Letter from the Editor

Perhaps you’ve heard our organization described as “NACIS is nicest,” a reflection of the welcoming and inclusive nature of this community of map enthusiasts. I’d like to extend this idea to supporters of Cartographic Perspectives with the adage, “it’s nice to share,” as this attitude permeates our publication process. Examples include the willingness of individuals to step up to serve as reviewers, the open-access nature of our journal, the interchange of opinions and ideas, and the ease with which content is made available within and outside of our publication.

Amy Griffin, the new Co-Editor of our journal, is a stellar example of this spirit. Amy is a well-respected cartographic researcher and instructor, a long-time NACIS participant, and the driving force behind the NACIS Annual Meeting in Minneapolis last October. When I recently took on new responsibilities at my university that caused me concern for keeping CP my top priority, I knew I needed to share the editorial responsibilities. Amy was kind enough to join me through the end of 2016, at which time I will step down as scheduled and she will begin a three-year term as Editor.

The timely and accessible sharing of ideas is central to our distinction of being the only fully open-access journal of cartography in the world. Amy and I are committed to recruiting, posting, and publishing accepted materials in an efficient manner, with individual articles published to the website very quickly after they are accepted. In this pursuit, we are happy to share responsibilities with a dedicated a team of Section Editors: Fritz Kessler, Laura McCormick, Terri Robar, Lisa Sutton, Alex Tait, and Andy Woodruff, as well as our talented Assistant Editor, Daniel Huffman, and the entire CP Editorial Board.

The peer-reviewed section requires special consideration, and I am very grateful for all of the reviewers, from both my Editorial Board and elsewhere, who have shared their expertise and advice to improve research articles and aid in decisions. To maintain a double-blind review process, where manuscript authors and reviewers remain anonymous, it is not possible to acknowledge those stepping up to take on these tasks for individual issues, but I would like to sincerely thank all those who volunteered during the years 2014 and 2015:

Cartographic Perspectives is happy to share its resources to promote interest in and initiatives of other organizations. An outstanding example of such collaboration is CP 80 (www.cartographicperspectives.org/index.php/journal/issue/view/cp80), a Special Issue dedicated to “Education in Cartography.” Guest Editor David Fairbairn, Chair of the International Cartographic Association’s Commission on Education and Training, highlighted fascinating research and practices in a volume sure to be a touchstone of the ICA’s International Year of the Map (mapyear.org).

You can share with us too! For example, the new “Books for Review” tab on our web site (cartographicperspectives.org) embraces the idea of “share and share alike.” Browse the site to see if there is a book that catches your fancy. If you find one, click the “Request this book for review” link. Our Reviews Section Editor will send you a real hold-in-your-hands book! The share-alike component is that we ask you to review the book in a timely manner, so that you can share your opinion with the greater CP community.

We also have begun to share information on our most popular articles with our readership. Our home page (cartographicperspectives.org) lists the ten most viewed articles since we initiated the web site some three and a half years ago. The large number of views for recently published articles seems to bode well for our open-access journal. This is further supported by statistics from Google Analytics, which indicates a steady increase in readership, resulting in a doubling of viewing sessions over the last three years.

Focusing on our current issue, I am happy to share new articles with you. CP 81 contains two peer-reviewed articles, the first of which is Nate Wessel and Michael Widener’s thought-provoking approach to redesigning urban bicycle maps. In the second article, Joel Radunzel approaches military mapping from a more classical perspective, using David Woodward’s framework. Readers with an interest in process and design should find both of these articles well worth reading.

Mark Monmonier is not one to shrug Herculean tasks. Over the last two decades he has worked on completing Volume 6 of the History of Cartography, a million-word encyclopedia of Cartography in the Twentieth Century. On the heels of its recent publication, Mark here focuses his prodigious abilities to synthesize and communicate on describing six key cartographic themes from the century for the readership of our Cartographic Collections section.

The Visual Fields section includes an article by the digital artist Istvan, who offers insights into his process for rendering a series of “Flowing City Maps.” He mixes the elevation of cityscapes with random noise, by using software designed in the video gaming industry to erode terrain. The results reflect his views on the relationship that cities have to their environment, with examples for cities such as Venice, New York, Paris, and Tokyo accompanying his article.

The Practical Cartographer’s Corner features an article by Patrick Butler on the use of the Data-Driven Documents (D3) software library to create temporal, animated maps. Finally, the Reviews section includes three new reviews, including one of National Geographic’s new Atlas of the World (Deluxe 10^th Edition).

I am pleased to introduce this latest issue to you, and hope you will consider sharing any articles you find of interest.

Patrick Kennelly
Co-Editor of Cartographic Perspectives