ESPON 2013 DATABASE Malmö Seminar, 2-3 December 2009 What is a good map? Christine Zanin and Nicolas Lambert UMR Géographie-cités – UMS RIATE

Just Ugly or Bad and Good? Source : Espon DataBase 2013, Technical report Mapping guide, 2009

There is not a good or a bad map There is a map that express a message Maps are never value-free images

Maps gain their value in three ways: Maps gain their value in three ways: As a way of recording and storing information As a means of analyzing locational distributions and spatial patterns As a method of presenting information and communicating findings

Cartography as Communication Cartography is closely related to graphical communication Maps are symbolic abstractions-- "generalizations" or "representations of reality

What Is an efficient Map? What is the motive, intent, or goal of the map? Who will read the map? Where will the map be used? What data is available for the composition of the map?

GDP per capita at NUTS 0 level (ratio) = International disparities 4 Wealthy countries Luxembourg, Norway, Denmark and Ireland Which map ? Which message ? Source : AIRE project 2009

GDP per capita at NUTS 2/3 level (ratio) = Regional disparities Which map ? Which message ? Source : AIRE project 2009

GDP at NUTS 0 level (stock) = International disparities 4 Wealthy countries Germany, UK, France, Italy Which map ? Which message ? Source : AIRE project 2009

GDP at NUTS 1 level (stock) = Economic weight of regions Which map ? Which message ? Source : AIRE project 2009

GDP at NUTS 2 level (stock) = Economic weight of regions Which map ? Which message ? Source : AIRE project 2009

GDP at NUTS 2/3 level (stock) = Economic weight of regions Which map ? Which message ? Source : AIRE project 2009

GDP at NUTS 3 level (stock) = Economic weight of regions Which map ? Which message ? Source : AIRE project 2009

GDP per capita at NUTS 0 level (stock+ratio) = Put in perspective the level of wealth per capita by showing what is the importance of concerned population Which map ? Which message ? Source : AIRE project 2009

GDP per capita at NUTS 1 level (Discontinuites) = Disparites between Est and West Which map ? Which message ? Source : AIRE project 2009

GDP per capita at 40km (Grid) = Eliminate influence of administrative divisions Which map ? Which message ? Source : AIRE project 2009

GDP per capita at 40km (Potential) = Visualisation of Economic concentrations Which map ? Which message ? Source : AIRE project 2009

GDP per capita at 80km (Potential) = Visualisation of Economic concentrations Which map ? Which message ? Source : AIRE project 2009

GDP per capita at NUTS 2 level (Anamorphosis) = Spot more easily populated and rich regions as Ile-de-France or populated and poor as Sicily. Which map ? Which message ? Source : AIRE project 2009

Source : Mapping territorial cohesion, French presidency of the EU, 2008

One or two maps ? Source : Espon DataBase 2013, Technical report Mapping guide, 2009

Maps are a tool of communication for ESPON DB 2013 The biggest strength of maps is to allow an effective and relevant communication of the information. The first question when mapping is related to a question of choices: how to simplify, generalize, represent and symbolize spatial relationships?

7 fundamental goals need to be identified to realize a good map: Identify the goal of the map; Identify the audience of the map and where it will be used; Identify the information to be communicated; Identify the geographical reference (point, line or area?); Choose the base map (map projection and scale); Choose the visual variable (symbolic graphic language); Choose layout and identify all the elements to be added

Thank you for your attention !