4/22/2025
GEOG 1005
Map use, reading and interpretation
Class 11
Yanjia Cao, PhD
Assistant Professor
Dept of Geography
[email protected]Dynamics and visualization….
• So far, most of our map examples have been
static…capturing the well-known “snapshot
representation” where a single state of a
phenomena corresponding to one time is shown.
• But let’s consider how to make maps more
dynamic
• Offers a more realistic view of phenomena
• Gives us a clearer idea of how change may be occurring
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Early Development
• We might think of map animation as a recent
development, but actually work has been done
since 1930s on animating maps
• At that time animations were created by hand
• Drawing “cels” by hand and then using a camera to
record each frame of animation
Early work
• Computer –based animations go back to early 70s
with work by
• Waldo Tobler (1970)
• 3D portrayal of pop growth for the city of Detroit
• Hal Moellering (1976)
• Spatiotemporal pattern of traffic accidents
• Cycle of daily accidents and patterns of weekday vs
weekend traffic
• David Dibiase (1991)
• Animated map of New Mexico population from 1930 to
1980
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Tobler’s work on Detroit
• Screen captures from Tobler’s
2.5D mesh population surface
animation, produced in 1970,
show historic growth patterns
in Detroit.
• A second animation revealed
anticipated growth over the
next 4 decades as part of an
early computer-based urban
simulation model.
Technology improvements
• The arrival of the affordable desktop computer in
the early 1980s meant three things to
cartographers in relation to map animation:
• A new tool for the creation of animated maps
• A new method for storing and sharing animated maps
• A new device with which the public could view animated
maps
• The maturation of computer hardware and
software capable of producing and displaying
animated maps has taken 40 years, and is still
ongoing
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From the NY Times
On this map, the
cartographers
Depict each building
burned in red… Coffey Park
2800 buildings...
Note how the pattern
of burns is
emphasized through
this dot map –
capturing network
detail
(determined using
imagery and ground
survey data) Santa Rosa, CA
• Remember how we discussed visual variables for
map making?
• E.g., color, orientation, density, size (e.g., size of
symbols) etc.
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Visual variables for animation
• Early work by cartographers such as David
Dibiase showed how visual variables
associated with static maps could also be used
for animated maps
• e.g., Lightness (different gray tones) could be used
to show changes over time
• But this research also showed that animations
use additional visual variables…
• Duration
• Rate of change
• Order
Visual variables for animation
• Duration
• Length of time that a frame of an animation is
displayed
• Group of frames represent a scene
• Rate of change
• is m/d where m is the magnitude of change (in
position and attributes of entities) between frames
or scenes and d is the duration of each frame or
scene
• Can be logically used to represent quantitative data
• Animated COVID-19 case number, varying the duration of
each scene in direct proportion to the magnitude of the
case counts on each day
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Rate of change
• Defined as m/d where m is magnitude of
change between frames or scenes
• d is duration of each scene
• The smoothness of an animation is a function
of the rate of change
• Decrease the magnitude of change between frames
will make the animation look smoother
• Order
• Sequence in which frames or scenes are presented
• Common order is chronological order
• But sometime you can argue that knowledge is
gleaned by reordering frames or scenes
• E.g., present lower magnitude victories in an election first
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Also…
• Display date has also been suggested as a
visual variable
• Time a display change is initiated
• Frequency refers to the number of identifiable
states per unit time
• Also known as temporal texture
• Weather maps show the flow of a jet stream using
color “cycling”
• Synchonization deals with temporal
correspondance
Synchronization
• Deals with temporal correspondence of two
or more time series
• If peaks and troughs of two time series
correspond, the series are said to be in phase
or synchronized
• Animations of precipitation and greenness are
often out of sync because greenness might not
immediately respond to precipitation changes
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• Animations emphasizing change are grouped
into
• Time series
• Re-expressions
• Fly-bys
Time series
• Emphasizes change through time
• Based on a sequence of observations taken
over time
• Yearly Snowfall in Buffalo 1910-1972
• Stock market
• House sales
• Weekly gasoline prices
Wind data time series
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Drug-poisoning deaths
involving heroin in the US
(1999-2014)
Static map --
Showing annual death rate,
with one map at one year,
and put all years together
and present the changing
pattern
Drug-poisoning
deaths involving
heroin in the US
(1999-2014)
Animated map –
GIF map
Duration = 0.5
second
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Drug-poisoning
deaths involving
heroin in the US
(1999-2014)
Animated map –
GIF map
Duration = 1 second
Drug-poisoning
deaths involving
heroin in the US
(1999-2014)
Animated map –
GIF map
Duration = 1 second
Magnitude of
change
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Re-expressions
• Alternative graphic representation where the structure
has been altered through some transformation of the
original data
• Could involve choosing
• subsets of a time series,
• re-ordering time series,
• changing the duration of individual frames within a
time series
• E.g., reorder temperature predictions from those that
varied the least to the most, and then pacing them so that
the greatest variations had the greatest duration
• In this way, it could be possible to discover a new
pattern
Interesting re-expression….
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Fly overs (Fly by)
• Users are given the feeling of flying over a 3D
surface
• Often use an oblique perspective that can be
disorienting for viewers
• Focus on realism (but may result in information
overload)
• Visual occlusion may also be a problem
• Due to the low angle view causing portions of the image to
be obscured
• Can solve this by having the flight path circle key features
in the landscape rather than just fly by them
Mars flyover
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOPUdZtnt
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• Effective for its purpose?
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• Fly-overs can be useful if they permit viewers
to mentally organize and structure the
landscape
• Need to establish a visual hierarchy
• Sometimes useful to superimpose a grid on the scene
• Can also provide first a planimetric view that a viewer can
recall when viewing a following flyover view
• Or can provide both planimetric and flyover views
simultaneously
Each of these options can help
with disorientation…
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• Animations can emphasize location even
more than static maps
• Flashing points used for symbols to draw attention
to a feature of interest
• Animations emphasize the spatial distribution
of an attribute
• Can highlight selected portions of a map
• Sequencing where a map is displayed piece by
piece
Visual benchmarks
• Thought to be helpful for viewing animations
• Visual benchmarks are reference points with
which other frames of an animation can be
compared
• Dynamic visual benchmarks are more
complicated
• They change from frame to frame
• May use a ghost image from a previous frame
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• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39-Lt6A1SS8
• (this example uses a monorail as a visual benchmark)
• Interesting mining animation
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD3fTgLyeac
• (watch change in perspective, and change in elevation to attract
attention)
• Citi Bike Rentals
• http://vimeo.com/89305412
• (what works well here?)
• https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/30/
us/houston-flood-rescue-cries-for-help.html
• How effective is this? What do you learn from this
animation?
• What cartographic techniques are being used here?
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Change blindness
• Information in an animation can be missed
especially if the animation is complex
• Failure to detect changes in the visual field is
known as change blindness
Further examples: Ozone hole
• Examples:
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1kuMQDtx
Ro
• User has no control and must simply watch the animation
• Is a little difficult to interpret
• Can’t focus on any particular region to see how change
occurs
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