The Web 2.0 revolution has changed the culture of mapping by opening it up to a wider range of users and creators. Map mashups, in particular, are being widely used to map variety of information. There is, however, no gatekeeper to validate the correctness of the information presented. The purpose of this research was to understand better what it is that influence users’ perceived credibility and trust within a map mashup presentation and to support the future implementation of automated credibility assessment and labelling of map mashup applications. This research has been conducted in three stages using mixed method approaches. The objective of the first stage was to examine the influence of metadata related to sources, specifically the map producer and map supplier, on respondents’ assessment of the credibility of map mashup information. The findings indicate a low influence of the tested metadata and a high influence of visual cue elements on users’ credibility assessment. Only half of the respondents used the metadata whilst the other half did not include it in their assessment. These findings became the basis of stage two, which was to examine the influence of colour coded traffic light (CCTL) labelling on respondents’ assessment of credibility. From the findings, the probability of respondents making informed judgements by choosing a high credibility map based on this rating label (CCTL) was three times higher than where only the metadata was presented. The third stage was to propose a conceptual framework to support the implementation of automated credibility labelling for map mashup applications. The framework was proposed on the basis of thorough reviews from the literature. The suggested parameters and approaches are not limited to assess credibility of information in the map mashup context, but could be applied to other Web GIS applications.

<p>Map anamorphosis is the distortionof a map to show graphically the variation of some quantity from region to region. The process of anamorphosis modifies the original map regions, keeping the inter-region topology, to produce new regions whose areas are proportional to their respective values of the relevant quantity. A typical example would be a distorted map of the United States, where each state's area is proportional to its population, yet the states still fit together in the correct way. Such maps, called "cartograms", can provide a good visual sense of where a quantity such as population, is distributed. In this paper we look at five separate attempts to design a computer algorithm for generating cartograms, all of which use triangulation as a basis, and all of which, unfortunately, are unsuccessful. We also examine a working algorithm, in the literature that uses similar ideas in its initial approach. While this algorithm produces aesthetically displeasing results, it may indicate a way to solve the map anamorphosis problem robustly using triangulation. / Master of Science

No description available.

No description available.

A cartografia é a arte de transformar o espaço numa versão reduzida da realidade, numa proporção capaz de ser apropriada e transportada através dos mapas. Pesquisá-los é viajar quilômetros em um segundo e poder retornar no mesmo instante. Os mapas são capazes de guardar consigo uma parte importante da história social do espaço, na medida em que traduzem em uma imagem o contexto social da época em que foram elaborados. No entanto, sendo os mapas o resultado de um processo histórico e social, eles adquirem uma grande carga de subjetividade. No ato de comunicar sobre o espaço os mapas transmitem discursos carregados de ideologias, muitas vezes relacionadas com o poder e a apropriação do espaço. O objetivo desta pesquisa de doutoramento foi analisar os discursos emitidos por uma série de mapas turísticos sobre a cidade de João Pessoa. A análise foi feita através de uma leitura que buscou ultrapassar o sentido literal e propondo uma compreensão da realidade sob a perspectiva da Cartografia Histórica. Para tanto foi necessária uma compreensão da história inicial da produção do espaço da cidade e de seu desenvolvimento mais recente, levando em conta também o atual contexto do turismo na cidade. Os mapas foram analisados sob o ponto de vista crítico, buscando identificar as contradições e conflitos através dos descuidos, exageros e omissões contidos nas suas informações. / Cartography is the art of turning the space into a reduced version of reality, in a proportion that can be appropriated and transported through the maps. Researching them means being able to travel miles in a second and to return at the same moment. The maps are able to keep an important part of the space social history since they reflect the social context of the time they are made. However, the maps are the result of a historical and social process, they acquire a great deal of subjectivity. On their communication about space, the maps convey information laden with ideologies often related to authorities and the space appropriation. The aim of this doctoral research was to analyze the discourse issued by touristic maps of João Pessoa city. The analysis was carried out by performing a reading of the maps aiming to go beyond the literal meaning of information and by proposing an understanding of reality from the perspective of Historical Cartography. For this purpose it was required an understanding of the early history of the space city formation and its latest development as well as considering the current tourism context in the city. The maps were analyzed from a critical point of view, seeking to identify the contradictions and conflicts through the negligences, exaggerations and omissions contained in their information.

A cartografia é a arte de transformar o espaço numa versão reduzida da realidade, numa proporção capaz de ser apropriada e transportada através dos mapas. Pesquisá-los é viajar quilômetros em um segundo e poder retornar no mesmo instante. Os mapas são capazes de guardar consigo uma parte importante da história social do espaço, na medida em que traduzem em uma imagem o contexto social da época em que foram elaborados. No entanto, sendo os mapas o resultado de um processo histórico e social, eles adquirem uma grande carga de subjetividade. No ato de comunicar sobre o espaço os mapas transmitem discursos carregados de ideologias, muitas vezes relacionadas com o poder e a apropriação do espaço. O objetivo desta pesquisa de doutoramento foi analisar os discursos emitidos por uma série de mapas turísticos sobre a cidade de João Pessoa. A análise foi feita através de uma leitura que buscou ultrapassar o sentido literal e propondo uma compreensão da realidade sob a perspectiva da Cartografia Histórica. Para tanto foi necessária uma compreensão da história inicial da produção do espaço da cidade e de seu desenvolvimento mais recente, levando em conta também o atual contexto do turismo na cidade. Os mapas foram analisados sob o ponto de vista crítico, buscando identificar as contradições e conflitos através dos descuidos, exageros e omissões contidos nas suas informações. / Cartography is the art of turning the space into a reduced version of reality, in a proportion that can be appropriated and transported through the maps. Researching them means being able to travel miles in a second and to return at the same moment. The maps are able to keep an important part of the space social history since they reflect the social context of the time they are made. However, the maps are the result of a historical and social process, they acquire a great deal of subjectivity. On their communication about space, the maps convey information laden with ideologies often related to authorities and the space appropriation. The aim of this doctoral research was to analyze the discourse issued by touristic maps of João Pessoa city. The analysis was carried out by performing a reading of the maps aiming to go beyond the literal meaning of information and by proposing an understanding of reality from the perspective of Historical Cartography. For this purpose it was required an understanding of the early history of the space city formation and its latest development as well as considering the current tourism context in the city. The maps were analyzed from a critical point of view, seeking to identify the contradictions and conflicts through the negligences, exaggerations and omissions contained in their information.

No description available.

This thesis provides a detailed analysis of an Isolario, or a printed book of maps of the Aegean Islands, created in 1485 by an anonymous author called Bartolommeo da li Sonetti. Through a thorough analysis of the material properties and content of the book, this thesis seeks to revise previous scholarly interpretations of this long under-studied work of cartography. Examination of five extant copies of the 1485 Isolario and the alterations made to the pages by their owners reveals much about how the volume was consumed, read and utilized in fifteenth and sixteenth century. In opposition to previous conceptions of this work as a functional travel guide used by mariners to navigate the Aegean, this thesis argues that instead, the information contained in the book only provides superficial resemblances to functionally useful content and was instead consumed by an elite audience of ‘arm chair travellers.’

There have been many opportunities to study protest events over the last six years. From Occupy to the Arab Spring and 15M. After the financial crash, citizens of the world crafted their own original responses. What they shared – from New York to Cairo and Madrid – was a desire to take to the streets in political protest. In the UK the enemy was ‘austerity’. One of the first policies of this new era proposed a rise in Higher Education tuition fees. Students took to the streets in dissent. A host of political, institutional, technological and social transformations occurred. More specifically, it saw the birth of a digital platform designed to help protesters navigate during protests. It was called Sukey. This thesis interrogates the impact and legacy of the Sukey platform; over, and beyond, these tumultuous years. It does so through the lens of ‘disruptive cartography’, arguing that the platform was deployed to disrupt the smooth running of both so-called ‘A-to-B’ demonstrations, and police containment tactics colloquially referred to as ‘kettles’. I contend that the platform did so by providing up-to-date navigational information regarding active phenomena, such as police movements. In this thesis I undertake an aesthetic, interactive and mobile analysis to investigate the navigational dimensions of the project. I do so through an automobile metaphor in which I look ‘under the bonnet’, ‘through the windscreen’, and ‘on(to) the road’. In its absence, I argue that protesters have lacked the requisite navigational knowledges to perform unpredictable manoeuvres, during protest events. As a result, they have returned to using institutional forms that limit the navigational possibilities brought-into-being by the Sukey platform. I conclude by speculating on three possible ‘failures’ of the platform regarding its ability to faithfully ‘capture’ live events, provide a navigational ‘correspondence’ between cartographic ‘signposts’, and to protect participants from data-driven policing.

Na nossa vida, determinados gestos e palavras passam a ser estranhos e passíveis de serem destacados, julgados, diagnosticados. Examinamos o percurso expansionista dos aprisionamentos da vida, seus elementos constitutivos no social. Retiramos do cotidiano e da vivência profissional em duas instituições de contenção estatais, práticas recorrentes que constroem visagens dos desvios dos ditos loucos e dos ditos delinquentes. Entendemos que as instituições tendem a cumprir suas funções presas a determinados estereótipos, padrões e reafirmam e corroboram significâncias e subjetivações encerradas em visagens que exacerbam evidências, punições, vinganças e controles. Vivemos numa sociedade de controle, cujos interstícios são operados por instituições disciplinares postas a normalizar a vida através de medidas voltadas à aquisição de disciplinas, para fixar em aparelhos de produção, através de punições e recompensas. Constitui um plano de pensamento definido por normas que ligam entre si os indivíduos pertencentes ao aparelho de produção. Aos que não conseguem se enquadrar nestes aparelhos, resta a prisão, o hospital ou a solidão. / In our life, certain gestures and words become awkward and likely to be distinguished, judged, diagnosed. We examine the expansionary path of life imprisonment, its constituent elements in the social body. We remove from daily and professional experience in two institutions of state contention, recurring practices that form grimaces of digression of those considered insane and offenders. We understand that institutions tend to fulfill their duties attached to certain stereotypes, patterns and reaffirm and support significance and subjectivities restrained to grimaces that exacerbate evidence, punishment, revenge and controls. We live in a society of control, whose interstices are operated by disciplinary institutions set to normalize life through measures focused on acquisition of disciplines to concentrate on production apparatus through punishments and rewards. It constitutes a thought plan defined by rules that interconnects the individuals belonging to the production apparatus. Those who fail to fit these apparatus, are left with prison, hospital or loneliness.