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of the map, and has merged them into the surrounding regions. For example, on a county-scale land use map, a single farm house would not be shown amid several square miles of farmland, whereas on a land use map focused on that farm, the house might be significant to show. On a land use map of an entire country, the farmland itself would probably not be large enough to show. As with all forms of
473:(especially around their boundaries). Thus some variables when mapped, such as language, can suggest to the viewer a rigidity to the borders between features that may or may not exist in reality. When areas of uncertainty are present, cartographers may need to employ other techniques to suggest a degree of uncertainty or vagueness between each feature.
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The regions depicted on a chorochromatic map are very scale-dependent. It is rare that a thematic region is truly homogeneous; typically, there are smaller regions or locations that are different, but the cartographer or data manager has determined that these are not large enough to show at the scale
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As the rise of academic cartography focused attention on the design of thematic maps to represent statistical data, maps of qualitative information received little direct research. The chorochromatic form was acknowledged as a useful technique for portraying the results of geographical analysis. More
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Chorochromatic maps, like other thematic maps, have the potential to be misinterpreted by their readers. For example, the map reader may assume that the size of a given area is proportional to the number of people in the area with a qualitative characteristic such as language or religious belief. To
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Simple chorochromatic maps show single regions or categories with spatially intermittent frequencies (i.e., there are gaps between the regions). An example of this would be showing the distribution of forests or mineral deposits. The chosen variable is represented by a single color symbol or pattern
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Another challenge for chorochromatic maps is that they may suggest defined boundaries between regions where none may exist. Because most categorical coverages are the spatial manifestations of categories, vagueness in the definition of those categories will be manifest as vagueness in the regions
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As an example, a
Primary Language variable in census data could be aggregated into the predominant spoken language in each county in a country, then visualized in a choropleth map. Conversely, in a chorochromatic map, the regions would be drawn based on detailed geographic data. Thus, a
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in South Asia. The color scheme represents the hierarchical nature of language classification, by grouping similar language families: yellows are
Eastern Indic, purples are Dardic, reds are Southern Indic, greens are Western Indic, browns are Northern Indic, and oranges are Central
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Compound chorochromatic maps represent a full discrete field, consisting of a set of regions of different categories. One example would be a full vegetation map, in which the different kinds of vegetation are all shown on the same map, using different symbols or shading patterns.
243:
of phenomenon is present; for example, the area in which a particular type of plant is predominant or where the majority of residents primarily speak a given language. Since most geographical phenomena exhibit a tendency for spatially proximate phenomena to be similar (i.e.
274:, meaning some values are more similar to each other than others (e.g., geologic strata by age, language families). In this case, a wise choice of map symbols such as similar colors (e.g. similar shades of red) can help to portray the hierarchy effectively.
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can be used to portray nominal data that is created by aggregating and summarizing a geographic variable within predetermined districts. The critical difference between each, then, lies in the nature of the geographical unit used in each.
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avoid misleading a map user, a cartographer may choose to add a diagram showing the actual numbers involved and additional explanations in the legend or map layout to help to create a clear understanding of the map.
224:(qualitative) difference between them. In many cases, these regions are distinct established entities; for example, a map of land administration in the United States would include features such as
265:
field, a discrete field is a property that varies over space and theoretically possesses a measurable value at any location. However, the value in this case is nominal or categorical.
248:), it is common to see most or all locations around one location be of the same category, whether that is climate or socioeconomic status, resulting in a relatively homogenous region.
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format, typically chosen based on the larger context of the project. Most software has tools to symbolize either format as a chorochromatic map. For example, in Esri products such as
165:, probably the first thematic atlas ever published, includes several color chorochromatic maps. These included a variety of topics from both physical and human geography: watersheds,
208:(starting in the 1990s) on the underlying concepts and data models of discrete fields, notably issues of vagueness that are inherent to the spatial manifestation of categories.
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in the second half of the 19th
Century, chorochromatic maps proliferated to the point that the concept of filling areas with color became almost mundane. The origin of the term
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The second type of phenomenon that is commonly represented in chorochromatic maps, which may be the basis of more maps than the first type, is what Daniel
Montello calls a
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Luebbering, Candice R.; Kolivras, Korine N.; Prisley, Stephen P. (2013-11-01). "The lay of the language: surveying the cartographic characteristics of language maps".
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in that chorochromatic maps are mapped according to data-driven boundaries instead of trying to make the data fit within existing, sometimes arbitrary units such as
37:
that visualizes distinctive geological regions as unique colors. Note that the regions change based on variations in rock type, not preexisting political boundaries.
138:
in bands of gray. In the early 19th
Century, these kinds of maps proliferated, especially in the United Kingdom and France, including hand-painted color.
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Typically, these regions can be collected into a composite model representing the regions covered by all of the categories of a phenomenon, called a
626:
Montello, Daniel R. (2003). "Regions in
Geography: Process and Content". In Duckham, Matthew; Goodchild, Michael F.; Worboys, Michael F. (eds.).
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Example of a simple chorochromatic map showing the distribution and location of active surface coal fields in the United States circa 2012.
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chorochromatic map of predominant language would have irregular boundaries based on where the language regions are located in reality.
305:, the "Unique Values" type of symbology is available for both kinds of data. The same goes for the "Categorized" symbology type in
115:, a book about world languages that included a set of maps of language regions, each with boundaries and colors for broad
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The categorized phenomena that have been mapped using chorochromatic maps are extremely varied, coming from both
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239:. This type of region is the spatial manifestation of category. That is, it is the area in which a given
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of the United States inhabit spatially unique areas and are symbolized by a unique color value.
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Carlevaro, Tazio (1992). "Geolinguistics. Journal of the
American Society of Geolinguistics".
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as he understood them. Other maps of cultural regions began to appear in the 19th
Century.
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Thomas, Isabelle (March 6, 2001). "Thematic cartography today: recalls and perspectives".
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Hensel's 1741 maps of language regions, one of the first chorochromatic maps.
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Plewe, Brandon (1997). "A Representation-Oriented
Taxonomy of Gradation".
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282:, this can lead to uncertainty and misinterpretation if not done wisely.
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Chorochromatic map of ethnic groups in Europe, from the 2nd edition of
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105:, first appearing independently in several different fields. In 1741,
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Chorochromatic maps can be categorized as either simple or compound.
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Plewe, Brandon (1997) The
Cartographic Representation of Gradation,
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are designed to portray quantitative data, one could assume that a
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73:. Chorochromatic maps are typically used to represent discrete
575:(3rd ed.). Harper & Row. pp. 38, 267, 331, 403.
494:(2nd ed.). Harlow, England: Prentice Hall. p. 129.
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would dictate the creation of a chorochromatic map. However,
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Example of a compound chorochromatic map. The 21 distinct
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Spatial Information Theory: A Theoretical Basis for GIS
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is unclear, as none of these early works mentioned it;
763:(3rd ed.). New York City: Rutledge. p. 140.
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A considerable portion of the article is copied from
693:"A Note on the Comparison of Chorochromatic Surfaces"
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Maps and Diagrams: Their Compilation and Construction
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The chorochromatic map is one of the oldest types of
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Early Thematic Mapping in the History of Cartography
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134:in 1746, showing matching formations crossing the
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591:Geographic Objects with Indeterminate Boundaries
355:, such as vegetation, water, and human landscape
177:. Much of the data was apparently obtained from
838:., a CC-BY-SA source, compatible with Knowledge
408:without subdividing it further into subgroups.
157:Perhaps the first master of this technique was
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628:Foundations of geographic information science
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533:Physikalischer Atlas oder Sammlung von Karten
492:Cartography: Visualization of Geospatial Data
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362:, religion, ethnicity or other cultural trait
289:, a discrete field may be stored in either a
57: 'color'), also known as an area-class,
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759:Kraak, Menno-Jan; Oremling, Ferjan (2010).
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490:Kraak, Menno-Jan; Ormeling, Ferjan (2003).
216:A chorochromatic map is a visualization of
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761:Cartography: Visualization of Spatial Data
589:Burrough, Peter; Frank, Andrew U. (1996).
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204:research has been conducted in the era of
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630:. Taylor & Francis. pp. 173–189.
571:Monkhouse, F.J.; Wilkinson, H.R. (1971).
268:Some of these classification systems are
126:of surficial rock types was published by
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19:For broader coverage of this topic, see
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658:Language Problems and Language Planning
561:, 2nd Edition, McGraw-Hill, 1948, p.245
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387:Simple and compound chorochromatic maps
65:that portray regions of categorical or
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611:. Lecture Notes in Computer Science.
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536:(1st ed.). Justus Perthes Gotha
338:. The following are a few examples:
184:With the increasing availability of
196:uses the term in the 1938 textbook
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61:area, or mosaic map, is a type of
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321:A compound chorochromatic map of
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433:Relationship to choropleth maps
246:Tobler's first law of geography
641:Chrisman, Nicholas R. (1997).
519:. University of Chicago Press.
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206:geographic information science
112:Synopsis Universae Philologiae
1:
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287:Geographic information system
820:Proceedings, ACSM/ASPRS 1997
798:10.1080/15230406.2013.809892
515:Robinson, Arthur H. (1982).
323:Indo-Aryan (Indic) languages
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615:. Springer-Verlag: 121–136.
530:Bergmann, Heinrich (1837).
280:Cartographic generalization
53: 'region' and
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69:using variations in color
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212:Conceptual and data model
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443:Because most types of
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697:Geographical Analysis
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128:Jean-Étienne Guettard
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253:categorical coverage
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313:Application domains
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147:Physikalisher Atlas
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43:Chorochromatic map
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381:city zoning
230:state parks
194:Erwin Raisz
161:. His 1837
59:qualitative
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464:Criticisms
353:Land cover
303:ArcGIS Pro
109:published
51:χώρα chóra
45:(from
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366:Soil type
261:. Like a
220:, with a
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360:language
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285:In a
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