Distortion Analysis of Modern Diagrams and Historical Maps
Goals
Methods for analysing the planimetric distortion and accuracy of old maps and map diagrams. Development of specialized visualizations such as distortion grids and isolines of scale and rotation.Results
The developed methods help cartographers detect spatial conflicts (excessive geometric distortion), which is especially useful in schematic diagram maps and the study of geometric properties of old maps. MapAnalyst was developed, a user-friendly Java application for the planimetric analysis of map diagrams and old maps. It illustrates local map distortion by generating distortion grids, displacement vectors, and new isolines of scale and rotation. The software was reviewed in the journal Cartographica and was judged "a great piece of software for analysing old maps, and one would expect MapAnalyst to be a welcome addition to the desktops of map researchers everywhere". MapAnalyst has been used by several map historians for the study of old maps.Review in Cartographica: Raymond, D. (2007) Software Review: MapAnalyst 1.2.1 (Bernhard Jenny and Adrian Weber, Institute of Cartography, ETH Zurich, 2005/2006), Cartographica 42-1, p. 95-97.
Isolines of local scale for the London Underground map
Distortion grid and position differences as circles
Displacement vector
See here for more information about the geometric distortion of the London Underground map.
Publications
Jenny, B. (2010). New features in MapAnalyst. In: Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Digital Approaches in Cartographic Heritage, Vienna, February 22–24, 2010. PDF [provisional].
Jenny, B., Jenny, H. and Hurni, L. (2009). Alte Karten als historische Quelle – Wie lässt sich die geometrische Genauigkeit des Karteninhalts abschätzen? In: Cartes, cartographie et Histoire. De la visualisation du pouvoir au pouvoir de la visualisation / Karten, Kartographie und Geschichte. Von der Visualisierung der Macht zur Macht der Visualisierung, Zürich: Chronos [accepted for publication].
Jenny, B. (2009). Die Analyse der planimetrischen Genauigkeit alter Karten mit MapAnalyst. In: Heinz, M. (editor) Proceedings of the 13. Kartographiehistorisches Colloquium, Dresden, Germany, September 20-23, 2006 [in print].
Jenny, B. (2008). Visualising the planimetric accuracy of historical maps with MapAnalyst. Presentation at the ESF Eurocores Workshop: Visualisation and Space-Time Representation of Dynamic, Non-linear, Spatial Data in DynCoopNet and Other TECT Projects, 25-26 September 2008, Madrid, Spain. PDF.
Jenny, B. and Heere, E. (2008). Visualisering van de planimetrische nauwkeurigheid van oude kaarten met MapAnalyst. Caert-Thresoor, 27-1, p. 5-10. Summary | Full text PDF.
Jenny, B. (2007). Planimetric analysis of historical maps with MapAnalyst. In: Oehrli, M. (editor) Paper and Poster Abstracts of the 22nd International Conference on the History of Cartography ICHC, Berne 2007, Berne, Switzerland, July 8-13, 2007. p. 62-63. PDF.
Jenny, B., Weber, A. and Hurni, L. (2007). Visualizing the planimetric accuracy of historical maps with MapAnalyst. Cartographica, 42-1, p. 89-94. PDF.
Jenny, B. (2006). Geometric distortion of schematic network maps. Bulletin of the Society of Cartographers SoC, 40, p. 15-18. HTML or PDF.
Jenny, B. (2006). MapAnalyst - A digital tool for the analysis of the planimetric accuracy of historical maps. e-Perimetron, 1-3, p. 239-245. Online at www.e-perimetron.org.
Jenny, B. (2006). Analysis of the planimetric accuracy of historical maps with digital tools. Proceedings of the first international workshop Digital Approaches to Cartographic Heritage, Thessaloniki, Greece, 18-19 May 2006. National Center for Maps and Cartographic Heritage, Thessaloniki. ISBN: 960-7999-18-5, p. 87-91.
Website
MapAnalyst (2005) mapanalyst.cartography.chMapAnalyst is a software application for the accuracy analysis of old maps.
Author: Bernhard Jenny