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It is difficult to say when the first union between maps and animation was made, but it is most probable that since motion pictures of any kind were not developed until the nineteenth century, that would have been the first time that such a merger would have been possible. Whether such an animation was made in the first silent films is unknown, and lack of access to those first films makes research in that direction impossible within the parameters of this paper. However, at some point after the invention of motion pictures, someone came up with the idea of making moving maps. A major development in this direction was the creation of cell-based animation.
As with so many technological jumps, the concept and implementation of animated maps was developed by a country at war. In the United States in 1942, Frank Capra was commissioned to produce a series of films for the War Department. The films were intended to be used to show new recruits just what they were fighting for; why they were being sent to risk their lives. As it turned out, the films were so moving and effective that President Franklin Roosevelt ordered them released to the general public.
Part of the effectiveness of these films was the development and clever usage of imagery in the map animations used. These animations were produced by the Walt Disney studios, and used a number of different formats. The simplest animations were those that were completely drawn, with no live-action footage at all. An example of this type is illustrated by the movement of Nazi planes over southern England during the episode titled "The Battle of Britain".
Another example of the fully-drawn cell-based animated map is contained in the episode entitled "The Nazis Strike". It shows Warsaw being surrounded and crushed by Nazi armored divisions. In this animation, as well as in the one of the Nazi planes, a three-dimensional effect was created that made the animations very effective.
The second type of animation used in these videos is one that combines drawn animation with live-action photography. This was used to show the advancement of the Nazis toward Paris. In the animation, a live photography film was taken of a man pointing to the map and explaining the situation. Superimposed over this film is the drawn animation of the troop movements. The drawings match the movements and explanations of the man in the live-action film. This impressive piece of cinematography was accomplished through the painstaking process of drawing cells over the original film frames, then taking another film of the two films (live-action and hand-drawn) being played together. This massive work was only possible because of the large work force available through the mobilization of an entire country in the cause of fighting the Second World War. The labor that such an undertaking would involve boggles the mind in terms of today's standards.
With the advent of computers and computer mapping, map animations became more meaningful. Hypercard, a predecessor of html , allowed map makers to create frame-based animations of maps, text, graphs, and photos, with interactive "buttons" that allowed users to control the display of the animation. The following animation of rainfall changes in the Sahel region of Africa was created using Hypercard. (Due to changes in formatting and software since it was created, this display is not interactive.) View animation
Even with computer animations, most animated maps were still somewhat limited in the type and format of the information they represented. Most of the maps created fell (and still fall) into one of the following types:
-- choropleth maps that show changes in the pattern of class distributions over time
-- dot maps that add and/or remove dots to the map, representing increases or decreases in point feature values over time
-- proportional maps that show expansion and contraction of representative areas over time.
It will be noted that the recurrent theme in the above examples of computer map animations is to represent changes over time. I believe that this is the most intuitive context of animations and it is certainly the most common. The primary reason for this is, I believe, because humans are essentially oriented to visual motion in a temporal context due to our evolutionary development as initially arboreal creatures. The ability to discern movement patterns over time was undoubtedly very important to the survival of our distant ancestors. This same ability enables us to function in the modern world, for we must be able to rapidly process visual patterns over time in order to drive cars at high speeds, among other things.
Therefore, not only does it seem natural to most people to use a temporal context for map animations, temporal animation is the kind readily accepted by most users. Although the possibilities for non-temporal representation of data are limited only to the imagination of the map creator, processing patterns of motion to derive meaningful information in a non-temporal context is extremely difficult for most map users. The field of animation context is one of many areas of map animation that bears further scrutiny in the future.
As with the first attempts at map production and animation, today's web-based maps are limited by hardware restrictions rather than conceptual design. In addition to the problems created by high traffic levels on the internet, the size limitations on larger and more complex maps are essentially tied to the hardware, software, and patience of the end user rather than the map creator. Consequently, the map animations currently on the web are very small and simplistic in terms of what it is possible to create. Some examples of web based maps include:
A 3-d zoom-in animation to show the location of the country of Colombia
Because end users generally have smaller, older computers and older software than the creators of computer maps, the full utility of map animations on the web will probably not be realized in the near future. Until complex map animations that require large amounts of memory can be transmitted quickly and run easily on end users computers, web based map animations will be limited to very simple maps of short duration.
Much more complex map animations are currently being produced and are available in computer systems that are not a part of the internet. Such animations are often created on large, fast computers with state-of-the-art software, and the end product is then transferred to a video display. Striking examples of this type of map are the three dimensional weather maps that are broadcast on a daily basis. In addition, some television stations have begun using a zoom animation technique to show locations in their news and weather coverage.
The advantage of this process is that the final product can be viewed easily by anyone with a television (in the case of broadcast images) a video cassette recorder or a compact disc video player. The disadvantage is that by transferring the map animation off of the computer it becomes entirely a read-only document, thus removing the possibility of interaction, which is one of the great advantages of computerized mapping. The current application that combines the best of both worlds in the realm of computer map animation is the use of a CD-ROM drive and disc. With this technology, it is possible to have large, interactive map animations that can be widely distributed.
The reason that this is such an improvement over the video format is that the CD-ROM drive acts as an extension of the computer's hard-drive. Thus interactivity and adjustments to map display are possible. The only limitation for the map user is having the CD-ROM drive; these have become affordable for most computer owners/users and are standard equipment on new computers. A good example of this application would be the many atlases and other map packages that can be purchased readily today.
A recent map animation, presented at the Nebraska Academy of Sciences Meeting and produced at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, used cartographic visualization to show the movement of the frontier of Nebraska from 1856 to 1920. This was accomplished using multiple indices (presence of railroads, formation of counties, etc.) to determine the level of settlement for given areas. An individual animation was produced for each index, and a composite animation was created to show the westward settlement of the state during this time period. This example illustrates some of the previously addressed problems associated with today's animated maps.
First, it is set in a temporal context -- as stated above, this is the most intuitive use of animation, and for all of its complexity otherwise, this map was still of a simple timeline design. Second, because of the complexity and size of the computer files required to generate it, this animation would be impossible to access over the World Wide Web ó even in its "home" environment, independent of any network, the animation ran much more slowly than would have been efficacious in displaying the information. Third, and lastly, it is limited by the format of the software that produced it and is of such a size that it could only be stored on a CD-ROM disk (as opposed to a floppy). To be used, therefore, it would have to be recorded on a CD-ROM, and the user would have to have a CD-ROM drive (not a major problem) and the same software available to run it as was used to create it. This could present a problem, because the software that created the animation is an obscure version of a Geographic Information System. The animation served its purpose insofar as it demonstrated what is possible in combining a GIS with animation software, but as far as general use is concerned, it was not practical.
Ideally, the best direction in which map animation should travel would be to utilize a more complex application of a GIS to produce interpolated maps, similar to the frontier map described above, and adding ever more indices. In addition, users should have control over which indices to use, the degree of interpolation, the number of steps, the time frame, the speed, the place - in short, every aspect of the animation should be interactive. Unfortunately, such a system is not yet available for general use, especially not over the internet. Access to such a system will require a quantum leap in technology and software in order to be realized. Fortunately, such leaps have occurred in the past (e.g., the silicone chip) and we have every reason to believe that similar leaps will occur in the future. The only difficulty is in waiting for it to happen, much like the waiting we currently engage in while waiting for files to load from the web.
As to the map animations themselves, I believe that the addition of a three-dimensional component combined with detailed interaction would make a number of map animations more useful, rather than simply entertaining. An example of such a map would be a geologic map showing underlying structures where the animation involved would allow the user to "flow" through the rock structures to learn how they are put together. This is a process very similar to the imaging used in ultrasound examinations in the medical field, where the feedback from the ultrasound probe is processed to allow the technician to "move" through the tissues of the human body.
Another example of such an interactive animation would be a "driving" map that would allow the user to shift from ground-level movement emulation to the aerial view of the same area with a smooth flowing motion, as though the user were in a helicopter. Animations of this kind are very common in computer games; the key to making them useful is linking them to real-world locations, possibly via a GPS. These types of applications begin to overlap into the realm of virtual reality, which is only fitting, as maps themselves are an attempt to reflect reality. In that respect, maps and map animations have always been an attempt to capture the real world and make it more manageable, to sift through the overwhelming amount of information that exists in the world and pick out those parts we find meaningful. To that end, the more we can emulate reality and yet maintain control over what we see, we can bring map animation to its ultimate level of utility and enjoyment. ntion of motion pictures, someone came up with the idea of making moving maps.