Web Mapping Illustrated

Preface

What is it about maps? For some of us, maps are intriguing no matter where we are. I've spent hours poring over them learning about foreign places. There is a sense of mystery surrounding maps. They contain information that can only be revealed through exploration.

Digital maps allow a user to explore even further by providing an interactive experience. Most maps have traditionally been static. Now digital maps allow users to update information and customize it for their particular needs.

Youthful Exploration

For me, map-based exploration started at a young age. I remember the thrill of finding our Scout camp on a topographic map. Part of the map is shown in Figure P-1. I found my home town, local roads, and even greenhouses. It was hard to believe that someone bothered to map the streets I used to play on or the tobacco fields I worked in during summer vacation. Yet there they were, drawn on this fascinating map that hangs on my office wall 20 years later.

These maps opened the door to planning hiking adventures and bicycle trips. I blame maps for luring me further and further away from home—to see what a map symbol or town looked like on the ground.

When I wasn't exploring, I was often on the computer learning more about the digital world. My combined interest in computers and exploration naturally led me to the field of computerized mapping and geographic information systems (GIS). It never occurred to me that my enjoyment of maps and computers would become a career.

Whether showing a friend where you live or displaying the path of a pending hurricane, maps play an important role in lives of people everywhere. Having the tools

Figure P-1. Part of the topographic map of my home town in southern Ontario, Canada; my home was located at the X symbol. Portions of NTS map sheets 40l/15c and 10c/15c ©2005. Produced under licence from Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, with permission of Natural Resources Canada.

and ability to map the world you live in is incredibly powerful. The following quote is from the Mayan Atlas:

Maps are power. Either you will map or you will be mapped. If you are mapped by those who desire to own or control your land and resources, their map will display their justifications for their claims, not yours.

Having open access to mapping tools further enables mapping efforts. Being able to share those maps with the world through web mapping makes the effort all the more worthwhile.