mandate people resources

ICA Commissions on:
GENDER AND CARTOGRAPHY
and THEORETICAL CARTOGRAPHY
Wrocław's Open Discussion Forum, February 11-12, 2005

Invitation

On 11th and 12th February, 2005 in Wrocław, Poland, the commission "Gender and Cartography" of the International Cartographic Association organised a meeting in which not only members of ICA's commissions: "Gender and Cartography" and "Theoretical Cartography" but also interested in the subject geographers, geodesists, ethnologists, sociologists workers of the higher education schools, the Institute of Geodesy and Cartography and also members of the scientific associations took part. The meeting took place in laboratory of GIS of Department of Geodesy and Photogrammetry of the University of Agriculture in Wrocław. That fact enabled enriching lectures of map and table's documentation.

Professor Andrzej Drabiński, the dean of The Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Geodesy, opened the forum and the addresses and wishes were sent by: the president of International Cartographic Association Milan Konecny, chairman of national international cartographic association committee Andrzej Makowski and the chairman of Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography Jerzy Albin. The next sessions were devoted to: definitions of terms and characteristics of socio-demographic factors, demographic data and perception usage properties of applied methodological solutions.

Participants

The discussion about the terms was opened by the lecture of MSc. Anna Jerkiewicz who represents Sociological Association, Danuta Komarowska, a director of the Department of Statistical Data Compilation of Statistical Office, was a moderator of the session devoted to data while the introduction to the methodological session was led by the director of the Department of Cartography of the Wrocław's University Wiesława Żyszkowska. In the frame of the last session, the participants had the possibility to acquaint themselves with the proposition of applying mobile automats to construction of socio-demographic anamorphic maps, which was proposed by Adam Michalski. They could also familiarize with the examples of map's usage in current works of UNHCR.

The final report was the outcome of the multi-aspects discussion. The aim of giving the report to the president of MAK is drawing attention of cartographic environment to current important issues connected with the content, form and the function of socio-demographic maps, with the special attention to the cartographic models of not balanced social structures. The report presents the standpoints in thematic order and the comments of participants. Comments underwent the process of authorization of the texts together with mentioning the names.

1. Reliability and usability decide about the importance of cartography. That is why we should pay attention to the development of new picture models of environment's elements, which can be recognized using remote sensing methods, as well as to modelling those socio important phenomena and processes, which spatial distribution and intensity are presented by maps elaborated on the basis of census or questionnaire data, obtained as a result of full or representative researches.
2. In socio-demographic analyses of spatial character, the structural divisions of population inhabiting the territory are used. The criteria of divisions are adjusted to the subject of research. Apart from many unconditioned criteria's features, also sociologically important issues, especially those connected with culture, are described using blurred or conditional characteristics and notions. It creates the danger of using not objective maps as the models of reality. The participants of the forum agreed that the diversity of terms, characteristics, indicators and coefficients is not adequate to institutionalised and strictly obeyed procedure, which concerns elaboration of the basic group of thematic maps. By taking advantage of the group of correctly defined terms and features accepted by international organizations (for example UNHR when it comes to migrations, UNICEF education, MOP unemployment, WHO health and old age, Blind Union the blind), the cartographers should elaborate an open system, which will include the set of maps in scale line adjusted to their application functions. Works should be started with the analytical maps (prof. Pawlak) based on unconditioned criteria features such as gender, age and family state. In synthetic considerations, the dominant features in spatial distributions should be taken into account. Elaboration of such maps requires definitely the presence of specialist on given subject.
3. The natural consequence of map's transfer is visible comeback to research of perception, which was characteristic for 70'. (Prof. Pasławski). The development of methods and graphic tools creates the need of constant development of their classification. (Dr. hab. Zyszkowska). It concerns also maps. At the same time the importance of function's criteria increases. When elaborating maps, special attention should be paid to the choice of methods of presentation, which guarantee model features of the maps (Prof. Krzywicka-Blum) together with the choice of such graphic media and map's legend that will allow for arriving at a priori established aim and hierarchy of perception (Prof. Pasławski).
4. The development of cartographic methods and cartographic method's research is not accompanied by proper care of the scope of geographical knowledge realised in school programs (Dr. Neytchev). It happens too often that the map's user as an occurrence area, treats coloured point, also when it indicates just the "territorially generalized" level of intensity, which is adjusted to the reference unit's scale. (Prof. Pawlak). When it comes for detailed holistic receive of concentration differences, the well-known dot method has been confirmed (Prof. Pasławski). That is why, in the process of school education, the ways of choosing weight suitable for data distribution and the scale of elaboration should be popularised. (Prof. Żyszkowska). Accuracy of information increases the usage of net cartographs, which means equalling the sizes of reference fields of coded quantitative information.
5. In professional studies of not balanced social structures, the participants of Forum pointed to the usefulness of anamorphoses (Dr. Michalski) and topological methods (Dr. hab. Klimczak). In the studies of bipartite population's structures, the conversion of cartodiagrams presenting in the traditional form of diagrams of studied feature distribution (for instance, number of women at reproductive age) on the background of changed field of separate indication units, proportionally to their share in summarily treated whole: studied and accomplishing feature (the number of people at reproductive age) can be applied. Standardizing the graphic key of the map is the effect of such a conversion. That means creating correct conditions for receiving and evaluating quantitative relations between two component subpopulations studied due to the certain social aspect. It may concern studies of differentiated access to labour market or to education. Anamorphic conversions of the background can be also used in cartogram relative aspects, which allow for realise thematic unity of the model. Such a methodological solution can be used in studies over the structure of observed religious or language minority, comparing to the totality inhabiting given territory (for example Muslims in France). Widely used multi-aspects studies are not sufficiently described in literature (Dr. Dukaczewski, Dr. Neytchev). Properly developed system of indicating, using legend in the form of dual complex table or triple complex triangle, enables using the maps in studies of spatial distribution of chosen, characteristic types of structure (Prof. Klimczak, Prof. Żyszkowska).
6. Methodological and graphical correctness are not always sufficient for a map to guarantee informational reliability. It concerns mainly maps, which show complicated phenomena (e.g. culture of given nation) which characteristics are based upon blurred features, such as race or language, or conditioned ones such as nationality or religion. The participants of the discussion paid attention to the process of development of terms and their significance for the description of currently important social phenomena (Dr. Spallek). It can be referred to important nowadays term of "nationality". As symptomatic examples, auto declarative data have been listed. These are data concerning Poles in Zaolzie, which in 20th century has changed its national membership six times (Dr. Michalska, ethnologist) or valid regulation of rating Poles, born before II world war in the terrain joined to USSR, among people of foreign origin. (Komarowska the director of the Department of Statistical Data Compilation of the Statistical Office). Another reason for the lack of objectivity of information included in the map can be age incomparability of the groups of respondents; for example in Poland people aged 13 and in Bulgaria people aged 18 have the rights of determining the nationality (Dr. Neytchev, Dr. Komarowska).

Dr. Pavel Neytchev in GIS Laboratory, Dept. of Geodesy and Photogrammetry, Agricultural Univ. of Wrocław Poland

In socio-demographic studies, social and cultural characteristics cannot be treated separately from the nation's model. For example, during democracy they cannot be separated from patriarchal, national or participatory model. Only the certain set of characteristics creates conditions for correct evaluation of social relationships (Prof. Krzywicka-Blum). That is why the role of specialists in the process of elaborating cartographic synthetic models should not be limited. Operational usability of socio-demographic models increases. Data, which concern health, unemployment, religious structure, education, included in the system, have definite usefulness for governing the city (Dr. Dukaczewski), demographic and social data, which concern refugees migrating through the east border of UE, have usefulness for organization of coordination system (UNHR, Kosowicz Budapest project), and those concerning age and gender structure of unemployed, to aid system of securities (Caritas, director of the project: M. Titaniec). It can be observed that the attempts towards synthetic cartographic aspects are rare and usually concern states. Only confirmed reliability allows for treating them as the basis for the prognosis and not the method of cartographic modelling. However, univocal character of terms' definitions and objectivity of criteria set the level of usefulness of cartographic documentation in state recognition and steering the processes of social conversions of human environment.

In accordance to Forum, the form of discussion and multi-aspects evaluation of the situation concerning conditions of creating, dissemination and usage of the socio-demographic maps turned out to be accurate.

Ewa Krzywicka-Blum

Last modified: 07-07-2005