Customer Reviews

Elements of Cartography

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This title is billed as the Sixth Edition, and reflects the coming and going of co-authors. It is too bad that the editor had so little influence. Sections of this book that stick to their cartographic knitting are excellent. Historical information is very intersting. Basic explanations, such as the evolution of ellipsoids is very well done. Some of the writing is so bad it could have been extracted from a sophmore term paper, sprinkled with such inept phrases as "such as", "similarly", "however" and "in fact". The most glaring deficiency is in the area of computer technology. Either this material has not been updated since some earlier edition, or the author(s) are very uncomfortable with the subject matter. As examples: "Most common procedures used by cartographers have been translated into software programs written in special computer languages such as FORTRAN and C." "Today's well-rounded cartographer is routinely involved with these 'canned' (prewritten) mapping programs..." "The professionsal cartographer should, therefor, have a working knowledge of at least one computer language." We are regaled with three pages of detailed obselescent material on computer structure, but only 23 lines of overview on current instrument technology. There is a whole chapter on fonts and lettering, but no algorithm for conversion from Lat-Long to UTM. The central meridians for the UTM zones are not provided, nor is the DoD lettering scheme. One of the responsibilities of a text book is to arrange the subject matter in a structure where it can be easily referenced. This book reads like a series of articles of varying quality published under one cover, with overlap resolution left as an exercise for the reader.

The sixth edition of "Elements" was published in 1995, and reviewers familiar with the advances in cartographic technology would be familiar with the great upheaval the field was going through at that time. Work on a seventh edition of this seminal text is currently underway, which should bring the content of the book up to par with recent changes. The book remains an important source of information for both the novice and seasoned cartographer.

Is a very good book for help to teachers in cartography classroom. Good examples. Goods ilustrations. Good structure. Althoug is a old book is updated. Its have a part for GIS and not forget the traditional cartography process. Just a problem that I can see, its not have a luxurous edition althoug the price is high.

I am currently reading/studying this book and have found it be a bit choppy and not very well written. For a book of this magnitude I would have expected that a outline of the book to be written in chapter one. This book is about cartography but no definition is given until chapter two (it is assumed in the intro and panels). I just expected more and am currently looking for a supplimentary book to this one.

This book is very valuable source of information for anyone wanting to learn or refresh his knowledge of cartographic principles. Great variety of topics is covered in details and well illustrated so understanding of topics should not be too difficult to grasp.

It is a little bit weak on modern GIS systems section and cartographic capabilities of those. It is understandable since it is 10 years old now. It would be good to have more pictures in the full colour section.

This book is used as a reference book for lot of other materials and for a good reason.

It is a very good entry level cartography book that is needed for GIS students. Though i'd say 1995 is a bit old