Jan Daniel Bláha | J. E. Purkinje University in Ústí nad Labem (original) (raw)

Česky (in Czech) by Jan Daniel Bláha

Geografické rozhledy, 2014

Na olympijské hry se většinou pohlíží jako na symbol, jenž posiluje světový mír a proklamativně i... more Na olympijské hry se většinou pohlíží jako na symbol, jenž posiluje světový mír a proklamativně i globální spolupráci mezi národy. Takovou představu moderním hrám vtiskl zakladatel jejich tradice baron Pierre de Coubertin. Stejně významná a mnohdy i primární je funkce geopolitická. / The Olympic Games: Geopolitical Issues. Generally, the olympic Games are viewed as a symbol, encouraging world peace and promoting global cooperation among nations. Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern olympic Games tradition actively encouraged such views. it seems, however, that the Games geopolitical role is just as significant and in many cases even supersedes lofty aspirations of world peace.

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Geografické rozhledy, 2015

Zimní olympijské hry a jejich geografická dimenze. Článek přibližuje současnost a historický vývo... more Zimní olympijské hry a jejich geografická dimenze. Článek přibližuje současnost a historický vývoj zimních olympijských her (ZOH) a snaží se nastínit geografické aspekty jejich konání. Pro snazší aplikaci problematiky do výuky je text doplněn o grafy a přehledné mapy, jež dokumentují úspěšnost jednotlivých zemí a naznačují souvislosti s geografickými specifiky jednotlivých států a jejich obyvateli. / The Winter Olympic Games and their Geographic Dimension. This article explores current and historical development of the Winter Olympic Games and seeks to shed light on various geographical aspects of the games. A number of graphs and maps complement the text. They document various countries’ success and suggest relationships between geographical features of the various states and their citizens and winter Olympic success.

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Politická ekonomie, 2022

Macro-regional Divergent and Convergent Trends in the Global Economy Current global trends belong... more Macro-regional Divergent and Convergent Trends in the Global Economy Current global trends belong to important branches of economic research. This article discusses changes among different parts of the world: do these changes increase or decrease over time? Are convergent trends more important within the global system than the divergent ones or vice versa? Changes are examined on the base of so-called world's macro-regions over the period 1970-2018, when the bipolar world has changed into a unipolar one and is currently moving towards multipolarity. The study aims to determine which global processes show divergent/convergent trends using different methodological approaches. It also discusses and explains the changing character of trends over time. The authors reach conclusions that exclude one-sidedness of the observed development trends, which derive from the multiplicity of factors influencing them.

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Geografické rozhledy, 2021

This article introduces a research carried out in eight Central European countries (which were co... more This article introduces a research carried out in eight Central European countries (which were considered “Central European” by the authors and referred to as Central European in the most relevant literature), where students marked the borders of Central Europe using mental maps based on their subjective perception. The article presents the resulting region delimitation, aggregated on the basis of these maps, compares the differences in the delimitation of Central Europe in individual countries and suggest some explanations of these differences.

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Geografické rozhledy, 2020

Borders are one of the general concepts used in a number of disciplines. Therefore, understanding... more Borders are one of the general concepts used in a number of disciplines. Therefore, understanding the meaning of borders in the context of particular fields is crucial. The spatial context of understanding borders, which is highly important for geographers, then takes on a whole new dimension.

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Objective of the paper is a study of efects of selected historical events on spatial behaviour o... more Objective of the paper is a study of efects of selected historical events on spatial behaviour of members of Nungon community (Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea). Authors argue that two particular historical events – the religious confict and the relocation of a village to the new place – are continuously afecting daily life of the community; authors further argue that is possible to see the efect of the events in geographical space. Te arguments are based on results of the feldwork carried out by authors in Papua New Guinea; they had focused on construction of genealogical ties in community and mapping of geographical space of the village. Aim of the paper is to present innovative methodology enabling study of expression of historical events and social relations in geographical space.

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We Are What We Eat: National Cuisine as an Element of Culture // This study presents a cultural-g... more We Are What We Eat: National Cuisine as an Element of Culture // This study presents a cultural-geographical view of national cuisine and defines regions of the world in terms of the staple foods they eat, taking into account basic subsistence strategies: hunting and gathering or pastoral farming and cultivation. It pays particular attention to the development of European eating patterns from Ancient Rome to the present time, emphasizing the formation of the concept of so-called national foods. Whereas European national cuisines depended, historically, on the availability of foods and local customs, they are now much more subject to globalization

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Similar to postage stamps, banknotes can be a valuable source of information about the world’s co... more Similar to postage stamps, banknotes can be a valuable source of information about the world’s countries and their symbols. In addition to the great variety of cultural symbols of the various cultures of Papua New Guinea, the country’s banknotes also demonstrate a far-reaching cultural change, which is a result of its colonial past and present processes of globalization. This article makes a spatial analysis of cultural artefacts based on Papua New Guinea’s provinces to describe this change.Kulturní symboly na bankovkách Papuy-Nové Guineje jako doklad kulturních změn

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This study concerns an interdisciplinary analysis and interpretation of those mental maps created... more This study concerns an interdisciplinary analysis and interpretation of those mental maps created by pupils of an elementary school in the village of Yawan. This village is found in the province of Morobe in Papua New Guinea. The introduction provides an explanation of the context for the creation of these maps, i.e. a broader anthropological investigation in the village during the summer of 2009. As this study has an interdisciplinary character, the authors attempt to perform a comprehensive analysis of the maps. The cartographical focus of the study concerns map language, style, content, and other approaches to map composition, including in some cases its accuracy in terms of comparison with a photograph of the corresponding village. From an anthropological point of view, the goal is to contextualize mental maps within the ethnographic community of Yawan. Finally, the psychological analysis and interpretation of these mental maps focuses on them primarily as creative artefacts with regard to the use of drawing materials, colours and shapes in the drawing of maps.

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Papers by Jan Daniel Bláha

Asian Journal of Social Science, 2021

The present study focuses on the ongoing shift in the meaning and importance of traditional Kalin... more The present study focuses on the ongoing shift in the meaning and importance of traditional Kalinga tattoos that is happening in Buscalan village in the Philippines. The starting point for the analysis is the conception of disintegration of “the aura”, as defined by Walter Benjamin, resulting from their disembedding from time and space that is caused by technological reproducibility of the artworks. The study shows that the basis of the aura of Buscalan tattoos is their relation to a successful headhunt. At present, tattoos in Buscalan are standing on the edge, because the high popularity of the last tattoo artist who tattooed the head-hunters leads to commodification of traditional tattoos and an increase in tourism in the particular area. The study describes a two-way process of disintegration and preservation of the aura of Buscalan tattoos: on the one hand, the tradition of tattooing headhunters has disappeared, but on the other hand, the aura of tattoos is preserved thanks to audiovisual means and sharing on social networking sites. The “here and now” of the place and its tattoos is being transferred into the hyper-reality where Buscalan tattoos are gaining a new dimension.

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A new large historical atlas on the Czech and Czechoslovak history of the 20th century is current... more A new large historical atlas on the Czech and Czechoslovak history of the 20th century is currently being prepared under the project of the Czech Historical Atlas. In this article, the authors introduce the basic research-analytic part of preparation of this cartographic work. It is based on the extensive research and subsequent analysis of the already published and similarly focused Czech (Czechoslovak) and foreign historical atlases, which gave the team sources of inspiration for processing the concept of the new atlas. The choice, the subsequent description and the analysis were achieved by the application of predetermined criteria. The result is a large database of selected historical atlases produced in the whole world after 1950, which contains more than 400 items. In addition to the standard bibliographic description, it contains a series of further characteristics (methods of thematic cartography, applied scale series, etc.) and references to the excerpts. The authors have decided to make the database freely available on a web portal, because they assume that it can be broadly used for research leading to development in the area of atlas cartography.

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The authors conducted 22 unstructured heuristic interviews with the 7th and 8th grade pupils of t... more The authors conducted 22 unstructured heuristic interviews with the 7th and 8th grade pupils of the Czech lower secondary schools. During the interview the pupils were asked to perform a problem-oriented learning task with the help of visuals in the contemporary Czech geography textbooks and Czech School Atlas of the World. The aim was to determine where exactly the pupils fail when performing the assigned learning task. The interviews were analysed using a qualitative content analysis with open coding as a methodological tool.

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The paper deals with the issue of perception and delimitation of Central Europe (CE). The first p... more The paper deals with the issue of perception and delimitation of Central Europe (CE). The first part discusses basic concepts and conceptions of CE, which are crucial in this respect. Attention is then paid to differences in the perception of CE by individual nations and their reasons. The following empirical part of the study compares theoretical knowledge with conclusions from the research. This research was carried out through a questionnaire survey collecting mental maps of selected individuals. The respondents were senior high school students and first year university students from eight CE countries. Their task was to mark the boundaries of CE based on their subjective perception on a map of Europe. A total of 490 mental maps were received, analysed and aggregated to GIS map outputs. The final part compares and interprets the results and reflects on how and why the results differ in individual countries and to which extent they match hypothetical assumptions of ‘national’ perceptions of CE.

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KUČERA, Z., BLÁHA, J. D., KUČEROVÁ, S., HUPKOVÁ, M., REEVES, D. (2012): Katolická poutní místa v Česku na počátku 21. století podle konání poutě během kalendářního roku. Odborná mapa a doprovodný text. P3K, Praha, 22 s

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Geografické rozhledy, 2014

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Geografické rozhledy, 2015

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Politická ekonomie, 2022

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Geografické rozhledy, 2021

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Geografické rozhledy, 2020

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Asian Journal of Social Science, 2021

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Czech Sociological Review, 2015

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Aim of the study is the map as one of the visual models of (not merely) reality, that speaks its ... more Aim of the study is the map as one of the visual models of (not merely) reality, that speaks its language and content. If the map is seen as an image, it is not only the result of a more or less objective recording of area, but also the expression of the individual, respectively culture, from which the relevant individual comes from. The study is based on research, within which mental maps of individuals of selected cultures (Czechia, Western Europe, New Guinea) were studied. This research has shown, inter alia, a gradual cultural unification of map styles and in its findings is also apparent conflict between cultural
originality and international cartographic conventions, although this fact lost none, as it seems, utility value of maps.

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This article presents how the accuracy of mental maps can be assessed using geographic informatio... more This article presents how the accuracy of mental maps can be assessed using geographic information system (GIS) tools. First it is necessary to define which mental maps can be assessed in GIS and under what conditions. Several different GIS-based methods of assessing shape and positioning accuracy of mental maps are also presented. These methods have been developed with an emphasis on achieving the highest levels of universality and automation as possible in the assessment process. For each proposed method advantages, disadvantages, and potential applications are discussed. In the conclusion, the general suitability of using GIS for this task is discussed. KEY WORDS: mental map (sketch map), GIS, accuracy assessment

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This article presents a study which observes the notions of Czech elementary and secondary school... more This article presents a study which observes the notions of Czech elementary and secondary school students' about the spatial layout and geography of Czechia. Findings of the study's three basic phases are presented in the article: a contents analysis of the students' individual mental maps; an analysis of the accuracy with which the students depicted Prague, the capital city, within these maps; and an analysis of the maps expressing where students would prefer to live. A special characteristic of this study is its focus on the cartographic representation of the results. The first phase of the study makes use of aggregated mental maps; the second uses GIS to measure aberrations in the locating of Prague on individual mental maps from Prague's " correct " location; and the third again uses aggregated mental maps and employs a map key to represent student preferences for specific locations. KEY WORDS: mental map, geography education, cartographic representation, living preferences, Czechia.

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Among other topics related to the visual aspect of cartographic products, current research addres... more Among other topics related to the visual aspect of cartographic products, current research addresses the problem of user friendliness. the most significant research concerns those products that evolve most rapidly, a typical example being interactive dynamic maps. this group of cartographic works includes products that are relatively challenging for users with respect to their temporally fluid content and the possibility of interactive manipulation. the article begins with a basic discussion of user-friendliness in cartographic products; in this context it addresses the historical development of the notion of cartography as a science, as well as the evolution of the ways in which it has been defined and of its subjects of interest. it demonstrates that, aside from notions of cartography as a technical discipline, it is also of interest from a linguistic point of view for its role as a mean of communication between cartographer and map user. still greater emphasis is placed on the design aspects of cartographic production. the study offers the example of recent developments in czech cartographic production, in which the last twenty years have seen a significant differentiation between published cartographic products and amateur cartography generally. this applies to creation as well as user base. next the article describes a study on the user-friendliness of temporal legends, which are very common in animated maps. the goal of this study, which was conducted during the summer of 2010, was not only to evaluate the given temporal legends, but also to investigate the extent to which users were able to work with temporal variables (with time) in a cartographic product. among the tools for collecting data was a form of online test. this test posed questions to respondents and automatically measured the amount of time it took them to find their answers. this method was based on the assumption that, given two cartographic works containing similar content, the work which enables the user to find information more quickly is the more user-friendly of the two. the results of the test were then analyzed on the basis of an objective standard for comparing qualities in a cartography work. the authors conclude by suggesting future directions for research on the subject.

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The issue of mental maps on one hand, and assessment of cartographic works on the other are relat... more The issue of mental maps on one hand, and assessment of cartographic works on the other are relatively well-known and have been discussed by a relatively high number of authors. However, is it possible to interconnect the knowledge and use it meaningfully? The paper tries to find answers to this question. Its primary objective is to reveal the users' wishes and ideas about the content of maps. A proposal for the procedure of assessment of cartographic works in terms of aesthetics and user-friendliness is introduced, making use of mental maps by users. The question to what extent mental maps can be utilized as decisive for the finalisation of results is still left unanswered. Nevertheless, the paper presents one of input propositions of a research project carried out at the Charles University in Prague. KEY WORDS: mental maps, assessment of cartographic works, usability

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GEOGRAFIE 114(2):105-116, Jun 2009

The article deals with analysis of mental maps which were obtained by questioning athletes – ori... more The article deals with analysis of mental maps which were obtained by questioning athletes – orienteering runners. Using the prerequisite of measurability of their sports performance, it is possible to measure the accuracy of assessment methods of
mental maps. Thirty mental maps were acquired via a two-section questionnaire; they were assessed with the help of two methods – frequency measurement and determined weights
and criteria. The results of the ﬁrst method were visualised using software into aggregated maps which enable an overall view. The second method provides individual point of view on
each athlete and their performance abilities. Comparison of both methods proves the initial hypothesis.
KEY WORDS: mental maps, cartographic assessment, orienteering, aggregated maps.

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Conference: 1st ICA Symposium on Cartography for Central and Eastern Europe, At Vienna, Feb 2009

The poster presents maps of students of the Faculty of Science (Charles University in Prague) whi... more The poster presents maps of students of the Faculty of Science (Charles University in Prague) which emerged in the course " Thematic Cartography ". Instructions were as follows: 1 st possibility: compose a map in a known artistic style, 2 nd possibility: compose a map using a known artistic technique, 3 rd possibility: compose the map in a completely original way. Imagination and creativity are not limited, but you have to respect the basic rules of cartography.

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Conference: Cartography and art : art and cartography : ICA symposium, At Vienna, Jan 2008

In those times when cartography did not make use of automated reproduction techniques cartographi... more In those times when cartography did not make use of automated reproduction techniques cartographic products were considered works of art. Each cartographic work was original and their authors were rightfully referred to as 'artists'. Due to letterpress and other automated techniques (which lead to the transition from traditional to computer-aided cartography) cartographic production abandoned the artistic dimension and has become a special-purpose activity. Therefore, present-day aesthetics rightfully classifies cartographic production as the so called the non-artistic aesthetic. Creativity of authors themselves may seem to be closely connected with these facts. Our purpose is to disprove this hypothesis and point out various possibilities of creative expression in present-day cartography. There is no doubt that the ability to look for and discover such possibilities, is of high importance. Some of the possibilities can be found in applying artistic styles to cartographic styles, e.g. abstraction, fiction, imagination, etc.

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Český historický atlas. Kapitoly z dějin 20. století = Czech Historical Atlas. Chapters on the History of the 20th Century, 2019

The publication Czech Historical Atlas. Chapters on the History of the 20th Century freely follow... more The publication Czech Historical Atlas. Chapters on the History of the 20th Century freely follows the long-lasting cooperation between experts from the Institute of History CAS, the Department of Geomatics of the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague and the Department of Social Geography and Regional Development of the Faculty of Sciences, Charles University. The main joint outputs of their cooperation include the Academic Atlas of the Czech History (2014, 2016) and the atlas monograph Frontiers, massacres and replacement of populations in cartographic representation: case studies (15th–20th centuries) (2015).
The Academic Atlas of the Czech History is the second scientific atlas of the Czech and Czechoslovak history, created half a century after the Atlas of the Czechoslovak History from 1965. The conditions for its creation and publication were provided by a research programme under the Institute of History, Czech Academy of Sciences together with the Academia Publishers. The content of the atlas was based on the latest findings of historical research and covered the period from prehistory until the early 21st century. The individual sections captured the basic themes of historical development in the Czech Lands with links to the European development, but mainly the central European space on maps, cartographic models, illustrations, charts and choropleth maps.
The publication Frontiers, massacres and replacement of populations in cartographic representation captured selected examples of violent relocations of the populations including forced exile and border changes on maps and in texts. The team of authors presented this theme at the 22nd International Congress of Historical Sciences, which was held in Chinese Jinan in 2015, thus evaluating the results of the existing historical research and experience by means of cartographic elaboration. The work was published with support from the Czech Academy of Sciences.
The publication Czech Historical Atlas. Chapters on the History of the 20th Century is the result of the project National and Cultural identity II No. DG16P02H010 where some authors of the mentioned atlases, but also other experts met again over joint objectives and assignments. The title illustrates the selective nature of the themes, which were given by several important motives: The 20th century was a period filled with actions, which in many cases still mingle with the present. It is perceived as a part of the historical and collective memory, touching on the living persons or recalling experience passed by the eyewitnesses across the generations. The broad spectrum of processes and events of modern history cannot be fully captured in a single atlas to an extent given by potentialities of the project. Therefore, the concept of the atlas was adapted to the authors’ specializations, thus emphasising certain stages of modern history for the historical awareness of the society. Yet it was not possible to process certain important findings using a cartographic method. In many cases, a map of the
selected territory would not be evenly covered by the thematic contents, i. e. the historical phenomena and processes, not only because of the lack of relatively accurate topographical information based on research into the historical resources, but also because of their fragmentation, disparity or concentration on just certain areas. There were also the issues of hierarchisation (the degree of importance, superiority and inferiority), categorization and generalisation of the information for the needs of small-scale maps. Borders of the territories and their transformations within the particular chronological milestones depicted together on a single synthesising map also presented a serious problem.
In terms of cartographic processing, the authors were also limited by the dimensions of a printed atlas and the related scales of the individual maps. Where necessary, the
main maps were supplemented with detail maps or overview maps. The thematic content of the maps was always processed with regard to user friendliness and legibility.
Therefore, the choice of themes for the printed Czech Historical Atlas mostly followed the mentioned criteria. At the same time, however, the authors knew that some themes could not be missed out in the selection of maps on the history of the 20th century. In addition to the completely new maps and texts, important themes from the mentioned works were included, but the texts and the cartography were updated and modified.
The atlas has three basic sections: Space, Time and Society. Deliberately, no chronological aspect was chosen that would suppress the uniqueness, specificity and lasting topicality of themes distinctive to the 20th century. The individual sections are preceded by Jitka Močičková’s analytic views, which focus on historical atlases of the Czech Lands from the mid-19th century until the present day with historical reflections on the birth of the European historical cartographic creation.
The Space is clearly connected with delimitation of the territories and incorporation of the Czech Lands, Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic within the central European and international structures. The Space also means division of the territories into smaller units motivated by the political and economic developments. And the Space is
also the landscape where transformations provoked by various causes took place in the development of the society. Despite the fact that other atlases have already explored the landscape in its relation to the society, the authors have processed at least several map examples.
The Time mostly covers themes of the military and political history such as the POW camps in the First World War, the Second World War events and selected historical
milestones of the second half of the 20th century. In this area, the problems of cartographic depiction were the deepest – extensive descriptions of political, economical and cultural developments in the historical resources at the
expense of topographical data, concentration of events into several repetitive locations, rapid transformations of the historical developments in short periods, etc. These facts greatly limited the themes of the second half of the 20th century into just a few examples of their cartographic depiction.
The Society strongly reflects on the still hot issue of migrations, both as a historical process and a demonstration of violence of the ruling powers and regimes. It pays attention to the ethnic, religious and educational diversities and monitors perception of the Czech State in the world through various forms of representation of the individuals as well as the whole entirety. It comments on the demographic development of the Czech Lands and the migrational and religious issues throughout the 20th century.
Although the atlas is a printed publication, the most advanced methods of digital cartography were applied. The creation of all maps in the geographical information system is based on a spatial database, which contains topographic (underlying) layers and a thematic content based on the authors’ manuscripts. The cartographic elaboration respects the unifying elements of the atlas (joint basis of map symbols key, the scale levels, cartographic projections), but each map is processed individually with accent on clear elaboration of the theme. Importantly, the creation of the maps was always accompanied by a cartographer and an expert on the theme (historian, geographer) and their discussion resulted in the final form of the map. The team was
very functional in this respect. The database will be partly used in the upcoming electronic portal “Czech Historical Atlas” where some chronological and spatial aspects can be visualized by means of modern methods of interactive cartography.
The Czech Historical Atlas. Chapters on the History of the 20th Century is yet another feat of the Czech historical cartography from the first decades of the 21st century. It
presents cartographically depicted historical events, which still appeal to the professionals and amateurs, but also issues that have not been processed so far. It offers a view of the historical developments in the time and space as it is provided by printed (analogue) and synthetic maps with a certain degree of stationariness, but at the same time with the benefit of stability of printed media over the internet.

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The purpose of the publication Selected Topics in Geographical Cartography is to provide readers ... more The purpose of the publication Selected Topics in Geographical Cartography is to provide readers with a basic overview of areas and topics in geographical cartography and their connection to contemporary digital cartographic creation, usually carried out via geographical information system. For this reason, this publication does not aim to be a substitute for the standard university textbooks Geografická kartografie [Geographical Cartography] (Čapek et al. 1992) and Metody tematické kartografie [Methods of Thematic Cartography] (Voženílek, Kaňok et al. 2011). For that matter, the publication is not a classical textbook, even though it might be a support to students when preparing for a university course exam.

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The objective of the book is the exploration of a diversity of conditions of fieldwork in non-Eur... more The objective of the book is the exploration of a diversity of conditions of fieldwork in non-European locations. The chapters of the book demonstrate that the conditions of a fieldwork differ considerably in terms of environmental circumstances, natural risks, dangerous creatures, character of the local communities and the way of life in the countries where the authors conducted their particular researches. The aim of the book is to give a vivid image of real conditions of fieldwork in selected places of our planet.

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In book: Advances in Cartography and GIScience. Volume 1, Publisher: Springer, Editors: Anne Ruas, pp.53-71, Aug 2011

The contribution is a tribute to Czech Univ. Prof. Karel Kuchař and reminds us of the 35th annive... more The contribution is a tribute to Czech Univ. Prof. Karel Kuchař and reminds us of the 35th anniversary, counted from his last public lecture named Aesthetics of Map Production. Unfortunately, Prof. Kuchař was not able to elaborate the issue of aesthetic aspects of cartographic production in further detail. The aim of this contribution is to categorize and summarize this knowledge. The first part mentions the traditional, and we can also say never-ending, discussion on cartography and early maps being a form of art. It is followed by a summary of aesthetic aspects of (not only) early maps (map format, sheet composition, use of space, shapes of map fields and structure of outlines, form of compositional elements, map contents, cartographic language, thematic cartography methods, use of colour and font in maps, author's style and handwriting). Finally, several pieces of evidence are offered confirming that "early maps" and "computer map production" are not incompatible.

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In book: Cartography in Central and Eastern Europe, Publisher: Springer, pp.211-229, Dec 2009

To create valuable output, people must learn from mistakes, learn to evaluate the results of thei... more To create valuable output, people must learn from mistakes, learn to evaluate the results of their work and, thus, not to repeat their mistakes. There are many ways of assessing products arising from human activity, i.e. cartographic works as well. Verbal assessment (reviews, references) is the most common one. It usually includes the list of positive and negative aspects of the product, or a multi-criterion assessment containing a system of value parameters of the work, usually numerical. This assessment is usually done by more or less experienced experts. What does the user think, though? It is desirable to find an adequate way of assessment assisted by the user. It is the user who is the ultimate recipient of the product. Apart from standard sociological approach using questionnaires, surveys or managed interviews, there are possibilities with high independence potential in the area of potential semantic differences in the researcher's and the respondent's perception. These are represented by various tasks given to individuals or groups concerning cartographic works or an analysis of user mental maps based on the users' experience with cartographic works.

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Cesky lid / The Czech Ethnological Journal, 2018

This study uses participatory research in spatial anthropology. The aim of the study is to demons... more This study uses participatory research in spatial anthropology. The aim of the study is to demonstrate the possibilities in using maps in ethnology and anthropology, and to introduce the potential of the interdisciplinary cooperation of cartographers and geographers with ethnologists and anthropologists. In addition, the authors try to demonstrate the influence of maps and visual information on the life of a local community and local education using examples. In their study, the authors show the results of the field research which they carried out together on the Nungon community in Papua New Guinea. The authors show that sharing the results of the research with the participants may generate other research questions and bring new research topics in spatial anthropology.

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This article is a continuation of the same authors’ study entitled ‘Concepts And Delimitation Of ... more This article is a continuation of the same authors’ study entitled ‘Concepts And Delimitation Of The World’s Macro-Regions’ prepared for the 1/2018 of this journal (Anděl et al. 2018). The main aim of the first part was an evaluation of the concepts and factors which have been used as a basis for the delimitation of the different macro-regions of the world. In this second part, the authors propose their own macro-regionalisation of the world – this is a combination of four concepts, with relatively different contents: those of De Blij and Muller (1997), Cole (1996), Huntington (1996) and Hampl (2009). This macro-regionalisation arises from sociocultural affiliation, economic interrelationships and territorial continuity. Along with the concept of the macro-regional differentiation of the world itself, we focus on evaluating the importance of the shaping of macro-regions, as well as assessing the positive and negative features of individual concepts and their influence on the macro-regional differentiation of the world.

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The authors focus on the current differentiation of the world and on its cognitive, application a... more The authors focus on the current differentiation of the world and on its cognitive, application and educational frameworks and importance for the present. Macro-regional differentiation of the world has resulted from geographic concepts and it is a foundation for understanding the global development of society. This article evaluates the specific concepts and factors that form concepts of world macro-regions prepared by famous authors. It also presents a methodological approach for macro-regional forming of the world. After a theoretical and methodological introduction there is a discussion of the differentiation of the world entitled “Macro-regional differentiation of the world – formation and application.” The authors also present their conception of world differentiation and evaluation of the creation macro-regions and their positive and negative influence of the macro-regional differentiation of the world.

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Scientia in educatione, 2018

The study seeks to explain how evidence-based knowledge about learning from visual material can b... more The study seeks to explain how evidence-based knowledge about learning from visual material can be utilized by way of improving the visuals used in geography education. The aim of this narrative review is to find out: a) the theoretical foundations of learning from visuals, b) how to operationalize geographical visuals in a way that would facilitate research on school instruction and inform the production of textbooks and atlases, c) to identify (based on the state of the art) some domain specific recommendations contributing to more understandable and pupil-friendly static visualization of geographical phenomena. The methodology is based on the review of literature related to the domains of cognitive psychology, educational science, and geography education. In the concluding part, it is suggested how the findings of our study may contribute to the improvement of visuals in geography education.

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Geographical didactic aids traditionally contain a large number of visuals. Unfortunately, author... more Geographical didactic aids traditionally contain a large number of visuals. Unfortunately, authors of didactic aids are not able to ensure adequate usability of visuals sometimes. The evident example is simple illustrative function that prevails over the didactic one. The other problems could be named that many visuals are inadequate relating to pupilsʼ age, they are not well-considered and thus the undesirable formation of misconceptions is encouraged. The object of presented expert analysis are the visuals in sixteen Czech textbooks with a geographical content. The analysis was provided by multi-criteria assessment. The scaling method was used according to predefined criteria, considering of the weights previously proposed by experts (pair comparison method). Beside the general assessment of visuals, the specific comparison of selected examples of maps, photographs, schemes and graphs was conducted. The conclusions of the general assessment of the visuals could be sum up as: (1) an increasing number of abstract visuals with the expected age of pupils, (2) a high number of photographs with only illustrative function, (3) a low share of schemes supporting the development of pupilʼs abstract thinking, (4) a high share of visuals in regional-geographical curriculum, (5) a high number of visuals without any label. Whereas the adequacy of visuals in relation to pupilʼs age was not find problematic, the connections of the visuals to text and the legibility issue seem to be relatively low.

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The aims of the research are: a) to identify lower secondary pupils’ preferences for visuals in g... more The aims of the research are: a) to identify lower secondary pupils’ preferences for visuals in geography textbooks, b) to design a prototypical textbook chapter accompanied with prototypical school atlas maps (based on evidence-based recommendations and reflecting pupils’ preferences), c) to evaluate the proposed educational materials using a sample of 20 lower-secondary school pupils. Methodology The methodological framework is anchored in Design-Based Research (DBRC, 2003). The two design principles have been generated from the research: Problem-based learning and learning with visuals. We designed, verified, evaluated and iteratively developed a textbook chapter as well as school atlas maps. The development of educational materials was preceded by reviewing relevant theoretical and empirical knowledge and by identifying users’ preferences for visuals in geography textbooks. The geographical content covered was climate/monsoons in SE Asia. The empirical accompanying research was carried out through heuristic interviews and observation of the participants. The research sample consisted of 20 Czech lower secondary pupils aged 13–14 years. Findings Content-specific recommendations for textbook developers were identified which are transferable to different topics across geography curriculum. Theoretical and Educational Significance The educational significance of the research is not only to develop the theory of geography education, but also to solve a practical problem and discover how to design educational materials to support pupils’ learning. The paper is an outcome of the research project GA16-01003S funded by the Czech Science Foundation (GAČR). References Design-Based Research Collective. (2003). Design-based research: An emerging paradigm for educational inquiry. Educational Researcher, 32(1), 5–8.

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