Strategies of Real-time Cartography

Abstract

As the application of interactive computer graphic methods to cartographic tasks continues to develop and mature, it is useful and instructive to examine these developments in a deeper conceptual context. Possibilities for cartographic communication have been greatly expanded with such interactive cartographic computer systems. A key concept in the power and flexibility of such interactive systems is that of real and virtual maps and transformations that can be made between them. One can now look past current interactive cartographic systems for display, analysis and map production to the potential of more powerful and flexible real-time interactive cartographic systems which can deal with more complex forms of cartographic situations and include the manipulation of a number of aspects of spatiotemporal dynamics. These include cartographic object manipulation and surface exploration, the display of cartographic data as it changes through time, and combinations of the above.