The Escaping Flatland Lecture
- The SW USA GeoScenery Example
- In-class Assignment: "budding artists and models"
- Pair up with someone.
- Decide who’s going to be the model and what to draw and how, e.g. face, head, bust (upper body), whole body, hands, feet, profiles, etc.
- Go for it – make a quick sketch (5 minutes)
- write your names and pass it along to me
- Now it’s my turn:
- I’m going to do a face...
- Call for a volunteer model...
- PinPoint = 2 310
- Typical Computer Monitor 640x480 = 307 200
- Announcements
- Readings for Next Tuesday:
- Questions?
- Today’s Lecture
- The SW USA GeoScenery Example
- In-class Assignment "budding artists and models" (in pairs)
- One Minute Paper
- Discussion
- Key concepts
- Exercises
- Directed Questions
- Brief on the Assignment: "Final (single/team) Project"
- Escaping Flatland
- Write a One Minute Paper on:
- Escaping Flatland – in a Nutshell
- a very terse summary of the chapter
- Discussion:
- What’s ‘the deal’ with Escaping Flatland?
- What did the points did the GeoScenery Fly-By example make?
- Why did we do the "budding artists" exercise?
- Where does PinPoint fit in?
- PinPoint is a device for escaping flatland
- The Point:
- Escaping Flatland applies as much to visualizing geographies (landscapes)
- as it does to depicting the human form,
- or for that matter, to any other object or subject,
- This common ground has been evident to our forebearers.
- Evocative associations exist between topographic features and human anatomy
- and are alluded to in language, literature, media, art, science and technology
- Take language as an example
- specifically expressions found in toponimy
- (toponimy = geo/cartographic place names)
- Check it out!
- Science and Technology
- GIS use for anatomy
- CAMM, physical models in medicine and cartography
- similarity and strong associations between human anatomy and man-made stuctures and products:
- eyes, hands etc. can provide a focus for design
- Beauty products, thermoses,
- check this out: MiddleEastern architecture — the Jerusalem YMCA
- even though PinPoint is an interactive lounge sculpture
- and curio/novelty/conversation piece...
- The reason I have it is for instructional purposes
- for terrain and landform representation using ‘simulated’ pixels
- which, again, make the point (...) as to the universal desire to escape flatland
- Key concepts
- Escaping Flatland as the goal of visualization.
- "Escaping this flatland is the essential task of envisioning information..." (p. 12)
- This chapter outlines a variety of design strategies
- that sharpen the information resolution, the resolving power, of paper and video screen. In particular, these methods work to increase (1) the number of dimensions that can be represented on plane surfaces and (2) the data density (amount of information per unit area). (p. 13)
- "To begin, a series of splendid examples" (p. 15)
- This chapter shows and discusses ‘Do’s and Don’ts of visualization by example. Reading it slowly and carefully is highly recommended.
- Directed Questions
- pages 12-13: What’s the "change in design"?
- page 15: how many variables are depicted in the Anderson data plots?
- page 16: discuss the issue of Pridefully Obvious Presentation
- page 21 versus 19: what’s the improvement?
- page 22: what is the data compression strategy used here?
- page 23: list 2 to 3 graphic improvements in this version.
- Any questions with regards to Escaping Flatland I?
- Break
- Brief on the Assignment: "Final (single/team) Project"
- Hand-out
- 5 minute read
- Buzz Groups: Formulate Questions
- Discussion
- End of Lecture