Levels of Map Use

This page discusses ways different cartographers classify and organize the ways persons use maps.  Board, Olson and Ormeling have all written about increasingly complex levels of map use.  Muehrcke, et.al, do not talk about levels but in terms of map reading, map analysis and map interpretation.

This page is one of four pages looking at the Uses of maps.  It is one step down from the master pages on Map Use where there is a discussion on generic map uses.  And, there are complementary pages on map functions and on the tasks of using maps.

There are a number of different ways to look at map uses.  Muehrcke, Muehrcke and Kimerling (2001) in their text examine map use in terms of Reading, Analysis and Interpretation. 

Map Reading:  "To read a map, you translate its features into a mental image of the environment.  The first step is to identify map symbols. . . The map reader must make a creative effort to translate the world of the map into an image of the real world, for there is a large gap between the two.  Much of what exists in the environment has been left off the map, while many things on the map do not occur in reality." (17) 

Map Analysis:  The goal of map analysis ". . . is to analyze and describe spatial structure and relations. . . to reduce the muddle of information of a map to some sort of order so that we can understand it and describe it to other people." (213)  Analysis can be done visually where we use such terms as hilly, steep or dense, or it can be done in the more objectively using quantitative techniques.  ". . . analysis gives us descriptions, not explanations or interpretations.  Analyzing a map's geometry is designed to facilitate map interpretation, not substitute for it.  Map analysis merely converts the complex patterns of symbols into usable form.  A fascinating thing about map analysis is that we can, in a sense, get more out of a map than was put into it.  When map makers show a few features in proper spatial relationship, they allow us to determine all sorts of things--directions, distances, densities, and so on--that they may not have had specifically in mind." (214)

Map Interpretation:  When you interpret a map ". . . you notice unusual or interesting patterns and seek explanations for them. . . the answers to your questions will not often be immediately obvious.  The map can include only enough clues to provide you with touchstones, starting points for discovery.  Maps are springboards for the imagination, trigger devices to set you questioning and inspire you to search for answers."  "Intuition is an important part of map interpretation, just as it is in interpreting a book, a poem, or a painting." (431)  "Map interpretation, then, is a complex, creative act.  Everything you have learned . . . about map reading and analysis will be put to use.  In fact, everything you have learned throughout your life will be helpful.  For interpretation requires an understanding of more than maps.  You must have some knowledge of the features depicted on the map." (432)

When you look at the animated radar weather map on TV to see if the rain is likely in your area you first read the map by finding your position and locating the symbols showing precipitation.  You may then analyze the pattern of motion of the precipitation symbols to see if they are likely to hold together and move over you or weaken before they get to you or move past you to the north or the south.  If we can see maps of temperature, dew points, winds, pressure, and the positions of the jet streams we can interpret the behavior of the weather.  Many of the good weathercasters use a series of maps to help make these interpretations.  Indeed, many persons read, analyze and interpret maps everyday. 

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In a somewhat similar fashion Ormeling identified four levels of tasks:

First Order:  tasks that relate phenomena to the Earth’s surface:  what is at A, where are the borders for B, what is the shape of C?

Second Order:  describe interrelationships between individual map objects that make up the phenomena (horizontal relationships).  How does the occurrence of A at site M compare to that of A at site N?   How do you get from D to E?

Third Order:  where different phenomena are related to one another, or, where one phenomena is related to a third dimension, be it height above sea level or time.  What is the spatio-temporal trend of phenomenon F studied over area A?

 Fourth Order:  where we relate secondary or tertiary relationships with each other.  An example would be to compare population numbers with the number of teachers for an area over time.  Then you might use maps to compare the changes in the population of teachers ratio to the changes in average income.

References Cited

Muehrcke, Phillip C., Juliana O. Muehrcke, A. Jon Kimerling, 2001, Map Use: Reading, Analysis, Interpretation. (4^th ed.)  Madison: J.P. Publications.

Ormeling, Ferjan, 1999,  personal communication

You are at the bottom of the page on Levels of Using Maps.  This is one of four pages on the uses of maps.  Complements of this page are Map Functions and the Tasks of Map Use.  I present my classification of Generic Map Uses in the master page of Map Use: The Many Dimensions.