  • Mapping the time dimension means mapping change and this can refer to change in a feature’s existence, such as appearance or disappearance
  • Animaps

Mapping Change

change

Cartographic Animation | Temporal animation

  • When dealing with a temporal animation, a direct relation exists between display time and world time
  • An animation’s temporal scale would be the ration between display time and world time
  • Time units, the animations temporal resolution, can be seconds, years or millennia

Cartographic Animation | Temporal animation

  • The GIS environment also distinguishes another type of time, i.e. database time
  • Temporal animations show changes in the locational or attribute components of spatial data
  • It is important that the user can influence the flow of the animation
  • Minimum functionalityto play with the timeline: forward, backwards, slow, fast, pause

Cartographic Animation | Non-temporal animation

  • Display time in non-temporal animations is not directly linked with world time
  • The dynamics of the map are used to show spatial relationships or to clarify geometrical or attribute characteristics of spatial phenomena
    • Here interaction is necessary as well to allow the user to answer the question ‘How was it?’
  • Non-temporal animations can be split into those;
    • displaying a successive build-up of phenomena
    • showing changing representations of the same phenomena

Cartographic Animation | Non-temporal animation

  • Examples of animations with successive build-up include the following;
    • Understanding a three-dimensional landscape. For instance, first only the terrain is displayed, followed later by the addition of other themes such as roads, land use and hydrography (location)
    • In thematic mapping alternating classes are highlighted to show, for instance, the distribution of low and high values (attributes)

Cartographic Animation | Non-temporal animation

  • Examples of animations with changing representations (rendering different data or rendering the same data according to different map types), include the following;
    • a display of choropleths with different classification methods used (attribute)
    • maps with blinking symbols to attract attention to certain map objects, object categories or their attributes
    • a simulated flight through the landscape, as a result of continuous changes in the viewpoint of the user (location)
    • the effects of panning and zooming in or out in animation (location and attribute)

Cartographic Animation

Animation

Cartographic Animation | Vehicular navigation

  • Animation along a route;
    • Google maps navigation

Try out...

  • Using web maps, create an animated map showing the cycling from point A to point B
  • Read on;
    • Expert systems

    ---End of Course---

    That’s it!

    Queries about this Lesson, please send them to: jmwaura.uni@gmail.com

    ***References***

    • Mapping, Society, and Technology, Steven Manson
    • Web Cartography, Map Design for Interactive and Mobile Devices, Ian Muehlenhaus
    • Web Cartography, Menno-Jan Kraak and Allan Brown, ITC
    • Cartography, Thematic Map Design, Borden D. Dent
    • GIS Cartography, A Guide to Effective Map Design, Gretchen N. Peterson
    • Thematic Cartography and Geovisualization, Terry A. Slocum et.al
    Courtesy of reveal.js