TEACHING CARTOGRAPHY USING DIAGRAMS: CONCEPT MAPS

Ph. De Maeyer, T. Ongena, L. Vansteenvoort

Ghent University, Geography Department, Ghent, Belgium

philippe.demaeyer@UGent.be

Cartographic education is a complex matter that contains several subdisciplines. Students have to acquire a wide variety of cartographic skills and knowledge. During the complete course of cartographic studies, therefore, a student receives large amounts of information concerning cartography related issues.

To be able to retain an overview of all information, subject material needs to be generalized. This is done in a concept map that summarizes all cartography related material into a visually attractive outline. This diagram includes concepts and their interrelations which are visually presented and are supported by the use of colors.

During the cartographic courses, each part of the basic concept map is handled and specified into a more detailed diagram. The use of these concept maps enables students to study a specific aspect of cartography without losing the general structure out of sight.

This paper presents the basic concept map that is offered to cartography students. The general utility is shown together with some examples of how the basic concept map is worked out.