V1 Magazine: You are just returning from Digital Earth, what does Digital Earth mean to you?

Konecny: Digital Earth for me represents an umbrella. It is an umbrella over-arching the internet and geospatial activities. Under it lies spatial data infrastructures (SDI), geoportals, Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) and so on. But it extends to include the United Nations, OECD, G8 and all of the worlds emergency organizations together. It is about sharing spatial information for living.

V1 Magazine: What does cartography bring to Digital Earth and the world in general?

Konecny: While not perfect, cartography brings a lot to the table. It helps to share information through the understanding of the processes involved. Cartography today is very much about becoming ubiquitous – anyone, anywhere, anytime. To achieve this, there are 3 elements:

1. Mobility – the concept of transferring information to phones and mobile devices.

2. Sensors – real-time data for crisis management; aircraft sensors and preparedness

3. Adaptability – data with context, data with structure and a human aspect

Konecny: Adaptable Cartography is a new and growing area of study. It is about producing and delivering the right information to the right people for the right task. We are buried in information, but we often do not know how to use it. Adaptive Cartography is about the context of the information in such a way that the user can use it properly and effectively. For example, all of the data in a spatial database can be re-purposed for different people and their needs. We need to understand this better and develop products in a more multi-model way, a more multi-dimensional way.

V1 Magazine: What types of products are you talking about? How do they look?

Konecny: The products are more localized for the user, pertianing to their culture, language and context of living. Content is about knowledge skills of the people involved. This would mean, as an example, maps for emergency and relief people – specific to their task. What kinds of products are needed for people to understand situations when they are panicking? Under what environmental stressors do certain products perform better than others?

V1 Magazine: What is the difference between GIS and cartography

Konecny: GIS is about elaborating upon the spatial model of the data. Cartography is about the user interaction with the spatial information – how to show it to people. Companies that are developing GIS software are interested in geographic methods and cartographic methods, usually. Consequently, GIS is an engine for cartography and tool for cartographer's to use to model and simulate the interactions of spatial information with people.

V1 Magazine: We were talking about User Profiles earlier. Can you explain that a bit further?

Konecny: When we refer to User Profiles, we're not talking in a privacy invasion sense. Instead, we are talking about the concept of Adaptable Cartography once again. A User Profile is one way of understanding each individual and developing the products and delivery that are most suitable for them. How I learn and use cartographic products may be different than how you do, for example. It really goes back to the context of the user. Often we find that people will have cartographic products in hand for different circumstances, but they do not understand them because no one has helped them to understand how they relate to the location or situation they are in. This is most unfortunate because people can die or be caught in adverse conditions due to this lack of knowledge and understanding. We need to design better maps that are more effectively used.