A New Cartographic Research Agenda for Virtual Globes

1. AAG 2007 San Diego State University April 17-21, San Francisco, CA A New Cartographic Research Agenda for Virtual Globes Session 4510: Virtual Globles: GIS for the Masses? Ming-Hsiang Tsou, Ph.D. Associate Professor E-mail: mtsou@mail.sdsu.edu The Department of Geography, San Diego State University

3. Impacts of Virtual Globes for Modern Cartography Research 3D Virtual Globes (link to video) Traditional 2D Maps

4. San Diego State University Differences (Virtual Globes vs. 2D maps) • 3D Representation. (Multiple perspectives) • Virtual Reality. (more similar to the real world) • More dynamic and interactive (multiple layers and hyperlinks to multimedia – pictures, sounds, animations, 3D buildings). • Easy to get lost --- difficult to control viewed areas. (Too many controls/buttons) – Flying an airplane… users need some training.

5. New Directions for Cartography Research San Diego State University • 3D Representation. (revisit Cartographic Design principles (such as Figure/Ground) in 3D environments) • More dynamic and interactive (Need to define new rules for the dynamic layer managements) • Virtual Reality. (display environment – super-large screen or CAVE environments. Super-small device for Pocket PC or cellular phone). • Easy to get lost --- (Re-design the Graphic User Interface !!! Direct Manipulation !!! ).

6. San Diego State University Cartographic Matrix For the Virtual Globes and the Internet-based Cartography (i-Cartography) (original presented in 2004 AAG meeting, Ming-Hsiang Tsou)

7. San Diego State University Basic Concepts • Formalize the cartographic design of Virtual Globe Mapping with computational methods. (computational cartography?) • Establish a coherent conceptual framework for dynamic multi-layer map display. • Improve the 3D map representation in Internet GIS applications. Figure / Background

8. Map Layers Layer-sequence Color Size Roads L (line) 3 Blue 1 Cartographic Variables Census Track O (polygons) 6 Sequence N/A Symbol Types Destroyed-Home P (point) 1 Red 6 Highway L 2 Red 3 Fire Perimeters O 4 Cyan N/A Thematic Mapping (Theme) Aerial Photos I (images) 5 Index (Band 4, 3, 1) N/A Sub-cartographic studies (Figure / Ground) The Cartographic Matrix • Inspired by Brain J. L. Berry’s geographic matrix (1964) and Bertin’s Visual variables (1967). • Map Layer: Column, Cartographic variables : Row

9. Map Layers Layer-sequence Color Size Roads L (line) 3 Blue 1 Census Track O (polygons) 6 Sequence N/A Destroyed-Home P (point) 1 Red 6 Highway L 2 Red 3 Fire Perimeters O 4 Cyan N/A Aerial Photos I (images) 5 Index (Band 4, 3, 1) N/A • Facilitate the cartographic design as an integrated unit (framework), rather than separated, isolated map layers. • Explore the dynamic relationships between each layers for Internet mapping. (Is each layer independent or dependent to other layer?) Cartographic Variables Symbol Types Sub-cartographic studies (Color Scheme)

10. Converting Cartographic Rules into Computer Algorithms Statements: All point layers should be above all polygon layers. First-Order Logic: Computer Program: number  layout sequences (1:top, 2:second..) polylayer(x).number = i pointlayer(y).number = j If (i < j) then { polylayer(x).number = j pointlayer(y).number = i } Above( PointLayer(x), PolyLayer(y) )

11. Map Layers Map Layers Map Layers Layer-sequence Layer-sequence Layer-sequence Color Color Color Size Size Size Roads Roads Roads L (line) L (line) L (line) 3 3 3 Blue Blue Blue 1 1 1 Census Track Census Track Census Track O (polygons) O (polygons) O (polygons) 6 6 6 Sequence Sequence Sequence N/A N/A N/A Destroyed-Home Destroyed-Home Destroyed-Home P (point) P (point) P (point) 1 1 1 Red Red Red 6 6 6 Highway Highway Highway L L L 2 2 2 Red Red Red 3 3 3 Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Fire Perimeters Fire Perimeters Fire Perimeters O O O 4 4 4 Cyan Cyan Cyan N/A N/A N/A Symbol Types Symbol Types Symbol Types Aerial Photos Aerial Photos Aerial Photos I (images) I (images) I (images) 5 5 5 Index (Band 4, 3, 1) Index (Band 4, 3, 1) Index (Band 4, 3, 1) N/A N/A N/A Cartographic Matrix for Animation • Systematic Research Framework for future cartographic research • Animation • 3D visualization • Color scheme • Figure/Ground • Layer transparency? • Sub-matrix?

12. Map Layers Map Layers Layer-sequence Layer-sequence Color Color Size Size Roads Roads L (line) L (line) 3 3 Blue Blue 1 1 Census Track Census Track O (polygons) O (polygons) 6 6 Sequence Sequence N/A N/A Destroyed-Home Destroyed-Home P (point) P (point) 1 1 Red Red 6 6 Highway Highway L L 2 2 Red Red 3 3 Original matrix Original matrix Fire Perimeters Fire Perimeters O O 4 4 Cyan Cyan N/A N/A Symbol Types Symbol Types Aerial Photos Aerial Photos I (images) I (images) 5 5 Index (Band 4, 3, 1) Index (Band 4, 3, 1) N/A N/A Map Display in Extra-large or Extra-small screens) • Automatically transform cartographic matrix for different map display devices (PDA, Pocket PC, cellular phones, large multi-screens display…) Mobile Device Conversion matrix * = Large Screen Conversion matrix * =

13. San Diego State University New Research Agenda for Cartography • Cartographic Matrix (computational cartography) – • Dynamic map display/symbol changes • Display of extra-large, extra-small devices • New methods for dissemination of maps and geospatial information (Virtual Globes in Video Games Console – Nintendo Wii). • The design of direct manipulation user interfaces. Video Demo – Wii are the Masses!

14. San Diego State University Wii DemoVirtual Globes

15. San Diego State University Conclusion • New cartographic research directions needed for the Virtual Globes • Formalize cartographic rules with computational algorithms (Cartographic Matrix) • New idea for the map user interface (Nintendo Wii Remote Example) • Virtual Globes for the Masses!!! Internet GIS merged with Video Games!

16. Slides and Movies download • http://map.sdsu.edu • (select the [movie download] in the home page) • http://map.sdsu.edu/movies.htm Thank You Q & A Ming-Hsiang Tsou, Ph.D. Associate Professor E-mail: mtsou@mail.sdsu.edu