Titova S.
PhD on geography, assistant professor, Geography faculty, Geodesy and
cartography chair, Kyiv National University named after Taras Shevchenko, Kyiv,
Ukraine
Dudun T.
PhD on geography, assistant professor, Geography faculty, Geodesy and
cartography chair, Kyiv National University named after Taras Shevchenko, Kyiv,
Ukraine
CARTOGRAPHIC METHOD OF RESEARCH – FROM MENTALITY
AND PRACTICE TO SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
Introduction. Modern cartography is an exciting cognitive science which using
the maps explores the spatial placement of phenomena of nature and society, their
connections and dynamics; a science able to penetrate mechanism of processes
functioning in time and space, to forecast its further development. In the last decades
rapid progress of cartography and adjacent to it disciplines have led to appearance of
new methods, technologies, cartography directions and creation of new cartographic
compositions. Today cartography can hardly be imagined without close cooperation
with aerospace sounding, geoinformatics and telecommunications. E-maps and
electronic atlases, animations, 3D cartographical models and other geo-images become
custom means of research for geographers, geologists, ecologists and other specialists.
The possibility to use geographical maps as means of research is known for long. Since
ancient times till nowadays maps serve to systemize knowledge, create theories and
develop philosophic ideas of the world.
Historical aspects of cartography development witness that, from one side, maps
reflected the successes in cognizing the surrounding world by man, from the other side,
gave the opportunity to explore the real world, to solve numerous practical, and
sometimes, scientific tasks with their help. The first examples of using maps with
scientific goals refer to XVIII – XIX centuries, when systematization of voluminous
factual materials, accumulated in sciences about the Earth, caused the creation of first
thematic maps, which gave a boost to new researches. Namely by maps some
discoveries were made, as: geographical zonality of natural phenomena, regularity of
annual and age fluctuations of the Earth’s magnetic field, big magnetic anomalies,
similarity in the continents’ abris etc. Maps are used to study interconnections of
objects, their structure, development in space and time, foresee the placement and
development of objects. In the process of usage maps perform different functions:
•
Communicative one, which means storing and transferring spatial information
about the surrounding world;
- 270 -