Dr. Fritz C. Kessler Associate Professor Department of Geography Frostburg State University For Complete Vitae-- Click Here

Here is Dr. Kessler enjoying one of his favorite pastimes - playing his 1991 Stelling Master's Cross banjo at bluegrass festivals.  This picture was taken at the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival in May 2005.

• Office: 230 Gunter Hall

• Office Phone: (301) 687-4266

• Departmental Phone: (301) 687-4369

• Departmental Fax: (301) 687-4495

• E-mail: fkessler@frostburg.edu

• Office Hours:

• Monday & Wednesday 11:00 a.m. - noon

• Tuesday 8:30 - 9:30 a.m.

• Tuesday & Thursday 12:30 - 1:300 p.m.

• By Appointment

Professional Efforts

Book Publication

From the Publisher Prentice Hall -- 

"This comprehensive text bridges the evolution in cartography by presenting both traditional methods and recently developed cartographic techniques. It provides a compendium of methods for symbolizing and visualizing spatial data, from the traditional methods that presume a communication model to computer-based techniques that provide a means of data visualization."

Refereed Publications

2004. Slocum, T., R. Sluter, F. Kessler , and S. Yoder. “A Qualitative Evaluation of MapTime.” Cartographica 39(3):43 – 68.

2002. “Focus Groups as a Means of Qualitatively Assessing the U-Boat Narrative.” Cartographica 37(4):33 – 60.

2001. Slocum, T., S. Yoder , F. Kessler, and R. Sluter.  “MapTime: Software for Visualizing Spatiotemporal Data Associated with Point Locations.”  Cartographica. 37(1):15 – 31.

2000.  “A Visual Basic Algorithm for the Winkel Tripel Projection.” Cartography and Geographic Information Science, 27(2):177 – 183.

Professional Associations and Activities

North American Cartographic Information Society www.nacis.org

Current Editor, Cartographic Perspectives

Past Board Member, Poster Session Organizer, and Student Poster Competition Organizer

International Cartographic Association www.icaic.org

Past Secretary: Working Group on Map Projections 

American Congress on Surveying and Mapping www.acsm.net

Occasional Manuscript Reviewer

Course Offerings for Fall 2007

GEOG 310: Fundamentals in the Mapping Sciences
     For Additional GEOG 310 Course Information-- Click Here

 

GEOG 380: Research Methods in Geography

    For Additional GEOG 380 Course Information -- Click Here

 

IDIS 350: Surviving a Diseased World
     For Additional IDIS 350 Course Information-- Click Here

 
GEOG 492 and 495: Internship in Geography

      For additional information and opportunities on internships -- Click Here

Software Development

Winkel Tripel Plot Software

The Winkel Projection shown with a 30-degree graticule produced in WORLD and finished in Freehand.

Oswald Winkel (1873-1953) produced three world projections, the first two of which were pseudocylindrical. Winkel I was produced in 1914 by averaging the Sinusoidal and cylindrical equidistant projections. The standard parallels for the cylindrical equidistant were placed at 50 degrees 28 minutes north and south. Winkel, in 1918, took a similar approach in creating his second projection, Winkel II, by averaging the cylindrical equidistant and Mollweide projection. Winkel's third projection, the Triple, is his best known projection. The Tripel was another averaging, this time between the cylindrical and Aitoff projections. Winkel applied the German term Tripel, meaning "a combination of three elements", to suggest that his projection compromises areal