Card making

The design of cartographic products includes all steps for the best possible representation of the facts depending on the topic, type of issue and user group. When designing the map , numerous aspects of the conception and graphic design must be included. While the planning and implementation of official maps are strictly regulated, thematic cartography offers a great deal of design leeway, but also requires a well-thought-out concept for each map.

Design of thematic maps

In the course of the creation of a thematic map, from the first preliminary editorial planning through the conceptual design and data preparation to the graphical-methodical implementation, the following factors are taken into account (the order may vary):

Topic : Can the existing objects / facts be represented sensibly in terms of their spatial relationship?

Statement : Should the map convey a given content or should the linking of content aspects enable new knowledge?

User group, purpose : By which group of people and with what aim should the card be used?

Output medium and environment : print or digital output, stand- alone map or part of a map or addition to a text? Corresponding specifications must be observed.

Define the display area and scale . This also includes the decision about an island or frame map and, for small scales, about the appropriate map network design .

Data collection or research for the facts to be presented. Select and prepare data, classify etc.

Choice of the specifically appropriate display method . Depending on the topic, target statement, group of users, scale, data situation, output medium ... systematics of graphic presentation methods was z. B. developed by Arnberger, Imhof, Witt and Salistschew. They also serve as the basis for the methodology of thematic maps. See also: Signature (cartography) .

Selection and source of the basic cartographic elements . A suitable map base must be created for the implementation and spatial classification of the thematic content. Mostly, elements from topographic maps or basic files from GIS software are used here. The selection always follows the needs of the map information, the presentation method and the scale. The basic elements are often subjected to a generalization process.

Implementation according to the choice of method. Other factors also play a role, e.g. B. graphic density, graphic levels, color and shape associations, comprehensibility. The text elements are also placed here.

Selection and appropriate design of the other map components (legend, scale bar, title, north arrow ...).

Design of cards for educational purposes

Cards for the school should be designed in a way that is appropriate to the curriculum / framework plan, age-appropriate, clear and descriptive. School maps are first and foremost scaled down, simplified and encrypted top view images of structures and processes in terrestrial spaces, they are intended to serve the formation of geospatial imaginations and convey information to the students about geospatial components of nature and society. So they do not primarily serve lexical purposes , even if they are demonstration, communication and knowledge tools in the classroom. Cards for school lessons must be user-oriented or target group-oriented to a large extent . Media determinism ("Here is the product - let's see ...") should be avoided . Therefore, the following applies to their design as a print medium:

The title of a map includes: subject and depicted region.

Each map should contain the numerical scale and a linear scale (scale bar ) as information in the edge of the map or in the legend.

Each school card should contain a complete legend or references to a corresponding collective legend or general legend .

The content and graphic load of the cards must be adapted to the abstraction and absorption capacity of the target group of students (“ less is more ” - this rule of thumb applies particularly to the lower grades).

Level-graded card design (in terms of content and graphics) must be taken into account in order to increase the level of abstraction of the students and their performance when using the card (e.g. grade 5 - grade 10).

The need for “ step atlases ” is derived from the last two principles mentioned ; Reasons for wear also speak for them.

The " name plate " is to be designed in such a way that the essential is graphically set off from the insignificant and the important from the insignificant without having to study legends.

The signatures should speak for themselves to a large extent, not just decoded by the legend's "secret key".

The distinguishability or differentiation of the signatures and colors should be semantically and optically clear.

For the purpose of promoting associations, a pictorial design must be taken into account when expressing the signature .

In the legend, signature groups must be taken into account (key colors and key shapes); the principle of primary and secondary signatures is to be applied.

Frontal media ( e.g. school wall maps ) should match the corresponding student work equipment (e.g. school atlases) in the regional section and in the basic layout of the character key as far as possible.

The frontal teaching aids should emphasize the essentials graphically more strongly than the pupil's work aids because of the necessary long-distance effect , and let the insignificant receded or omitted

The arrangement of the maps in the atlas should correspond to the regional order of the curriculum.

In the atlas, each region begins with a general overview (main maps), followed by regional and thematic examples as secondary maps.

At the IV General Assembly of the IKV (International Cartographic Association) in 1972, special attention was paid to the relationships between map manufacturers and map users. This is the only way to determine the effectiveness and performance of the information with the help of the card on different groups of card users. Map design and map use are mutually influencing components of the cartographic communication process and must therefore be processed equally . This is especially true for school cartography, which has to steer age-appropriate comprehensibility and purpose-differentiated layout of the cartographic display modes as well as qualifications for procedures of differentiated map use.

School cartography is therefore an important link between school practice as a map user and practical cartography as a map designer.

It would go beyond the scope of this encyclopedia to go into detail about individual card shapes and card types. Therefore we refer to further special literature .

literature

Frithjof Altemüller: Atlas - wall map - school book map. In: Geography and School. H. 2/1992, pp. 18-22.
Egon Breetz: The relief representation on general geographic and selected thematic maps for geography lessons. In: Potsdam Research. Row C, no.12, PH Potsdam 1973.
Egon Breetz: Design and use of geographic maps as main links of the school cartographic communication chain. In: Potsdam Research. Series C, H. 64, PH Potsdam 1986.
Frieder Gebhardt: Design principles for wall maps and banners. In: Schr. Zur Geogr. U. Cartography Vol. 5, Vienna 1992, pp. 242-251.
Armin Hüttermann: Map reading - (not) an art . = Didactics of geography. Munich 1998. ISBN 3-486-88036-5 .
Manuela Laufmann, Bernd Raum: Views on the design of cartographic workbooks for younger students (grades 5 and 6). In: Kartogr. Schr. Vol. 8, Bonn 2003, pp. 101-117.
Ferdinand Mayer: Continuity and Change in School Cartography . In: Geography and its didactics. Festschrift for Walter Sperling. (= Materials on didactics of geography) H. 16, Trier 1992, pp. 283-304.
Rudi Ogrissek: The map as an aid for the historian. (= Geogr. Bausteine, Neue Reihe, H. 4) Haack, Gotha / Leipzig 1968.
Plapper, Wolfgang: On the perceptibility of business signatures in school atlases. In: Intern. Year f. Cartography 22 (1982), pp. 154-167.
Walter Sperling: Type formation and type representation in school cartography. In: Studies on Them. Cartography Part 3, Hanover 1973, pp. 179-194.
Ulf Zahn: The card as a teaching medium. In: A. Brucker (Ed.): Handbook of media in geography lessons. Düsseldorf 1986, pp. 130-144.

Card making

Design of thematic maps

Design of cards for educational purposes

literature

See also