Nowe oblicza kartografii - Internet a kartografia

Artykuł jest trzecim z cyklu "Nowe oblicza kartografii". Rozwinięto w nim i uszczegółowiono zagadnienia dotyczące wpływu rozwoju Internetu na kartografię. Internet zapewnił ogromnej liczbie osób powszechny dostęp do szczegółowej informacji geograficznej w każdym miejscu na świecie. Nowoczesne technologie i koncepcje sprawiły, że każda osoba umiejąca korzystać z Internetu może już dziś wykonywać niektóre zadania przypisane dotąd zawodowym kartografom: dobierać treść mapy, sposób wizualizacji a nawet wprowadzać nowe informacje geograficzne. W artykule zwrócono uwagę na wynikające stąd nowe wyzwania dla kartografii.

The article is the third in a series of 'New faces of cartography'. It develops the issue of Internet cartography as another branch of cartography, a branch which is growing in significance and posing new, interesting methodological and technological challenges. Apart from the problems resulting from the change of philosophy of map production, the following methodological issues are discussed: 1) 'continuous' updating of data which can lead to discrepancy between various thematic and referentiallayers, 2) problems with integration of data from various sources, 3) necessity of working on large-scale databases, 4) necessity of providing high functionality of a map service, 5) necessity of verification of appearing presentations and supervision over the modification of map contents, 6) low esthetic value of cartographic products prepared spontaneously by users, 7) difficulty in defining and changing cartographic projections for large areas of the Earth and changes of scale. The article shows selected aspects of construction of on-line map services (geo-portals), which set new challenges to cartographers and change the face of cartography, while keeping its theoretical bases developed through the ages. Special attention is paid to the role of community services (idea Web 2.0). The article provides a number of examples showing the new tasks awaiting cartographers. The author points out a new role of the cartographer at the time when 'free' on-line maps are becoming more commonly available. The new model of map preparation is also highlighted, where not only the cartographer but also the user is partly responsible for the final outcome. A cartographer will perhaps have to be a moderator, reviewer and controller of cartographic products created with simple and commonly available tools.