Benutzerdefinierte Diagramm-signaturen in Karten: Konzepte, Formalisierung und Implementation Export

@phdthesis{citeulike:5984053, abstract = {Today, thematic map symbols such as charts and proportional symbols are often used in maps to show the spatial distribution of statistical data. Therefore, they are very helpful for planning purposes and decision-making. Since the introduction of computers, the number of cartographic representation types are surprisingly decreasing in cartography. In digital cartography, only few easy-to-program symbols such as proportional symbols and pie charts are used to portray statistical data. Thus, the aim of this thesis is to develop a new map symbol construction theory to efficiently and easily create complex user- defined map symbols for digital maps. In the first part of the thesis 49 map symbols from cartographic literature were examined concerning their properties, e.g. their appearance and data representation. As a result of the analysis the following three hypotheses were confirmed: 1. The analyzed map symbols consist of cartographic primitives. 2. The cartographic primitives can be arranged with few arrangement principles. 3. The size of the cartographic primitives changes depending on the data. This change follows a certain direction. Also, a total of ten two-dimensional cartographic primitives were found: point, polyline, curve, ellipse, circle, pie sector, ring, ring sector, rectangle (bar), and regular polygon. Furthermore, six arrangement principles were derived from similarities and differences regarding the structure of the symbols. With these principles the cartographic primitives could be arranged either centered, as a grid, linear, polar, perpendicular, or triangular. Additionally, each cartographic primitive could be scaled in one or two directions depending on the data values. With these three properties each map symbol can be unambiguously constructed. Additional map symbol properties like transformation parameters (e.g. rotations), guides and labels as well as graphical properties (appearance of the primitives) were integrated in the new construction theory. In the next part of the thesis a new XML based Diagram Markup Language (DiaML), a map symbol description, was established to realize the construction theory. DiaML is a flexible, extensible and browser and platform independent language to describe user-defined map symbols based on the above mentioned theory. The definitions of the cartographic primitives and the graphical symbol properties were separated from the symbol description in order to allow a high flexibility in the symbol construction. In the third part of the thesis a prototype called "Map Symbol Brewer" was developed to demonstrate the theory and apply all of the previously described principles. The prototype is based on the web standard SVG and was entirely written in ECMAScript and PHP. With a few steps and the help of standard form elements such as buttons, the user can import his own statistical data as text or XML and create his own map symbol (e.g. a diagram). Based on the user's settings a SVG map with these map symbols is created and shown in a preview area of the prototype. The result can be exported as DiaML description or as SVG map. In the future the need for visualizations of statistical data in maps will increase. Therefore, this thesis is a contribution towards an easy, user-defined and systematic construction of map symbols. Especially in digital and web maps it allows an improvement of the variety of cartographic representation types.}, author = {Schnabel, Olaf}, citeulike-article-id = {5984053}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://e-collection.ethbib.ethz.ch/eserv/eth:29352/eth-29352-01.pdf}, keywords = {data-presentation, design, diagrams, geographical-information-systems, presentation, spatial, spatial-distribution, statistical\_maps, statistics, symbol, visualisation, visuospatial}, posted-at = {2009-10-22 08:04:57}, priority = {5}, school = {Eidgen\"{o}ssischen Technischen Hochschule Z\"{u}rich}, title = {Benutzerdefinierte Diagramm-signaturen in Karten: Konzepte, Formalisierung und Implementation}, url = {http://e-collection.ethbib.ethz.ch/eserv/eth:29352/eth-29352-01.pdf}, year = {2007} }

TY - THES ID - citeulike:5984053 L3 - citeulike-article-id:5984053 N2 - Today, thematic map symbols such as charts and proportional symbols are often used in maps to show the spatial distribution of statistical data. Therefore, they are very helpful for planning purposes and decision-making. Since the introduction of computers, the number of cartographic representation types are surprisingly decreasing in cartography. In digital cartography, only few easy-to-program symbols such as proportional symbols and pie charts are used to portray statistical data. Thus, the aim of this thesis is to develop a new map symbol construction theory to efficiently and easily create complex user- defined map symbols for digital maps. In the first part of the thesis 49 map symbols from cartographic literature were examined concerning their properties, e.g. their appearance and data representation. As a result of the analysis the following three hypotheses were confirmed: 1. The analyzed map symbols consist of cartographic primitives. 2. The cartographic primitives can be arranged with few arrangement principles. 3. The size of the cartographic primitives changes depending on the data. This change follows a certain direction. Also, a total of ten two-dimensional cartographic primitives were found: point, polyline, curve, ellipse, circle, pie sector, ring, ring sector, rectangle (bar), and regular polygon. Furthermore, six arrangement principles were derived from similarities and differences regarding the structure of the symbols. With these principles the cartographic primitives could be arranged either centered, as a grid, linear, polar, perpendicular, or triangular. Additionally, each cartographic primitive could be scaled in one or two directions depending on the data values. With these three properties each map symbol can be unambiguously constructed. Additional map symbol properties like transformation parameters (e.g. rotations), guides and labels as well as graphical properties (appearance of the primitives) were integrated in the new construction theory. In the next part of the thesis a new XML based Diagram Markup Language (DiaML), a map symbol description, was established to realize the construction theory. DiaML is a flexible, extensible and browser and platform independent language to describe user-defined map symbols based on the above mentioned theory. The definitions of the cartographic primitives and the graphical symbol properties were separated from the symbol description in order to allow a high flexibility in the symbol construction. In the third part of the thesis a prototype called "Map Symbol Brewer" was developed to demonstrate the theory and apply all of the previously described principles. The prototype is based on the web standard SVG and was entirely written in ECMAScript and PHP. With a few steps and the help of standard form elements such as buttons, the user can import his own statistical data as text or XML and create his own map symbol (e.g. a diagram). Based on the user's settings a SVG map with these map symbols is created and shown in a preview area of the prototype. The result can be exported as DiaML description or as SVG map. In the future the need for visualizations of statistical data in maps will increase. Therefore, this thesis is a contribution towards an easy, user-defined and systematic construction of map symbols. Especially in digital and web maps it allows an improvement of the variety of cartographic representation types. TI - Benutzerdefinierte Diagramm-signaturen in Karten: Konzepte, Formalisierung und Implementation PB - Eidgenössischen Technischen Hochschule Zürich KW - data-presentation KW - design KW - diagrams KW - geographical-information-systems KW - presentation KW - spatial KW - spatial-distribution KW - statistical_maps KW - statistics KW - symbol KW - visualisation KW - visuospatial AU - Schnabel, Olaf PY - 2007/// UR - http://e-collection.ethbib.ethz.ch/eserv/eth:29352/eth-29352-01.pdf ER -