Digital mapping. Theoretical foundations of digital cartography. Benefits of Digital Mapping

Nowadays, the prevailing high level automation, and this is reflected in almost all spheres of human activity. In connection with such relevance of technical progress, digital cartography arose, which is a computer processing and analysis of cartographic information. At the moment, it is digital cartography that is the most popular in its scientific field, since now the creation of any cartographic images is performed on a computer.

Digital cartography cannot be called a separate discipline or section. This is most likely an effective tool that allows you to conveniently and quickly process cartographic data using a PC. However, the influence digital cartography on science is really strong, and this method terrain mapping has fundamentally changed the principle of territory visualization.

Let's compare digital cartography with the old way of creating maps. In ancient times, cartographers spent days and nights at the map, drawing each element in ink. Such work was very painstaking, and the labor costs were simply unjustified. Now the technology for creating maps has changed significantly, and now the computer does all the routine work, and much faster. During the processing of cartographic information on a PC, special automated systems, which have a lot of functionality, consisting of the tools needed to create maps. Due to their flexibility, automated mapping systems provide a lot of opportunities for modern cartographers, which really simplify and improve the process of illustrating the area.

You can count from one thousand nine hundred and fifty-seven. This year, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) produced the first digital elevation and terrain model of the map, which was later used to design highways. This indicates that in cartography since the middle of the twentieth century, new technological mapping and mapping processes and methods have begun to develop, which have been improved to this day. The main areas and trends of improvement in them can be identified:

• technological (electronic) methods of creating maps;
• digital ways of organizing banks and databases;
• geoinformation mapping technologies;
• formation of maps in computer networks;
• development of virtual mapping.

For a more efficient application of scientific and technological processes for the development of cartography, the fastest delivery of the products created by it to end user. Then they will be promptly used by consumers to solve their specific tasks. In modern realities, all scientific and production branches, including digital cartography, are guided by the satisfaction of such requests and needs of society. Thus, with the help of digital technologies, cartography is transformed from cognitive and simple means of orientation into mathematical tools and methods of design, organization, management and planning. It is already obvious that technological progress has influenced the ways in which maps are used, of which we highlight the following:

• communication methods;
• spatial information;
• system decision making.

The essence of digital cartography

Digital cartography can be represented in three or even four substantive forms:

• section of cartographic science;
• manufacturing industry;
• new technology.
• visualization tool for images of cartographic products.

First of all, as a branch of cartographic science, digital cartography is engaged in the study and display of the spatial location of various objects of society, all kinds of natural phenomena, their digital modeling and relationships.

With the application and use of automated manufacturing processes, new computer technologies and a diverse visual range of images, digital cartography is particularly popular with both consumers and professionals. The production of cartographic products, as an industrial production, is a multifunctional technological process using modern technologies and in demand as electronic product.

It is worth remembering how maps were previously built. Entire full-time cartographic groups and thematic parties were created, the services of which arose in production. All received shooting information was recorded with ink on tracing paper or a denser basis. Great labor intensity, significant time costs and scrupulousness in the entire mapping process made the process slow. Now all this is being replaced by computer technology, with the possibility of faster and more accurate execution of projects, convenience in updating and editing maps.

Benefits of Digital Mapping

Comparing all the previous and present possibilities of various mapping methods, including the economic component of market efficiency, the following advantages of digital cartography can be distinguished:

• transmission of accurate information about the object, which practically excludes the possibility of errors due to the use of computer automation in calculations;
• speed of processing and obtaining the final result with higher labor productivity;
• a more economical way to create maps with less labor;
• the possibility and convenience of both editing and periodic updating of maps on the same mathematical and geodetic basis.

It should also be noted that digital cartography is increasingly occupying a place in the global information flow, penetrating into various areas of interesting modern life on the planet and gaining significant segments of users of its products, thereby creating an increased demand. This situation occurs as it develops:

• new (computer) technologies for cartographic and geoinformation systems;
• new (space) methods of geodetic spatial positioning and determining the location of all objects;
• improvement of map making, increasing the accuracy and speed of mastering new demanded cartographic products.

Types of digital mapping production

Digital cartographic production, in order to obtain certain results in its modern form, is engaged in the following production processes:

• development of digital standard maps and other cartographic materials necessary for this in the form of information arrays of the entire set of objects;
• creation of thematic maps using existing digital mathematical and cartographic bases;
• maintenance of digital databases of various information, including state borders;
• digital mapping based on satellite and aerial photographs;
• digital application of the construction of topographic maps.

Digital Cartography Manufacturing Processes

Digital cartography is a complex technological product that represents cartographic production, consisting of the following production processes:

• editorial preparatory period for compiling a digital map;
• input control of raw materials;
• classification of objects of prepared documentation;
• object encodings;
• descriptions of digital map objects;
• map editing;
• quality control;
• updates;
• conversion to exchange format;
• conversion to a given format;
• digitization of map materials;
• map vectorization;
• automation of cartographic generalization;
• summary of digital maps;
• card summary control;
• transfer to the Fund of topographic maps.

Digital maps can be directly perceived by a person when visualizing electronic maps (on video screens) and computer maps (on a solid basis), and can be used as a source of information in machine calculations without visualization in the form of an image.

Digital maps serve as the basis for the production of conventional paper and computer maps on a solid substrate.

Creation

Digital maps are created in the following ways or a combination of them (in fact, methods for collecting spatial information):

Digitization (digitization) of traditional analogue cartographic products (for example, paper maps);

photogrammetric processing of remote sensing data;

Field survey (for example, geodetic tacheometric survey or survey using global satellite positioning systems instruments);

· cameral processing of data from field surveys and other methods.

Storage and transmission methods

Since the models describing space (digital maps) are very non-trivial (unlike, for example, raster images), specialized databases (DB, see spatial database) are often used for their storage, rather than single files of a given format.

To exchange digital cards between different information systems, special exchange formats are used. These can be either popular formats of some software (software) manufacturers (for example, DXF, MIF, SHP, etc.), which have become a de facto standard, or international standards (for example, such a standard of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) like GML).

Cartography

Cartography (from the Greek χάρτης - papyrus paper, and γράφειν - to draw) is the science of researching, modeling and displaying the spatial arrangement, combination and interconnection of objects, natural phenomena and society. In a broader interpretation, cartography includes technology and production activities.

The objects of cartography are the Earth, celestial bodies, the starry sky and the Universe. The most popular fruits of cartography are figurative-sign models of space in the form of: flat maps, relief and volumetric maps, globes. They can be presented on solid, flat or voluminous materials (paper, plastic) or as an image on a video monitor.

Sections of cartography

Mathematical cartography

Mathematical cartography is the study of ways to display the surface of the Earth on a plane. Since the surface of the Earth (approximately spherical, for which the concept of the earth's spheroid is often used) has a certain curvature that is not equal to infinity, it cannot be displayed on a plane with the preservation of all spatial relationships simultaneously: angles between directions, distances and areas. You can save only some of these ratios. An important concept in mathematical cartography is cartographic projection, a function that specifies the transformation of the spheroid coordinates of a point (that is, coordinates on the earth's spheroid, expressed in angular measure) into flat rectangular coordinates in one or another cartographic projection (in other words, into a map sheet that can be spread out in front of you on the surface of the table). Another significant branch of mathematical cartography is cartometry, which allows using map data to measure distances, angles and areas on the real surface of the Earth.

Drawing up and designing maps

Drawing up and designing maps is a field of cartography, a field of technical design that studies the most adequate ways of displaying cartographic information. This area of ​​cartography is closely interconnected with the psychology of perception, semiotics and similar humanitarian aspects.

Since the maps display information related to a wide variety of sciences, there are also such sections of cartography as historical cartography, geological cartography, economic cartography, soil cartography, and others. These sections relate to cartography only as a method; in terms of content, they relate to the corresponding sciences.

Digital cartography

Digital (computer) cartography is not so much an independent section of cartography as its tool, due to the current level of technology development. For example, without canceling the methods of recalculating coordinates when displaying the Earth's surface on a plane (it is studied in such a fundamental section as mathematical cartography), digital cartography has changed the ways of visualizing cartographic works (it is studied in the section "Compilation and design of maps").

So, if earlier the author's original map was drawn in ink, today it is drawn on the computer monitor screen. To do this, use Automated Cartographic Systems (ACS), created on the basis of a special class of software (SW). For example, GeoMedia, Intergraph MGE, ESRI ArcGIS, EasyTrace, Panorama, Mapinfo, etc.

At the same time, ACS and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) should not be confused, since their tasks are different. However, in practice, the same set of software is an integrated package used to build both ACN and GIS (bright examples are ArcGIS, GeoMedia and MGE).

Creation of electronic maps (contours) of fields.

For the effective management of an agricultural enterprise, it will not be superfluous to know exactly what acreage you have. It is not uncommon for managers and agronomists of farms to know only approximately the size of their fields, which negatively affects the accuracy of calculating the necessary fertilizers and calculating the yield. Using a GPS receiver, a field computer and special software (software), you can get electronic maps (contours) of fields with centimeter accuracy!

Resource-saving technologies, including precision agriculture, involve working with electronic field maps. This is the geoinformation base on the basis of which almost all agrotechnical operations in precision farming are carried out. For example, one of the most complex agrotechnical operations of precision farming - differentiated application of mineral fertilizers is based on maps of the distribution of nutrients (N, P, K, Humus, ph) across the field. For this, an agrochemical survey of farmland is also carried out.

But even if electronic field maps are not used for the further application of precision farming technologies, the benefits of creating such maps are obvious. Knowing the exact areas of your fields and the distances between them, you can more efficiently and rationally:

1. Calculate the amount of necessary fertilizers and agrochemicals, as well as seed material

2. Take into account the resulting yield

3. Calculate the planned consumption of fuel and lubricants

4. Keep annual records of sown areas with high accuracy for each crop

5. Keep a history of fields (crop rotations)

6. If necessary, prepare visual reports of high accuracy (map printing)

The creation of field contours is carried out using a GPS receiver, a field computer and software combined into a single software and hardware complex. In the "polygon" mode, it is necessary to go around or bypass the field along its border and save the resulting contour. When saving, you can specify the name of the field and other necessary attributes and notes. After saving the contour, we will know the exact area of ​​the field.

The software also allows you to apply other geoinformation information: lines and points. Lines can be operated when marking working areas in the fields. For example, if you already have electronic maps of your fields for the last year and you only need to fix the placement of crops in the fields this year, then there is no need to re-outline the fields. It is only necessary to draw demarcation lines between crops, and then only if two or more crops are cultivated on the same field.
Points are used to map field features such as pillars, large rocks, and so on.

All received geoinformation from the software and hardware complex must be transferred to a stationary computer for further analysis and use in calculations and in making management decisions. Geoinformation software (GIS) must also be installed on a stationary computer, which will allow you to work correctly with the information received in the fields. For these purposes, we recommend using the MapInfo © program.

In principle, you can use any GIS system that works with the .SHP (Shape) format. Almost all GIS systems can work correctly with this format. However, MapInfo © is, in our opinion, the best choice for accounting of sown areas and maintaining the history of fields. in mapinfo. You can create thematic maps, overlay the contours of your fields on satellite imagery and aerial photographs, as well as digitized topographic maps. Also in MapInfo there is a handy tool for measuring distances (for example, to measure the distance from the garage to the field).

"...Digital cartography: a section of cartography covering the theory and practice of creating and using digital cartographic products..."

Source:

"GOST 28441-99. Digital cartography. Terms and definitions"

(put into effect by the Decree of the State Standard of the Russian Federation of October 23, 1999 N 423-st)

• - the science of geography maps grew from the measurement of the Earth, from those requests and needs that arose as they became acquainted with other lands, from cosmological. speculation...

  Ancient world. encyclopedic Dictionary

• - The science of geography. maps grew from the measurement of the Earth, from those requests and needs that arose as they got to know other lands, from cosmological. speculation...

  Dictionary of antiquity

• - Already at first glance, striking external differences medieval maps from maps of modern times. The Middle Ages did not know topographic surveys...

  Dictionary of Medieval Culture

• - cartography is the science of displaying and understanding natural and socio-economic geosystems through maps as models ...

  Geographic Encyclopedia

• - the science of geographical maps, methods of their compilation and use ...

  Geological Encyclopedia

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  Official terminology

• - the science of geographical maps, the methods of their creation and use. This most common definition of K. reflects its technical aspects ...

  Great Soviet Encyclopedia

• - the science of geographical maps, methods of their creation and use ...

  Modern Encyclopedia

• - a science that includes theory, methodology and techniques for creating and using geographical maps, globes, maps of the moon, planets, starry sky, etc. It is divided into cartography, mathematical cartography, ...

  Big encyclopedic dictionary

• - R., D., Pr....

  Spelling Dictionary of the Russian Language

• - cartography / fia,...

  merged. Separately. Through a hyphen. Dictionary-reference

• - CARTOGRAPHY, -and, wives. The Science of Mapping and Mapping...

  Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov

• - CARTOGRAPHY, cartography, pl. no, female . The doctrine of the methods of compiling geographical maps. || Same as mapping...

  Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov

• - cartography 1. A scientific discipline that studies the methods of creating and using map I. 2...

  Explanatory Dictionary of Efremova

• - cartograph "...

  Russian spelling dictionary

• - CARTOGRAPHY and, well. cartography f. The science of making maps. BAS-1. || Same as mapping. BAS-1. - Lex. Toll 1864: ...

  Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language

"Digital cartography" in books

15.1. Dream Cartography