CAD
“Why are so many paper map products still produced?”
This week we attempt to answer the question, “Why are so many paper map products still produced? ”
Paper maps are still produced for a number of reasons. The primary reason that this is the case is due to the fact that paper maps are associated with user needs. While communication purposes are high on the list, the production of a paper map relates to the understanding that the user does not have the tools or software to see a digital map, lives in a place where a digital map cannot be delivered, ease of use and sometimes lower total cost of ownership, and appreciation of the craft of map making. Most of these issues are practical in nature.
We should not overlook the fact that Canada, Great Britain and other nations distribute a significant number of hardcopy maps yearly - into the millions. Although I don't have figures for other countries, I suspect many developing countries are dependent upon hardcopy maps as well.
We also need to recognise that CAD drawings can often be considered as maps. Many software today can incorporate both CAD and GIS derived data and global positioning system (GPS) software also often includes map production functionality. The market for CAD drawings is probably significantly larger than the geographic information system (GIS) market alone. At the same time, image analysis software is capable of feature extraction and these elements become raw map making pieces of information.
In this sense, maps are not just data, but they are derived products from technologies and systems capable of creating and processing spatial information, all of which become useful and interesting output for a wide variety of users.
While it is understandable that accuracy and maintenance of quality is best achieved by maintaining an 'all digital' frame of reference that displays data only in digital format, we must remain alert to user needs and how the information is being consumed for use. While my own data is 100% digital, I suspect about 25-40% of all I produce from spatial information makes it way into some kind of hardcopy map. This is understandable since most maps today are stored as data, produced into maps only when needed from spatial databases.
Important questions can be raised about the archiving of maps and reflect upon our cultures and other topics over time. If a map exists in a database as raw data, how will people 100 years from now know how which maps we used to make decisions? Where will much of the rich and personal annotation found on a hardcopy product go, if there are no hardcopy products? And, in a wholly digital environment, how will the neogeographers among us get into long term data archives?
Maps are not only hard copy records, full of personal intuitions, text, marking and interpretation, but, they are also a mode of communication - both from the creator to the user, and through discovery and analysis.
There are many practical reasons why hardcopy maps still exist. We have not placed enough effort into understanding why hard copy maps are of value, particularly from a cultural and historical perspective, and how we can go about shifting that value into a fully digital framework - not just technically. This is a major impediment toward moving into an all-digital map environment.
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Read what Matt Ball has to say on this topic here.
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4 comments for ““Why are so many paper map products still produced?””
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To some degree it comes down to what is the best user interface for a given piece of information. It depends on the user and the use.
The primary limitation of digital display today, especially in a mobile environment, is that screens are small.
For a road map, street map or topographic map, the digital display limitation means you have no overview. You can see where you are, but not necessarily where you want to go. Some users are comfortable with this. There are people who are happy to do what their GPS tells them to do and don’t even require a visual point of reference.
Then there are reference maps, often produced as wall maps. Many have both an aesthetic/decor function as well as an informational one.
Clearly, technologies exist, but are not yet commercially viable, to address both the wall display need and requirement to view a larger map in the field, so perhaps a day is coming when the advantages of paper can be replicated digitally with the added advantage of constant updates.
[…] Read what Jeff Thurston has to say here. […]
[…] We need to get to the discussion above data and maps alone I think. Again, I’ve no problems with large companies (or SME’s) providing data to consumer’s on their GPS or however they wish it. I doubt that paper maps are going away completely though, and you and I answered that question in our earlier ‘Perspectives’ column. […]
[…] Tiem kas redz ang?u m?l? Vector One ir iesp?ja palas?t mazu raksti?u par t?mu — kap?c druk?t?s kartes joproj?m tiek gatavotas un ražotas. Idejas un t? visa pamatojums dom?jams ir daudziem labi zin?ms un saprotams, ar? m?sdien?s, […]