Ewolucja funkcji planów miast wobec rozwoju systemów nawigacyjnych

Dynamiczny rozwój kartografii mobilnej, a zwłaszcza systemów nawigacyjnych, wywiera bardzo duży wpływ na opracowywane i wydawane współcześnie plany miast. Spowodowane jest to przejęciem i rozwinięciem przez te systemy, niektórych tradycyjnych funkcji planów miast. Zaistniała sytuacja skłania do modyfikacji treści prezentowanych na planach, co w połączeniu ze zmieniającymi się oczekiwaniami użytkowników, stawia przed kartografami wiele nowych wyzwań. Niniejszy artykuł jest próbą określenia kierunków ewolucji współczesnych planów miast oraz jej wpływu na proces redakcyjny i percepcję treści przez użytkownika.

The emergence of new technologies, especially of location and navigation systems has caused considerable changes on the market of cartographic publishing. That influence is especially visible in the case of city maps. This is so, because one of the basic functions of city maps was to orientate, a function mainly used by drivers to plan itineraries and move within city limits. Navigation systems are a lot more convenient in usage and possess numerous functions inaccessible to maps. That is why many users switched to navigation systems at the cost of maps. As a result, a lot of information traditionally featured on maps loses importance. The main users of maps are currently tourists, other visitors than tourists and inhabitants. The evolution of map users' needs makes the pedestrian or the person using public transport the main user of the map. This situation strongly influences the editing process and completely changes the information structure presented on a city map. Currently, it is public utility facilities such as office buildings, services, commercial and recreational areas that gain importance. In order to make the reception of this information accurate and easy, it is necessary to hierarchize it by dividing it into categories. The main criterion of division should be the importance of a facility to potential users. In order to accurately present municipal space, it is crucial to supply information about functions, physiognomy and intensity of land use. This is valid for both area and facilities on it. The best solution could be the landscape approach. An adequately done typology of municipal landscapes allows for multilateral characterization of built-up, communication, services and industrial areas as well as highly diversified green terrains. Such an approach is natural for a map user, because usually landscape perception is an introduction to contact with the surrounding environment. In order that the information included on the map effectively reaches the user, it is necessary to solve many editing problems. The most important one is proper hierarchization of presented content. It can be analyzed at the level of data and at the level of graphics. In the first case, the city map author must decide which data to include and which data to omit, then order the data with relation to significance for the user. Proper lineup of information causes it to be put on a few levels, which can be identified with the levels of reading a map. The lineup of data must next be translated to the language of graphics, applying the rules of visual grammar. The hierarchization of city map content should be conducted both inside particular groups of information and on a general level (group hierarchization). Perception of city map content is as important as content hierarchization. Knowledge of psychological and sociological aspects of map content reception by various user groups as well as the inclusion of mental map research results are of greatest significance here. The changes in map user profile seem to indicate, that the average map recipient is less interested in the precision and detail of presented content than in its validity, clarity and easiness of information handling. The only way to cater for these needs is to validate map content more frequently and to apply a simple, intuitive system of cartographic signs. The changes of editorial solutions which can be observed on city maps published today are evolutio¬nary in character. However, the pace of changes in municipal space, transformation of city map users' expectations along with extremely fast technological growth are revolutionary in character. As a result, the pace of adapting city maps to contemporary needs seems to be too slow. In order to respond to challen¬ges facing cartographers, it is necessary to change not only ways of presentation, graphics and content scope, but the concept of city map. The solution to the problem calls for serious discussion among cartographers and definitely will not be easy.