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ANALYTICAL AND COMPUTER CARTOGRAPHY / Keith C. Clarke. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice - Hall, 1995 (second edition). xvi, 334 pp., includes diskette. ISBN 0 - 13 - 341900 - 2. CAN$77.95
Analytical and Computer Cartography is the second edition of a well - known book first published in 1990. Although I was aware of the earlier edition and had skimmed through it on a number of occasions, it has not graced my book - shelf, nor been used as a primary text for my courses. Thus, this review is based primarily on reading the second edition as a new source, although some comparisons with the earlier edition are made. As implied by the title, the book has two interlinked themes. Analytical cartography is concerned with the mathematical and theoretical background to cartography, and deals primarily with transformations. Computer cartography describes the set of methods and techniques for producing maps using modern technology, i.e., the computer.
The book itself is divided into four major sections: "Computer Cartography," "The Representation of Cartographic Data," "Analytical Cartography," and "Producing the Map." In a stimulating introductory chapter on the impact of the computer on cartography, Clarke makes a clear distinction between "computer cartography" and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). He notes that because the latter use geographical data, many queries result in cartographic solutions; hence, the common merging of the two. He also goes on to note that the cartographic capabilities of commercial GIS vary greatly from being very poor to the very...