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Understanding Earth-Related Phenomena Through Maps

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Geo-information

Part of the book series: Geotechnologies and the Environment ((GEOTECH,volume 5))

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Abstract

Maps on paper or digital maps alike can make the invisible visible, and thus reveal new insights about the world. Map-making or mapping is one of the techniques to interpret and represent the world and fundamental for representing space and location (Dorling and Fairbairn, 1997). Mapping is only possible if sufficient detailed, accurate and up-to-date geo-information is available. Although availability is an essential prerequisite it is not enough; to be of any value geo-information has to be processed and interpreted by knowledgeable and skilled professionals using the right tools, including Geographical Information Systems (GIS) (Tomlinson, 2007). Today GIS, remote sensing (RS) and Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) offer a plethora of opportunities for monitoring and managing many facets of our world, which is increasingly considered as vulnerable and affected by human activities. Geo-information technology provides enormous potential for tackling the broad pallet of problems that tend to be branded by pessimists with the tag ‘unsolvable’. Induced by increased human population, intensification in agricultural land use and industrialisation, deforestation, soil erosion, degradation in wildlife habitat, loss of biodiversity and pandemics such as HIV/AIDS seem to be a never-ending story. This chapter demonstrates by two historical examples – medical mapping and geological mapping – how insight can be gained about Earth-related phenomena through analysing maps. Next the general steps involved for deriving geo-information from geo-data are considered using a GIS.

The more projects we completed, the more we learned how using geography as a framework for data integration provided a new dimension in the way people approached problems. GIS allowed them to visualize the problems, which helped provide quicker and better solutions. We became convinced that GIS could truly make a difference in the world.

Jack Dangermond, President and Founder, Esri, Redlands, California, USA

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Delft University of Technology, Jaffalaan 9, 2628 BX, Delft, The Netherlands

    Dr. Mathias Lemmens

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  1. Dr. Mathias Lemmens
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Correspondence to Mathias Lemmens .

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Lemmens, M. (2011). Understanding Earth-Related Phenomena Through Maps. In: Geo-information. Geotechnologies and the Environment, vol 5. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1667-4_3

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