Course on Geovisualization at the Paulista State University, Rio Claro (Brazil)
ISBN 978-85-88783-11-9
Authors
1Castreghini de Freitas, M.I.; 2Reyes Nunez, J.J.
1UNIVERSIDADE ESTADUAL PAULISTA Email: ifreitas@rc.unesp.br
2EÖTVÖS LORÁND UNIVERSITY Email: jesusreyes@caesar.elte.u
Abstract
Between 15th and 18th September 2014 was organized a post-graduate course entitled “Thematic Geovisualization in Cartography” at the Paulista State University, Institute of Geosciences and Exact Sciences (IGCE – UNESP) in the city of Rio Claro, São Paulo State, Brazil. The course was organized by the Prof. Maria Isabel Freitas from the same university and was given by the Prof. José Jesús Reyes Nunez from the Department of Cartography and Geoinformatics of the Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest, Hungary). The course had 30 hours divided into 20 hours of teaching and 10 hours of independent work to obtain two credits. 22 students and professionals from various Brazilian universities (Paulista State University, São Paulo University, Fluminense State University, etc) participated in the programmed activities. Our main aim was to give a general theoretical background and to develop some practical activities related to the most relevant current topics on Geovisualization. According to this idea the following themes were presented: History of Geovisualization, Thematic Cartography (emphasizing on the traditional and alternative methods of representation), as well as the use of the newest technologies in the Thematic Cartography, beginning from the Web-based solutions to the mobile-based applications. During the practical sessions, the students could use free software (ScapeToad) to make cartograms and a website (Google Fusion Tables) to learn how to make their own thematic maps using Google Maps as base map. It was also organized a roundtable discussion on the theme “Digital technologies and Collaborative Cartography” with the participation of four specialists taking part in the course. Each student made a project on a topic freely selected by them, making their own thematic map using one of the applications presented during the course. A selection of these works is also included in the current poster. Thanks to the initiative of one of the participating colleagues (Arlete Meneguette, UNESP), the presentations and practices were broadcast live via Google Hangouts on Air, giving the opportunity to follow the course for students and specialists from other higher institutions and countries (e.g. Portugal). At present, the presentations are accessible on youtube.com at the address: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdp-bhxjcrk
Keywords
post-graduate ; geovisualization; thematic cartography