Data styling in web mapping applications with a focus on environmental health

Abstract

Interpretation of data visualized in maps strongly depends on the experience of map reader and on the way the data are presented. Styling the data is crucial especially when creating maps for users with weaker cartographic knowledge and map reading experience. Because web mapping applications make spatial data more accessible to general public, this issue requires special attention in terms of their design. Here we present a styling approach for designing a web mapping application that assembles huge amount of data related to the issue of environmental health, based on our own experience with creating a web mapping application available at https://uvp.geonika.sk/map/ (Department of Cartography … 2016). As the field of environmental health is multidisciplinary, it requires combination of data from various sources and of various types, topics and resolutions. Various data were compiled, requiring thoughtful approach to styling with regard to the users of the mapping application, who are supposed to be not only professionals (from the field of geography and geoinformatics as well as of medicine, epidemiology, environmental sciences etc.), but also general public. Many of such users do not possess adequate cartographic knowledge, which is the reason why the data styling had to reflect this limitation.

Keywords:

• web mapping application
• environmental health
• map styling
• colour schemes
• map syntactic types
• SLD

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tatiana Harciníková

Tatiana HARCINÍKOVÁ is a PhD candidate at the Department of Cartography, Geoinformatics and Remote Sensing, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava and a researcher at the Comenius University Science Park in Bratislava, Slovakia. Her research interests include cartographic visualization, spatial analyses and spatial modelling of environmental and health data.

Alexandra Benová

Alexandra BENOVÁ, PhD is a researcher at the Department of Cartography, Geoinformatics and Remote Sensing, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava and at the Comenius University Science Park in Bratislava, Slovakia. Her research interests include map language, thematic cartography, old maps, cartographic visualization, and geomorphometry.

Richard Feciskanin

Richard FECISKANIN, PhD is a researcher at the Department of Cartography, Geoinformatics and Remote Sensing, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava and at the Comenius University Science Park in Bratislava, Slovakia. His research interests: mapping information services and standards; web programming and developing web map applications; digital cartography and cartographic modelling.

Radoslav Chudý

Radoslav CHUDÝ, PhD is a researcher at the Comenius University Science Park in Bratislava, Slovakia. His research interests include geoinformatics, spatial data harmonization, and implementation of the Directive 2007/2/EC (INSPIRE).

Miroslav Kožuch

Miroslav KOŽUCH, PhD is a researcher at the Department of Cartography, Geoinformatics and Remote Sensing, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava and at the Comenius University Science Park in Bratislava, Slovakia. His research work is concerned with aerial image processing with digital photogrammetry methods into the form of digital orthophotomaps including automatic procedures of digital aerial image processing – digital aerotriangulation using automatic image matching, discrete altitude point field collection using digital image correlation, and evaluation of the obtained results.

Vladimír Pelech

Vladimír PELECH is a PhD candidate at the Department of Cartography, Geoinformatics and Remote Sensing, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava and a researcher at the Comenius University Science Park in Bratislava, Slovakia. Focus of his research is spatial relationship of selected essential elements in groundwater and cardiovascular diseases. Topic of his dissertation is Methods and tools for modelling geographic information sources for monitoring environmental health.

Tomáš Schmidt

Tomáš SCHMIDT is a PhD candidate at the Department of Cartography, Geoinformatics and Remote Sensing, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava and a researcher at the Comenius University Science Park in Bratislava, Slovakia. His areas of interest include database systems, spatial database systems, data analysis, geographical information systems, and web programming.

Hana Stanková

Hana STANKOVÁ, PhD is a researcher at the Department of Cartography, Geoinformatics and Remote Sensing, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava and at the Comenius University Science Park in Bratislava, Slovakia. Her main research areas of interests include remote sensing data interpretation, object based image analysis, land cover mapping/ change detection and environmental health.

Juraj Vališ

Juraj VALIŠ, PhD is a researcher at the Department of Cartography, Geoinformatics and Remote Sensing, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava and at the Comenius University Science Park in Bratislava, Slovakia. His research focuses on geoinformatics, geodesy, real estate cadastre, spatial data harmonization, and implementation of the Directive 2007/2/EC (INSPIRE).

Eva Mičietová

Eva MIČIETOVÁ, Dr Assoc. Prof., PhD is a head of the Department of Cartography, Geoinformatics and Remote Sensing, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia, and scientific coordinator of activity 2.5 – Enviromedicine for the 21st century – Geographical Information System and Environmental Health of the project University Science Park, ITMS: 26240220086. Her professional specialization includes geoinformatics, geographical databases, spatial modelling of environmental health.