|
|
Dr. Fritz C. KesslerAssociate Professor
|
§ 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 Spring 2009
Book Publication
Slocum, Terry, McMaster, Robert, Kessler, Fritz, and Howard, Hugh. 2009.
Thematic Cartography and Geovisualization. 3rd Ed. Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River: NJ.
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.,
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
GEOG 103: Introduction to Physical Geography
For Additional GEOG 103 Course Information-- Click Here
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
Geog 433: Surveying and Field Techniques
For Additional Geog 433 Course Information-- Click Here
GEOG 492 and 495: Internship in Geography
For additional information and opportunities on internships -- Click Here
IDIS 350: Surviving in a Diseased World
For the Power Point presentation by Dr. Judy Stone 4/21 -- Click Here
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, angular, and distance properties resulting in a projection having lower overall distortion than a projection seeking to preserve only one of these properties.
Winkel Plot is written in Visual Basic 6.0 and plots the Winkel Tripel's
graticule along with a simple coastline file. Winkel Plot is freely available to
anyone who wants the program. Users can either download the setup program, or
the Visual Basic code and associated files by clicking on one of the links
below. This program is optimized to run at a screen resolution of 1024x768.
A note for Visual Basic 5 users who wish to view the code and compile the program: If you open 'WinkelTripel.vbp' in a text editor such as Notepad and remove the line "Retained=0" the program will work fine in Visual Basic 5.0.
Thanks to Paul B. Anderson who gave a preliminary review of the software and the note about converting Winkel Plot to Visual Basic 5.0.
Map projections are often difficult for students to comprehend, especially for those needing to visualize a process before understanding it. Specifically, discussing the mathematics behind projection equations is often avoided in the classroom. This is unfortunate since the parameters of the equations control the appearance of the projection. MaPEd is a new and potentially useful software designed for teaching and understanding the mathematics of map projections.
A common approach for teaching map projections is to utilize software that permits projection parameters to be specified (e.g., location of the central meridian). While this approach is suitable for creating and displaying map projections, it does not perform well as a teaching tool. For example, input of projection parameters is often on pull-down menus or separate forms that are not always visible. This often confuses students when trying to recall the parameters that were specified in relation to the map displayed.
MaPEd, developed in Visual Basic 6.0, offers a new interface design allowing students to quickly explore parameters of map projection equations and visualize the results. For instance, MaPEd’s interface allows students to iteratively change one parameter of a projection equation while holding all others constant and instantly see the results of their parameter specification. By employing this new interface design, MaPEd helps students understand the mathematics behind the appearance of a projection, how specific parameters influence that appearance, and the numerical range of parameters that are permissible for different projections.
General Installation Instructions: A zip file called MaPEd.ZIP will be downloaded to the default location C:\ProgramFiles, or a location that you specify. Once downloaded, use WinZip to decompress it. Three files will result:
Run the Setup.exe program and follow the instructions (a MaPEd.exe file results).
During installation you may encounter the following problems:
A program group icon may or may not appear on the Start Programs list. Thus, when starting the program, you may have to go to the C:\ProgramFiles\MaPEd folder (the default installation location unless you specified elsewhere) and double click on the MaPEd icon. This is a problem I am trying to solve.
If you encounter any problems, please contact me. I solicit your feedback and comments about this software.
For additional information e-mail me at fkessler@frostburg.edu
Last Updated 02/09
