Drawing attention via diversity in thematic map design, as demonstrated by student maps of Northern South Africa

ABSTRACT

In today’s information age, thematic maps increasingly appear in all kinds of media and publications and many users control the map design process themselves. Due to wider prevalence of data, teaching the principles of thematic cartography is gaining interest. Students need to understand the power of thematic maps to reveal geographic patterns and relations, and should learn how to create convincing maps. In this paper, student maps featuring socio-economic themes for Northern South Africa show how attention can be drawn to information hidden in data. Seven students each prepared a black-and-white traditional thematic map and a coloured infographics-style map, which were later enhanced by a well-trained cartographer. Through these maps, we demonstrate that the power of thematic maps depends on the chosen cartographic representation and that diversity of visualization options matters when telling a story with a map. Discussion of the maps illustrates the relevance and challenge of thematic maps for society, the need to develop map literacy, and the possibility to accommodate new visualization trends, like narrative data visualization, in thematic cartography teaching. The emphasis should be on using multivariate data and allowing infographics characteristics, thus fostering creativity and preparing students for a role in interdisciplinary data journalism teams.

A l'ère de l'information, les cartes thématiques apparaissent de plus en plus dans toutes sortes de medias et de publications et de nombreux utilisateurs contrôlent eux même le processus de conception de carte. En raison de la prévalence des données, l'enseignement des principes de la cartographie thématique suscite plus d'intérêt. Les étudiants ont besoin de comprendre la puissance des cartes thématiques pour faire apparaitre des structures et relations et ils doivent apprendre à créer des cartes convaincantes. Dans cet article, des cartes d'étudiants représentant des thématiques socio-économiques du nord de l'Afrique du Sud montrent comment attirer l'attention sur de l'information cachées dans les données. Sept étudiants ont chacun préparé une carte thématique traditionnelle en noir et blanc et une carte colorée de type numérique qui étaient par la suite améliorées par un cartographe expérimenté. A travers ces cartes nous avons démontré que le pouvoir des cartes thématiques dépend des choix cartographiques et que la diversité des options de visualisation a de l'importance lorsqu'on veut raconter une histoire à l'aide d'une carte. La discussion sur les cartes illustre la pertinence et les enjeux des cartes thématiques pour la société, la nécessité de développer la maitrise des cartes et la possibilité d'intégrer de nouvelles tendances, comme la visualisation de données narratives, dans l'enseignement de la cartographie thématique. L'accent doit être mis sur l'utilisation de données multivariées et la préparation des étudiants à un jouer un rôle dans une équipe de journalisme traitant des données interdisciplinaires.

KEYWORDS:

• Data science
• infographics
• complex analytical maps
• thematic maps
• narrative data visualization

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the UP students of the BScHons Geoinformatics programme who participated in the Thematic Cartography course in August 2017 and made this publication possible through their maps. Gertrud Schaab is grateful for two visits to the Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology as part of the University of Pretoria’s Visiting Professor Programme. Ethics approval for the study was granted by the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences Research Ethics Committee, reference number EC 180319-180.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Pretoria Visting Professorship Programme.

Notes on contributors

Gertrud Schaab

Gertrud Schaab is professor at the Faculty of Information Management and Media of Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences in Germany. Her lectures cover a wide range of topics across thematic cartography, GIS and remote sensing. Her research interests lie in the integration of diverse methods from visualization, geographic information science, and remote sensing for environmental research. More recently, she has added mobile map app development to facilitate fieldwork and stakeholder engagement. Gertrud has substantial experience in project cooperation and research in Eastern Africa, with a focus on Kenya, and increasingly in South Africa.

Sybil Adams

Sybil Adams holds a Master's degree from Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences and supports the university through teaching web programming in the international Geomatics Master's program. Her research interests are related to web development and data visualization and geovisualization in the internet.

Serena Coetzee

Serena Coetzee is professor and Head of the Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology at the University of Pretoria (UP) in South Africa. Her research focuses on the ever-increasing volumes of geographic information and the challenges of making these available, accessible and usable. Specific interests are spatial data infrastructures, address data, standards, open principles, geoinformatics education and geovisualization. Serena is actively involved in standardization through ISO/TC 211, Geographic Information/Geomatics, and she chairs the Commission on SDIs and Standards of the International Cartographic Association (ICA).