Cartography, until recently considered to be a discipline founded upon convention, is now enjoying a remarkably rapid rate of development. Techniques and points of view that were taken for granted two decades ago are being questioned or have been superseded by new methods and ideas. Today the discipline is in the middle of a revolution and little of its complex field remains unaffected by change. Man's general preoccupation during the last 20 years with "communications" and "information" has greatly influenced cartography: a well researched, designed and produced map certainly being one of the best methods for the graphic communication of information. It is now recognised that the cartographic process is concerned with data collection and manipulation, information display and image processing, rather than just drawing maps! In line with the professional broadening of cartography it became evident that an effort was required to establish an international education and training scheme aimed at the technician, undergraduate and postgraduate. Until comparatively recently both teachers and students were forced to rely on specialist manuals and articles appearing in learned journals. What textbooks were produced tended to relate to specific aspects of the discipline and were, in the main, too specialist for use by students and technicians. In order to produce the training literature required, the ICA assembled a team of internationally known academic and professional cartographers to produce a work suitable for use in education and training and which, with appropriate teacher input, could be used by those with varying intended levels of knowledge and ability. A highly graphic approach has been deliberately adopted in order to enhance understanding of technical detail incorporated in the text, and to illustrate the graphic potential of the theory described. This updated second edition takes into account the recent developments relating to the subject and the practices employed in the 1990s, recognizing the increased usage of electronic-based information technology and the employment of digital databases.

Table of Contents:
Part 1 The history of cartography, C. Koeman: background; Mesopotamia and Egypt; China and Japan; cartographic knowledge of the ancient Greeks and Romans; Moslem cartography; commercial motives for mapmaking; style and composition; history of cartographic techniques; map types. Part 2 Mathematical cartography, D.H. Maling: terms used to describe the mathematical framework of a map; the shape and size of the Earth; geographical co-ordinates; plane co-ordinate systems; methods of plotting the geometrical framework of a map; the nature of the errors of measurement and plotting; calculations involved in preparing a grid or graticule; fair drawing of the graticule; introduction to the theory of map projections; the fundamental properties of a map projection; the aspects of map projection; the special properties of a map projection; the main classes of map projections. Part 3 Theory of cartographic expression and design, B. Rouleau: the aims of cartographic expression and map reading; data capture, documentation and processing; graphic representation; rules of cartographic language; systems of cartographic representation. Part 4 Map drawing and lettering techniques, K. Kanazawa: instruments, tools and materials; drawing in ink; scribing; masks; stick-up and dry-transfer; lettering in Roman characters; lettering in Sino-Japanese characters; aspects of computer-assisted cartography. Part 5 Cartographic pre-press, press and post-press production, C. Palm and S. van der Steen: employed terminology; pre-press production; darkroom processes; ultra-violet (UV) processes; diazo; mask production; colour proof production; platemaking for map printing by offset lithography; silk-screen making and printing; image registration; map component assembly; reproduction by electronic means; paper; printing; finishing and presentation.