The Possibility of Studying Landforms by Means of Digital Computers

The author proposes a digital code that would enable a computer to recognize landforms by matching the code of a given form against standard patterns stored in the computer's memory. This would represent automation of the first stage of compilation of geomorphic and special-purpose maps in which the general character of the surface relief of an area and its spatial distribution must be determined.     

Geomorphic Methods in Oil and Gas Prospecting

The structural-geomorphic technique advocated for use in oil and gas prospecting is based on the influence of geologic structure on the development and appearance of surface relief. Structural-geomorphic analysis is most effective in areas where inherited surface forms predominate; it is more difficult to apply in areas with a young, dynamic surface relief. The morphometric school in structural analysis focuses on map measurements of drainage patterns, valley asymmetry, stream orders and slopes. The genetic school emphasizes study of the origin and age of surface forms. Another geomorphic method in oil and gas prospecting is the paleogeomorphic technique, based on the prediction of the occurrence of hydrocarbons in stratigraphic and lithologic traps associated with the regional pinch-out of permeable rocks. Structural-geomorphic maps showing types of surface relief and their relationship to geological structure are an important aid in oil and gas prospecting.     

Impacts of Human Activity on Landscapes in Central Brazil: a Case Study in the Araguari Watershed

This paper outlines the main geomorphological characteristics of the Araguari River Basin and describes the human‐induced changes to the landscapes. This region, naturally occupied by savannas, has been strongly altered by human activities over the previous 40 years. Summarised information is derived from geomorphological, geological and pedological maps, supported by field work. The paper is divided into two main parts. The first shows the natural arrangement of the landscapes in the hydrographic basin, demonstrating the relationships between structural and geomorphic units. Information about superficial materials and current processes and some observations on the evolution of these landforms are presented here. The second part describes the changes in the basin due to anthropic activities, considering types of erosion, channel changes and urban problems. These activities are divided between rural and urban areas, showing the differences between the operations of these sensitive systems. The paper also notes the main research in progress in this basin, presents some partial results and comments on future perspectives.     

The Geomorphology of the Turgay Trough in Connection with the Problem of Diverting the Water of West Siberian Rivers to Central Asia

A geomorphic field survey conducted in the late 1960's by the Institute of Geography (Moscow) suggests the existence of only one geomorphic level (Level III) that can be traced all the way through the Turgay trough from the Irtysh River drainage basin to the Aral Sea depression. However, contrary to general assumption, geomorphic analysis does not confirm the view that the Turgay trough served for a throughflow of water between the two drainage basins during the Pleistocene. An analysis of the geomorphic levels in the trough suggests that water in the northern segment of the trough drained toward the north and in the southern segment toward the south, with a middle segment occupied by a system of lakes, still evident to this day. However, the absence of a throughflow in the past does not rule out the use of the trough for the proposed southward diversion of Siberian water. It is suggested that the level of water on the Siberian slope be raised to the elevation of the divide (about 125 meters above sea level) so that the water could then follow the natural slope of the Level III surface toward the south.     

Some Achievements and Problems in Soviet Cartography

A review of the last 50 years finds that the traditional breakdown of Soviet cartography into its specialized research disciplines no longer conforms to current needs. Soviet cartography has been divided historically into mathematical cartography, map science (the study of maps and their uses), map compilation and editing, map design and production. A growing specialization in cartography by thematic disciplines (geomorphic mapping, agricultural mapping, etc.) with widely differing requirements and principles of compilation and editing suggests the need for a restructuring of the research disciplines. In addition to mathematical cartography, concerned with map projections and map measurements, the new structure would include: technical cartography (the study of source materials, map design and production); natural-historic cartography (principles of compilation and editing of maps of the physical environment), and socioeconomic cartography (concerned with the mapping of human phenomena).     

Cognitive Maps and Spatial Behavior Of Consumers

Two multidimensional scaling algorithms are used to externally measure cognitive maps of supermarket locations for a sample of sixty-one supermarket shoppers. Issues raised in the construction of the cognitive maps are discussed. The relationship between the derived cognitive maps and consumer behavior is compared to the relationship between physical maps and consumer behavior. Behavior is shown to be more closely related to cognitive maps. Differences in cognitive maps are defined and canonically correlated with consumers' socioeconomic and locational attributes. While aggregate cognitive maps are closely associated with physical maps, there is substantial variation between individual maps. This variation is related to shopping behavior and selected socioeconomic and locational characteristics of consumers.     

Saxton's Maps of England and Wales: The Accuracy of Anglia and Britannia and Their Relationship to Each Other and to the County Maps

ABSTRACT

From measurements of the graticules on Saxton's two general maps of England and Wales—the atlas map Anglia and the wall map Britannia—together with other evidence, it is argued that neither map was drawn according to any specific projection, but that both were effectively produced as ‘flat-earth’ maps with the graticules superimposed afterwards. Digital versions of Saxton's maps and of a modern map, the 1:1 million Ordnance Survey transport map, are used in a number of comparisons by means of the computer program MapAnalyst. These comparisons allow the scales of the two Saxton maps to be determined. They also show that the maps are of almost the same accuracy in terms of the positioning of settlements, typically within about 4.6 kilometres, in spite of a difference in scale of a factor of about 3.6. This fact and the direct comparison of the two Saxton maps in MapAnalyst show that they are basically the same map, and it is concluded that a version of the wall map was the first to be drawn and that Anglia is a reduced copy prepared for the atlas. The lengths of Saxton's miles as used on the two maps are calculated and compared with other determinations. The relationship between the two general maps and the county maps is briefly considered, and it is provisionally concluded that the relationship is a close one.     

Mapping 100 Years of Thornthwaite Moisture Index: Impact of Climate Change in Victoria,Australia

Geographer C. W. Thornthwaite proposed in 1948 a moisture index called Thornthwaite Moisture Index (TMI) as part of a water balance model for a new classification system for climate. The importance of TMI climatic classification has been recognised in many areas of knowledge and practice worldwide over the last 60 years. However, although past climate research was focused on developing adequate methods for climate classification, current research is more concerned with understanding the patterns of climate change. The use of TMI as an indicator for climate change is still an incipient area of research. The contributions of this paper are twofold. First, it is to fully document a methodology based on geostatistics adopted to produce a time series of TMI maps that are accurate and have high spatial resolution. The state of Victoria, in Australia, over the last century, is used as the case study. Second, by analysing these maps, the paper presents a general evaluation of the spatial patterns found in Victoria related to moisture variability across space and over time. Some potential implications of the verified moisture changes are discussed, and a number of ideas for further development are suggested.     

Principles Of Geomorphic Regionalization

The author proposes a scheme of regional units to be used in geomorphic regionalization. Each rank in the regional scheme is defined in terms of geomorphic processes, with endogenous processes predominating in the case of the higher ranks and exogenous factors prevailing in the lower units.     

THEORETICAL REQUISITES FOR THE MAPPING OF THE HUMAN HABITAT

Some general theoretical principles guiding thematic mapping are stated in connection with a long-term program for mapping the environment of Siberia. Environment, in this context, is understood in the broad sense of human habitat, comprising physical environment, population and economy. The author views cartography as a branch of information science, and stresses the importance of the system approach to the compilation of environment maps, which in the case of physical maps would involve the principles of geosystems theory. An effort should be made to show spatial linkages, which are regarded as the principal function of environment maps. Of particular relevance are synthetic landscape maps and predictive maps, showing the dynamic trends of geographical phenomena. The informativeness of thematic maps can be increased by preliminary data processing yielding coefficients of correlation and regression lines, which would then be mapped.     

Geomorphological setting and Native American acquisition of buff-firing ceramic clays in the Lower and Middle Gila River Valley, Arizona

This study addresses buff-firing clay sources in dynamic alluvial settings along Arizona’s Gila River in the U.S. Southwest. We establish clay resource distribution relative to the geomorphic histories of the Lower and Middle Gila River based on 38 clay samples and ethnographic data from two US Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) projects. Buff-firing clayey alluvium, deposited in the Gila River floodplain 800 to 1,500 or more years ago, was a surficial ceramic raw material source for prehistoric Hohokam and lowland Patayan potters. This geomorphic unit was later removed in some places and buried by up to 3-4 m of sediment in others, reducing the availability of buff-firing clays in the Hohokam Classic period and requiring historic Pee Posh and Akimel O’odham potters to dig pits to access it. Sources were further destroyed in catastrophic floods in the late 19th and early 20th century, affecting ceramic manufacture patterns and ultimately contributing to the decline of pottery production by the O’odham living in the Gila River Valley. Our results contribute to regional ceramic ecology and should also be of interest to others investigating alluvial clay use in general or buff-firing alluvial clays in particular. The study also illustrates the value of combining geomorphic and ethnographic data to examine major changes in resource distribution and use.     

Author and Reader Perceptions of the Literary Map

There is a continuing need in cartographic communication for reserarch directed toward better understanding of the perceptual properties of maps, particularly as they interrelate between map author and map reader (percipient). This research explores that area by examining the perceptions of authors of maps utilized in science fiction and fantasy, and readers who encounter these maps in the literature.

The first phase of the research demonstrates that authors generally have a positive attitude toward the literary map and view them as critical to the formulation of a story and important to proper understanding of the narrative. By contrast, readers tested in the second part of the study view literary maps as superfluous and in general have a negative attitude toward them.

The literary maps employed in this research fail to communicate effectively with the reader. Poor cartographic communication and the negative attitude of readers toward the literary map is explained in terms of functional illiteracy.     

Maps of Waters of the Land in National Atlases

In this article, which is part of a series on national atlases, the author makes recommendations for the selection of maps and map content to be incorporated into the atlas section devoted to the water resources of the land. She divides the maps into two major classes: maps of drainage patterns, and maps of the characteristics of stream regime.     

On the Methodology of Zoogeographic Mapping

The distribution of marmots in the Soviet Union has been mapped at three general scales: particular maps, showing colonies and burrows in small landscape units; regional maps, using medium scales, and general maps, at small scales, showing the entire Soviet Union.     

明代方志地图编绘意向的初步考察

在地理学史和地图学史的研究中,一般关注于古代地图的科学技术价值,而较少讨论其思想史意义,尤其较少讨论方志地图的思想史意义。因此,本文从思想史的角度对明代方志地图的编绘意向做了初步的考察。认为明代方志地图的编绘意向中突出地强调了舆图的政治功能,但是对舆图所具有的政治功能的认识存在着较为明显的差异。更值得注意的是,在此之外对区域地理景观自身的关注,反映了新的在一定程度上具有变革萌芽的知识兴趣。这些不仅在一定程度上反映了当时社会上一般的地理学观念与知识系统,同时表现出方志地图在地理学史和地理学思想史中所可能具有的地位和意义。     

Mapping the Nation for War: Landscape in Danish Military Cartography 1800–2000

The focus in this article is on the way the post eighteenth-century cartographic turn in military practices developed into a particular military perception of landscape that continues to set the standard of Danish topographical mapping. My argument is that the development of modern topographical maps is the result of a long process of military comprehension and measurement of the terrain in order to conduct field operations. The demand for spatial data for actual or potential military operations had a direct impact on the specifications of maps produced by the military, as landscape representation was adapted to meet operational demands and as lessons learned from war experience were incorporated. In this and other respects, the development of Danish topographical maps in and after the nineteenth century followed the general trend of European military mapping as regards methods and standards.     

Engineering-Geomorphology Characteristics and Regionalization of the Main River Valleys of Siberia in Connection with Hydroelectric Power Development

A geomorphic regionalization of the main river valleys of Siberia is proposed for purposes of selecting potential sites for hydroelectric power stations. The regionalization is based on geomorphic features that relate to the stability of dams and to construction conditions: valley morphology; composition and thickness of sediments; geological structure and properties of dam-foundation rocks; permafrost and slope processes; seismic activity; local availability of building materials. Six basic regions are distinguished: mountains, plains, the intermediate piedmont, trap plateau, stratified plateau, tableland. Potential dam sites are listed for each major region together with projects that have been completed or are in progress.     

Geological Maps in National Atlases

The author reviews the group of geological maps in national atlases, comparing the form and content of geological-stratigraphic, tectonic, mineral-deposits, lithological-petrographic and Quaternary-deposits maps and making recommendations for greater uniformity of such maps in national atlases.     

清代京杭大运河全图初探

本文将收集到的国内外清代京杭大运河全圈作为史料处理,结合相关文献一一解读各幅运河图本身蕴涵的信息。在此基础上,挖掘出清代在绘制运河全图时常用的一些绘制手法,井就运河图的载体、装订形式加以分析。进而根据绘制风格等的差异,将清代运河全图的绘制划分为前期和后舰又依据用途和内容的不同,划分为运河河工图、漕运图、运河泉源圈和运河景观图四种。作者试图通过分析论证,挖掘出地图的史料价值,找到一个利用地图学视角观察社会历史景观的路径。     

The China Maps of Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d’Anville: Origins and Supporting Networks

Abstract

By 1735, Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d’Anville had produced forty-one maps of the Qing Empire, or China, a process significantly more complex than scholars have hitherto appreciated. A close study of d’Anville’s maps and their originals has revealed their relationship with the different versions of a Chinese atlas, the first of which was completed early in 1718, the outcome of nearly a decade of collaborative surveying between officials of the Qing Empire and European missionaries. The precise origins of some of the maps are identified for the first time, and the network behind the remarkable intercontinental exchange of cartographical material that allowed d’Anville to produce his China maps is also discussed, thereby illustrating the central role of the French Jesuits, as well as the connection with St Petersburg.