This study concerns the inherent problems of cartographic design in regard to road symbols on official state road maps. The generalization and selection of proper road symbols is considered the most importantelement of cartographic design. Relevant to cartographic design are knowledge of color science and the problems involved with the lack of scientific literature on the psychological responses from map symbols. The methodology followed along normal lines of a survey of cartographic literature, data gathering from opinion polls on road map usage, and correspondence with state highway departments and commercial mapping companies concerning map design of state road maps. Elementary statistics were used in the discussion of all fifty of the state road maps. On the basis of the review of the literature and the discussion of present road map design, five sets of road symbols were suggested for use as alternate designs. Although the amount of substantial cartographic design literature is limited, it is sufficient for learning how to properly design in cartography. But, because a few fundamental principles of color science were ignored, 76% of the state road maps in respect to their road symbols were improperly designed. Almost every state road map had some form of map symbol contradictions. A common error was the use of too many different symbols to represent one particular type of road. The use of tourist promotion and increased use of insets with road strips indicated that official state highway maps are made more for the tourist than anyone else. Correspondence with the state highway departments seemed to support this contention. The ideas for good cartographic color and symbol design in road maps are undoubtedly of value to all other map types in thematic cartography.

This dissertation focuses on the particular ways in which early modern English playwrights connect geographical territory depicted in charts, travel, and colonial literature to the female body. By examining the rhetorical methods that both male and female writers employ, I demonstrate how the emerging imperial discourse relies upon the idea that through marriage, women represent and convey territory for their male relatives. But as physical embodiments of family wealth and property that serve as crucial links between males, these women can subvert this use of their bodies in order to formulate a site of resistance to masculine modes of mapping that penetrate, explore, and chart both territory and bodies. Beginning with depictions of Queen Elizabeth and English geography, I investigate plays from the 1570s to the 1670s that reflect and reshape Elizabeth's cartography of her virgin body. In my consideration of Christopher Marlowe's Tragedie of Dido, Queene of Carthage, and Tamburlaine, I argue that although Dido and Zenocrate serve to represent their homelands and legitimize its conquest by their men, the two queens upset this rhetoric when they delineate their own geographic re-imaginings. Elizabeth Cary's The Tragedie of Mariam and The History of the Life, Reign, and Death of Edward II reveal how both Mariam and Isabel are inscribed by the same colonial rhetoric that imagines the women to be fertile land that can only be properly civilized by men. The next chapter reveals how Thomas Heywood's works reflect and legitimize the growing importance of trade rather than outright conquest in English overseas expansion. In If You Know Not Me, You Know No Bodie and The Fair Maid of the West, Heywood's Queen Elizabeth and her counterpart Bess Bridges demonstrate how any woman's virginity becomes a commodity to be used and traded as a representation of English virtue. The final chapter examines how Margaret Cavendish in Loves Adventures and Bell in Campo reclaims the body as a site of potential resistance by redeploying the rhetoric of virginity and cartography. The coda calls for continued investigation into the uses of geographic rhetoric through the example of Queen Anne.

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio State University, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 160-174).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2003. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-86). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

published_or_final_version / Computer Science / Master / Master of Philosophy

Just as coarse static on a radio station interferes with a listener's ability to discern the music being played, so do coarse visual background patterns interfere with a map reader's ability to read words on a map. This problem is especially prevalent when small budgets limit the cartographer to the use of commercially available, pre-printed areal patterns for black and white reproduction. This study investigates the effects of dot arrangement and dot density of two purchased, areal dot patterns, type size, type orientation, and letter case on word reading accuracy when words and dot patterns are viewed simultaneously. The emphasis of the study was on dot arrangement, comparing the readability of words presented with a controlled "geometric" dot arrangement and then with an experimental "scallop" dot arrangement. The remaining variables, included to simulate an actual map situation, were also analyzed. The primary null hypothesis, that dot arrangement does not make a significant differance in word reading accuracy regardless of dot density, type size, type orientation, and letter case, was rejected on the basis of the analysis results.

'Synthetic Terrain' is the term used for artificially-composed computer-based Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) created by a combination of techniques and heavily influenced by Earth Sciences applications. The synthetic landscape is created to produce 'geographically acceptable', 'realistic' or 'valid' computer-rendered landscapes, maps and 3D images, which are themselves based on synthetic terrain Digital Elevation Models (OEMs). This thesis examines the way in which mainly physical landscapes can be synthesised, and presents the techniques by which terrain data sets can be managed (created, manipulated, displayed and validated), both for academic reasons and to provide a convenient and cost-effective alternative to expensive 'real world' data sets. Indeed, the latter are collected by ground-based or aerial surveying techniques (e.g. photogrammetry), normally at considerable expense, depending on the scale, resolution and type required. The digital information for a real map could take months to collect, process and reproduce, possibly involving demanding Information Technology (IT) resources and sometimes complicated by differing (or contradictory) formats. Such techniques are invalid if the region lies within an 'unfriendly' or inaccessible part of the globe, where (for example), overflying or ground surveys are forbidden. Previous attempts at synthesising terrain have not necessarily aimed at realism. Digital terrain sets have been created by using fractal mathematical models, as 'special effects' for the entertainment industry (e.g. science fiction 'alien' landscapes' for motion pictures and arcade games) or for artistic reasons. There are no known examples of synthesised DTMs being created with such a wide range of requirements and functionality, and with such a regard to validation and realism. This thesis addresses the whole concept of producing' alternative' landscapes in artificial form - nearly 22 years of research aimed at creating' geographically-sensible' synthetic terrain is described with the emphasis on the last 5 years, when this PhD thesis was conceived. These concepts are based on radical, inexpensive and rapid techniques for synthesising terrain, yet value is also placed on the 'validity', realism and 'fitness for purpose' of such models. The philosophy - or the 'thought processes' - necessary to achieve the development of the algorithms leading to synthesised DTMs is one of the primary achievement of the research. This in turn led to the creation of an interactive software package called GEOFORMA, which requires some manual intervention in the form of preliminary terrain classification. The sequence is thus: the user can choose to create terrain or landform assemblages without reference to any real world area. Alternatively, he can select a real world region or a 'typical' terrain type on a 'dial up' basis, which requires a short period of intensive parametric analysis based on research into established terrain classification techniques (such as fractals and other mathematical routines, process-response models etc.) The creates a composite synthesised terrain model of high quality and realism, a factor examined both qualitatively and quantitatively. Although the physical terrain is the primary concern, similar techniques are applied to the human landscape, noting such attributes as the density, type, nature and distribution of settlements, transport systems etc., and although this thread of the research is limited in scope compared with the physical landscape synthesis, some spectacular results are presented. The system also creates place names based on a simple algorithm. Fluvial landscapes, upland regions and coastlines have been selected from the many possible terrain types for 'treatment', and the thesis gives each of these sample landscapes a separate chapter with appropriate illustrations from this original and extensive research. Finally, and inevitably, the work also poses questions in attempting to provide answers, this is perhaps inevitable in a relatively new genre, encompassing so many disciplines, and with relatively sparse literature on the subject.

No description available.

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 February 13, 2008) Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S. in computer science)--Washington State University, December 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 62-66).