Cartography | EPFL Graph Search

Cartography (kɑːrˈtɒgrəfi; from χάρτης chartēs, "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and γράφειν graphein, "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively. The fundamental objectives of traditional cartography are to:

Set the map's agenda and select traits of the object to be mapped. This is the concern of map editing. Traits may be physical, such as roads or land masses, or may be abstract, such as toponyms or political boundaries.
Represent the terrain of the mapped object on flat media. This is the concern of map projections.
Eliminate characteristics of the mapped object that are not relevant to the map's purpose. This is the concern of generalization.
Reduce the complexity of the characteristics that will be mapped. This is also the concern of generalization.
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Analyse et exploitation des données de LIDAR aéroportés pour la caractérisation des milieux boisés de la Suisse

Gilles Gachet

Forest ecosystems show diverse and evolving structures. Accurate descriptions and a good knowledge of these environments are therefore a real challenge. Existing forest cover investigation methods are mostly laborious, hard to replicate and usually based on the skills of a small number of experts. Moreover, these methods are bound to standard two-dimensional information originated from aerial images or land surveys. The use of LiDAR elevation models leads to the development of new methodologies likely to propose innovative solutions to improve and ease the description and study of forests. In practice, managers often carry out maintenance forestry tasks as well as experimental ones. These tasks are successfully completed by means of tree observation and census. It is precisely with census that LiDAR technology can provide innovative solutions, allowing collection of accurate and reliable information from objects standing out of ground surface. Spatial analysis tools are then used to establish suitable indicators or cartographic documents to identify and define forest management objectives, to plan measures to achieve these goals, or even to monitor the results. The main objective of this PhD thesis is to propose new methods based on LiDAR technology applied to forestry. At first the study focuses on basic characteristics of a forest cover. Specific investigation of the potential of LiDAR elevation models to estimate the location, the height of individual trees and stands is carried out. In a second stage issues closer to management tasks are addressed, in particular analysis of horizontal and vertical structure of the forest, quantification of stock and identification of significant changes between two successive planting situations on the same site. Concerns of this study are to divert synthetic and normalized indicators in order to facilitate the actions and decision making process of the forester. It wants to extract innovative information in order to improve the knowledge and the description of wooden environments. A more or less significant participation of the skilled practitioner is required to configure the operations and to interpret the indicators, purpose of which is to save time by allowing more targeted and more complete ground investigation, subjective factor being in the benefit of the results. Although discussed issues as well as presented developments are based on common forest problems and of universal nature, they are presented in a context strongly influenced by Swiss forestry. The new contributions as well as the boundaries of the LiDAR technology are central to the reflection.

EPFL2009

Szenarien für die nachhaltige Siedlungs- und Infrastrukturentwicklung in der Schweiz (2005-2030)

Alain Nicolas Jarne, Martin Schuler

Spatial development patterns in Switzerland and future development trends and infrastructure requirements are not only the result of decisions at Swiss federal or cantonal levels, but also considerably influenced by developments in the EU. In the collaboration between two institutions at ETH Zurich and EPF Lausanne with the European Observatory Network ESPON, four spatial scenarios have been developed in this project. Two scenarios are affected by an individual, two scenarios by a cohesive value and distribution system. One scenario on each group takes place in a more dynamic economy and the other in a rather stagnating one. The project has used the methodology adopted by ESPON 3.2 by drawing up spatial scenarios based on an analysis of driving forces and trend projections. Furthermore, agent-based simulations have been used in an innovative way. Thematic scenarios have been designed around the broad topics of demography, economy and tourism, energy, socio cultural issues, transportation and mobility, and environment. These specific scenarios have been transformed into integrated scenarios and visualized by a sophisticated cartography.

Nationales Forschungsprogramm NFP 54 (PNR54)2008

Reading the Brussels Palimpsest in the History of the Nouveau Plan de Bruxelles Industriel (1910)

This article restores the dialogical link between the Nouveau Plan de Bruxelles Industriel avec ses Suburbains, published on the occasion of the 1910 Industrial Exhibition (Verwest, Vanderoost, & Xhardez, 1910a), and the Inventaire Visuel de L’architecture Industrielle de L’agglomération de Bruxelles, produced by Maurice Culot and the team at the Archives d’Architecture Moderne (AAM) between 1980–1982 (Culot & the AMM, 1980 1982). These two kinds of spatialised visual inventories of places dedicated to production brings out a layer of the Brussels palimpsest filled with information that goes beyond the categories of permanence, persistence and disappearance raised by André Corboz and Alain Leveillé’s cartographic implementation of the palimpsest theory in the Atlas du Territoire Genevois (Corboz, 1993). This article compares palimpsest theory as applied to Geneva to the practice of inventory in Brussels. We propose visualising a lisuel layer intended as a visual reading revealed through a process of description, extraction, classification and juxtaposition. This process of visual analysis helps construct a typology of manufacturing production whose traces are embedded in urban space. It shows how a cartographic document informs the 1910 urban project and how local manufacturing companies contributed to its implementation. The contribution of this cartographic investigation is threefold. It concerns forms of manufacturing companies, forms of living, and production of urban space in 1910 Brussels. The Brussels Industrial Exhibition and the spatial story of Louis De Waele’s public works company reveals two patterns of relationships between industrial production and the transformation of urban space.

2020

Analyse et exploitation des données de LIDAR aéroportés pour la caractérisation des milieux boisés de la Suisse

Gilles Gachet

EPFL2009