Cartography from Code...?

or

“how I learned to stop worryingand love coding in cartography”

Barend KöbbenITC – Universiteit Twente

b.j.kobben@utwente.nl – @barendkobben

A change in my world

My tools once were these:

A change in my world

...but now look like this:

A change in my world

Computers gave me this at first:

SYMAP line printer output (1965, by Howard Fisher)

A change in my world...but have been improving since:

A change in my world...and now allow me to do really nice interactivity:

http://kartoweb.itc.nl/kobben/D3tests/distancePerception/index_en.html

A change in my worldBoth were constructed using software

this one wasdigitally drawn

»»

this one wascoded (programmed)

...an oxymoron...?CARTOGRAPHY FROM CODE

Coding (programming) Maps

Nowadays especially in the browser

“browser as anapplication framework”

Much more then just an HTMLrenderer:

The Open Web Platform is the collection of open(royalty-free) technologies which enables you tocreate web applications without the need for

proprietary technology

HTML5 = HTML + SVG + CSS + JS

“browser as anapplication framework”

Much more then just an HTMLrenderer:

local storageSeperation of content and styling (CSS)Javascript APIs for the “business logic”

Coupling of data and visualisation (e.g using D3.js)

D3: Data Driven Documentshttp://d3js.org

D3: Data Driven Documentshttp://d3js.org

connect data to the DOM => transform theDOM using the data

Result: Easy access to powerful tools & data➔ “Coding Cartography”

barendkobben.com/D3tests/