“Mashups” are web-based maps that intermix user-created data with information gathered from multiple online sources. As part of the wave of “Web 2.0” technologies, mashups represent a shift toward distributed authoring and sharing of Internet content, complicating traditional modes of knowledge production. Mashups originated in the open source “hacker” movement and are now associated with the term “neogeography,” used to describe the practice of amateur mapmaking online. In this thesis I ask whether mashups facilitate a cartography that is more accessible and democratic, studying the ways in which mashup authors create alternative community or personal cartographies while remaining dependent on existing power structures for data and resources. I illuminate these issues through a series of examples, such as: mashups that render personal memories about places, maps created by activist groups to counter dominant representations of geography by governments or corporations, and websites that facilitate the collaborative creation and sharing of spatial knowledge within community groups. Contrasting these case studies with traditional paper cartography and GIS, as well as the professional online mapping technologies of the Geospatial Web (or GeoWeb), I explore how mashups attempt to represent personal, subjective, overlapping and contradictory perceptions of space and place. While enthusiastic claims about the ability of mashups to wrest mapmaking from state and corporate hands are currently overstated, I conclude that mashups do in fact provide new ways of collaboratively representing space whose implications are still to be determined.

Amongst other complexities, landscape architecture is a discipline about understanding, expressing, and enhancing relationships between people and the land. This practicum focuses on revealing these relationships through cartographic concepts within self interpretation and interview, with a consciousness towards the biases that are embedded within mapped products. As maps are used on a daily basis in the discipline of landscape architecture, it should be considered a responsibility of the designer to have an understanding of the implications these tools possess. The Shell River Valley in Manitoba acted as a site of exploration with the intention of revealing human perceptions through cartographic methods of those who have relationships with the land.

Considered by many to be accurate and neutrally constructed representations of landscape, maps are assumed to be free from bias and prejudice. However, a critical cartographic exploration of maps and mapping practice reveals the map to be a fabricated eidetic re-presentation of landscape that embodies the subjective values of the mapmaker. Through technological advances in mapping practice such as GIS (Geographic Information System) and Google Earth, maps and mapmaking have become seamlessly integrated into the shaping of contemporary urban landscapes, further removing designers from the direct experience of the landscapes they design. This practicum seeks to reconcile the tendency to map landscape through these disembodied processes by placing particular emphasis on the agency of the landscape designer as cartographer. Building on existing literature, this research investigates a phenomenological approach to landscape that is focused on the lived experience of reading and writing maps. Focusing on a philosophical investigation this practicum explores the question; what are the implications for the practice of Landscape Architecture if designers begin to explore a phenomenological cartographic practice?

Amongst other complexities, landscape architecture is a discipline about understanding, expressing, and enhancing relationships between people and the land. This practicum focuses on revealing these relationships through cartographic concepts within self interpretation and interview, with a consciousness towards the biases that are embedded within mapped products. As maps are used on a daily basis in the discipline of landscape architecture, it should be considered a responsibility of the designer to have an understanding of the implications these tools possess. The Shell River Valley in Manitoba acted as a site of exploration with the intention of revealing human perceptions through cartographic methods of those who have relationships with the land.

The thesis addresses a longstanding cartographic problem, of how to visualise the Earth's surface relief in an effective and meaningful way. The problem is narrowed to relief defined by digital elevation data and visualised as a static, orthographic representation. It is approached in three steps: firstly research focuses on determining the most useful form of graphical representation to be pursued; secondly the theoretical basis of computer visualisation is investigated through a three-model framework, prompting a number of directions where solutions might be developed; and thirdly the development and engineering of a system is reported which models and renders widely available elevation data, and which provides flexibility in its input variables. The developed system is then applied to specific cases of relief visualisation, and new graphical forms are developed. The investigation of past and current approaches to relief representation, and a review of computer-graphic rendering of simpler geometrically defined objects, have revealed some limitations in commonly used relief visualisation systems, but have established the simulation of light and shade as still the most promising line of development. Analysis of the component variables of surface visualisation and rendering has led to the visualisation paradigm of three parametric models - of elevation, illumination and reflectance. Some attractive qualities, including widespread availability, of the contour elevation model have been identified, and a system has been developed which reconstructs surfaces from this data structure in a more effective way than typical current approaches. The system is also designed to support more complex illumination and surface reflectance models than the somewhat simplistic scenarios commonly available. The thesis reports the application of the system to generate surfaces from contour data, and experimentation with multiple coloured light sources and varying degrees of surface specularity. Evaluation of system implementation, and of the qualities of a representative set of graphical products, is addressed through six design criteria within a context defined by a typical mapping application. This has led to conclusions that the system and the new graphical forms have a number of virtues, including close fidelity with the source data, and significant improvements in visualisation.

Digital maps of geographic areas are increasingly common in many types of workplace, in education and in the public domain. Their interactivity and visual features, and the complexity of geographic(al) information systems (GIS) which create, edit and manipulate them, create special cognitive demands on the end-user which are not present in traditional cartographic maps or in most human-computer interaction (HCI). This thesis reviews cross-disciplinary literature regarding cognitive aspects of viewing and interacting with digital maps. Data from an observational study of GIS use, including real-time recordings of normal workplace activities, was analysed using various approaches to examine the interactive and visual aspects of people's work. The implications for cartographic, psychological and HeI aspects of GIS are discussed, in the context of the actual tasks people perform with them (rather than the computationally advanced analyses assumed by most literature). The second phase of the research examined the spatial knowledge attained and used during this interaction. The relevance of specific concepts in cognitive psychology, and of factors that create individual differences in cognition, are discussed in depth, alongside work in environmental and educational psychology, cartography and geography. A controlled experiment examined the degree to which task characteristics induce a different spatial model or reference frame when viewing a digital map. It was shown that even novice users can switch between considering the map as an abstract geometric display or as a geographical representation, without affecting performance. However, tasks forcing subjects to focus entirely on the geometry rather than the geography did affect performance in a surprise post-test photograph identification task. Map users' mental model or reference frame is apparently affected by these task constraints; this has implications for GIS design and practice as well as for understanding spatial cognition The study also considered the role of expertise and other individual difference factors, although conclusions were limited by sample size. Further research issues are highlighted, particularly regarding the knowledge structures and spatial language used in interpreting digital maps.

“Mashups” are web-based maps that intermix user-created data with information gathered from multiple online sources. As part of the wave of “Web 2.0” technologies, mashups represent a shift toward distributed authoring and sharing of Internet content, complicating traditional modes of knowledge production. Mashups originated in the open source “hacker” movement and are now associated with the term “neogeography,” used to describe the practice of amateur mapmaking online. In this thesis I ask whether mashups facilitate a cartography that is more accessible and democratic, studying the ways in which mashup authors create alternative community or personal cartographies while remaining dependent on existing power structures for data and resources. I illuminate these issues through a series of examples, such as: mashups that render personal memories about places, maps created by activist groups to counter dominant representations of geography by governments or corporations, and websites that facilitate the collaborative creation and sharing of spatial knowledge within community groups. Contrasting these case studies with traditional paper cartography and GIS, as well as the professional online mapping technologies of the Geospatial Web (or GeoWeb), I explore how mashups attempt to represent personal, subjective, overlapping and contradictory perceptions of space and place. While enthusiastic claims about the ability of mashups to wrest mapmaking from state and corporate hands are currently overstated, I conclude that mashups do in fact provide new ways of collaboratively representing space whose implications are still to be determined.

Thesis (M.S.)--Northwest Missouri State University, 2006. / The full text of the thesis is included in the pdf file. Title from title screen of full text.pdf file (viewed on January 25, 2008) Includes bibliographical references.

Master's paper (M.S.L.S.)--University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2002. / Supervisor: David W. Carr. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 51-54). Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of English, 2000. / Bibliography: leaves 242-255.