Extract
On the Origins of Analytical Cartography.
Introduction
Twenty-four years ago, the precursor to this journal, The American Cartographer, published seminal paper in the fledgling field of analytical cartography by Waldo R. Tobler (1976), then a professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Michigan. Entitled "Analytical Cartography," this paper reported on the development of the cartography curriculum at Michigan, specifically the Geography 482 class. As a new student at Michigan, starting there after Tobler's departure for the Department of Geography at University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1977, the principal author first took, then taught, Geography 482. In 1990 a textbook for the class was completed, and versions of the class have been taught ever since (Clarke 1987; Clarke 1995). At the University of California, Santa Barbara, the current course is Geography 128 "Analytical and Computer Cartography." A review of nationwide curricula in cartography shows that some form of Tobler's Geography 482 is still taught at most leading educational institutions. Chrisman (1997) recently expanded upon the analytical cartographic approach in his book Exploring GIS. A whole generation has now used the intellectual philosophy of analytical cartography and examined the topics covered in the appendix to Tobler's paper, which listed the curriculum then taught at Michigan. A single academic paper that leads to a whole theme, sub-discipline, or even a paradigm, within cartography is clearly a remarkable thing. Tobler's paper has been cited many times, and sequels to the curriculum presented have been proposed that define analytical cartography by its subject content (Nyerges and Chrisman 1989). Of more concern here are analytical cartography's origins, its institutions and Tobler's unique contributions. Recent intellectual re-scoping of the geographic information systems (GIS) field has given us definitions of geographic information science (Goodchild 1992) and geo-computation (Longley et al. 1999). The pivotal role of the technology of GIS in transforming contemporary mapping science and geography has been discussed at length (Fraser Taylor 1991). Few would doubt the depth of this transformation, and other sub-disciplines of geography, including critical theory and human geography, have now entered into the intellectual dialog defining the discipline (Pickles 1995). Analytical cartography is a sub-discipline of cartography that lies behind much of the development in geographic information science. Analytical cartography has been de...See the full content of this document
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