Designing a Regional Atlas in Greece. The Electronic Regional Atlas of Epirus (original) (raw)
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Designing an electronic socio-economic new atlas of Greece
The lack of a complete and systematic cartographic documentation of the socioeconomic spatial parameters of Greece, creates a great scientific and development gap. The last relevant Atlas goes back to 1963 and it is considered as old, at least as far as the data used are concerned. The recent publication of a new Atlas in this field, does not cover the gap mainly because the cartographic approach followed is rather limited and weak. As a consequence, such cartographic challenge is a major concern for specialists especially from the domain of the university. Thus, In the Department of Cartography, University of Thessaloniki, a relevant research has started some time ago in order to design an electronic new socioeconomic Atlas of Greece. The thematic treatment starts from the cartographic representation of demographic data, proceeds to data relevant to production and development and concludes in other themes concerning educational and cultural issues. The design decisions are based on the following assumptions: (a) The statistical data used are according to the last census of 1991. (b) The geo-reference unit is the Prefecture (52 in total). This choice is made due to the scale selection to fit the Atlas format in DIN A2. (c) The data processing and the cartographic representation is performed by implementing relevant software, proper for such applications. (d) The thematic structure of the Atlas follows the flow: Physical features, population, production, culture, economy etc. (e) Each theme is related to a cartographic section including tables, diagrams and texts. An indeed special care regards the visualization issues both for the electronic variant and the hardcopy counterpart of this new Atlas and some innovative tests concerning the visual treatment and some new design of symbols, pictograms and other means of thematic symbolic representation. Special care has also paid in the coupling of the electronic and the hardcopy versions of the Atlas.
Proceedings of the 1st TIR-FOR Symposium. From Territory Studies to Digital Cartography, 2021
The Tabula Imperii Romani project, as the name indicates, began as a map. However, due to the vast amount of archaeological data produced by numerous excavations in the areas of the Roman Empire, TIR volumes were converted into gazetteers. Maps gradually became a mere supplement to this index. More recently, with the aid of GIS mapping and databases, maps have regained importance. The Academy of Athens has participated in the TIR project since 1972. The first volume (Philippi) was published in 1993. Over the last decade, an intense effort has been made to publish volumes devoted to the entire area of Greece. Six new volumes are now available, covering the area from Epirus and Thessaly to Attica and the Aegean Islands. The TIR-Greece research group is currently exploring new ways of presenting and analysing archaeological, historical and spatial data. The first example of this process covers western Greece (Aitolia-Akarnania and Epirus). In this paper, we present changes in settlement patterns in western Greece after the Roman conquest and we attempt to address historical issues, such as the impact of the Roman presence on the area.
The project΄s main idea is the evaluation of Greek's National Cadastral data, with the creativity of a uniform Land Information System, which partially or totally will be used by the Municipalities and the Prefectures, with a view to becoming more effective and efficient in their legal and claimed jurisdictions. The composed National Cadastral of Greece has to be used as a tool of development in each case that its information can be used to produce a result. If the developmental character of the Cadastral can be accepted and be easily understood by the four levels of Greek Administration (State, District, Prefecture, Municipality), then greater efficiency, modernization and rational decision of allocated procedures in the administration operation could be achieved. Then totally one can expect the rational exercise of the administration, in each of the three basic sectors: Operation, Management and Policy. The first and second level of administration (Municipalities-Communities and Prefectures) have legal and claimed responsibilities, a part of which is related to problems with geographic reference The basic rule in planning a Land Information System for the first and second level of administration (Municipalities), a Municipality and Prefecture Information System (M.P.I.S.), is that it has to ensure the hierarchical evaluation of the elements and the information. The use of high technology digital spatial systems can give the expected, so that in both levels of administration, the problems could be solved effectively, in a short period and with a low cost. The main target of the M.P.I.S. is to face in the best way the problems of the two administration levels. The M.P.I.S. is a system of open architecture, so that it should be able to expand and include new data. The development of the M.P.I.S. is based on the data of the National Cadastral of Greece and uses the abilities of hi-tech geographic systems. This would have as a result the development of a template M.P.I.S. which will be used in a uniformed and obligated way by the Municipalities and the Prefectures, so that the problems they face could be solved through procedures of specification.
Polish Cartographical Review
National atlases provide comprehensive information about nature, population, social and economic situation of the country. In 2017 the process of compiling and publishing the National Atlas of Lithuania (Lietuvos Nationalinis Atlasas) was finished. The goal of the authors is: in the context of the whole National Atlas to present a thorough analysis of the structure of content and cartographic visualization methods of Volume III. This volume focusses on social and economic phenomena in Lithuania. The authors discuss the principles of compiling the whole National Atlas of Lithuania and presents its structure in a concise manner. Following the classification of traditional mapping methods, specific examples of mapping in Volume III are presented, advantages of mapping techniques are discussed and the structural analysis of mapping methods is also conducted. The conclusions and the discussion part present the problems encountered while compiling Volume III as well as solutions to them.
The use of Dynamic Maps and Volunteered Geographic Information in Greece
The distribution of spatial information has dramatically changed while new terms have been introduced in land management and administration. Two main reasons have contributed to that geographical revolution; web mapping and citizens’ participation in data manipulation. Web mapping and especially the evolution from static to dynamic maps cultivated a familiarity to citizens with geodata. An interesting subcategory of dynamic maps are the Mashup ones which content has derived from different sources with the aid of Application Programming Interface (API) in a unique environment depending on creator’s interest. Generally, citizens’ participation has led to a new era for Geographic Science named Neogeography. Terms such as Volunteered Geographic Information and User Generated Content reveal the active role that citizens now play in spatial data management. The aim of the paper is to present the most popular dynamic maps which have been launched in Greece and are expanded with citizens’ interest. Education, entertainment and improvement of their daily life are the main reasons of participation in mapping for citizens in Greece. The phenomenon of OpenStreetMap as a representative example of web mapping and how it has been spread is analyzed. Also an overview of all studies carried out concerning OpenStreetMap’s quality and contribution under crucial circumstances is highlighted with further proposals for extension of the project in Greece.
The purpose of this paper is to measure and spatially depict representative indicators of sustainability in prefecture (regional) level in Greece. A set of indicators is selected in order to quantify different aspects of sustainability in all regions, aiming both at monitoring the level of sustainability and at providing useful directions for effective and sustainable policies in the future. Selected indicators, which represent the real situation are initially classified into the four pillars of sustainability (environmental, economic and social and institutional), placed at the driving force-stateresponse system and georeferenced and presented using maps and geographic indicators. Performing this integrated analysis, noticeable suggestions in terms of sustainability are provided at regional level.
Coordinates, 2020
The transformation of the old map sheets series of the Greek State remains a recurring issue. The main problem lies in the transformation of the old Greek Datum (GR-Datum), which is mainly used for the mapping of the Greek rural areas. Up to date, there is no official transition procedure connecting the old version of the GR-Datum to the new official Hellenic Geodetic Reference System of 1987 (HGRS1987). As a result, geodesists, surveyors and cartographers are obliged to develop ad hoc techniques. In the present paper we present a methodology, which is based on the verification of the common points of the two different geodetic systems and the implementation of the well-known 2D similarity transformation. The numerical application took part for the Northern part of Greece (Central and Eastern Macedonia). The consistency of the old version of the GR-Datum and the HGRS1987 is at the level of 1 meter.
In this paper an extensive research on the development of known toponymies in the wider region of Eastern Macedonia, Northern Greece is conducted. To this objective, digital processing of historical maps (from 1901 to 1945, at a scale from 1:200,000 to 1:20,000) in an environment of GIS has been utilized. The focus of the undertaken study is an area covered by 500 km 2 , from the ancient Amfipolis to the town of Philippoi. The entire analysis (i.e. archaeological estimation) is based on orthophotomaps and satellite images. The data are retrieved from historical maps (from 1901 to 1945, at a scale from 1:200,000 to 1:20,000). The current study presents a detailed analysis of the historical maps and their digital processing, which allowed their cross-correlation and the export of precious information on the development of known toponymies and the localization of unknown up to today historical settlements and places. It is envisaged that the historical character of this region and the provided map analysis, is very useful for the spatial analysis of ancient Macedonia. This region is of a major archaeological importance, because of the continuous settlement from Paleolithic age and the acne, which presented at the Hellenistic and Roman years.