Interactive Maps of Potentially Dangerous Objects of Ukraine: Problems of Database Construction and Visualization

Abstract

This article uses the notion of extended cartographic interactivity, which was first discussed in [1]. There it is proposed to extend the interactivity that is understood in subject and classical cartographies as a complement to the representation by maps the spatial entities and phenomena of the real world. The extension is based on the understanding that modern reality is much more effectively modeled not by a separate map, but by a system organized in the epistemological hierarchy of spatial information systems (SpIS). Cartographic interactivity in this modeling is not a simple complement to representations, but the very important elements of the SpIS constituents. SpIS constituents are related to one or another stratum of knowledge in the hierarchy of SpIS. As a consequence, cartographic interactivity is an important element of the system map model (SMM), which is the core of the hierarchical SpIS system being created. The theoretical part of this article first briefly discusses the notion of a map model (MM). After a short introduction to the issues of MM, its current state is fixed. Accordingly, it is stated that in practice there are currently conceptual and physical MM. This situation is problematic, since there are virtually no theoretical and logical MM in the SpIS creation. In the absence of theoretical MM, the practically used conceptual and physical MM are not optimal. And because of the absence of logical MM, conceptual and physical MM are poorly matched. Therefore, when creating new SpIS, developers are forced virtually every time to start development from scratch-to create all the necessary MM. In order to solve the problems of the absence of theoretical MM, the first approximation to a more economical and correct decision is made-a SMM based on the Conceptual Framework of the Relational Cartography is given. It is the construct that should fill the gap between the theory and practice of using the MM. The practical part of the article shows how the first SMM approximation is used in the construction of interactive maps of potentially dangerous objects in Ukraine. The constructed maps will explain how to use the extended concept of cartographic interactivity and, thanks to the first approximation of SMM, allow you to determine the relation between the maps and the SpIS of the lower hierarchical strata. The results obtained allow us to outline the problems of database construction and visualization, which derive from the extended cartographic interactivity.