Top contributions to CaGIS

The top 10 articles downloaded from http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/acsm/cagis/  between December 2005 and November 2007 are, in order of full-text downloads:

1. Visualizing Geospatial Information Uncertainty: What We Know and What We Need to Know. By  Alan M. MacEachren, Anthony Robinson, Susan Hopper, Steven Gardner, Robert Murray, Mark Gahegan, and Elizabeth Hetzler.  2005. CaGIS 32(3): 139-160.  
2. Geovisualization and GIScience. By Menno-Jan Kraak and Alan M. MacEachren. 2005. CaGIS 32(2): 67-68. 
3. Automated Cartography in a Bush of Ghosts. By William A. Mackanes. 2006. CaGIS 33(4): 245-256.
4. Visualization of Qualitative Locations in Geographic Information Systems. By Xiaobai Yao and Bin Jiang. 2005. CaGIS 32(4): 219-229.
5. Evaluating the Usability of a Tool for Visualizing the Uncertainty of the Future Global Water Balance. By Terry A. Slocum, Daniel C. Cliburn, Johannes J. Feddema, and James R. Miller. 2003. CaGIS 30(4): 299-317.
6. Mobile Mapping and Geographic Information Systems. By Keith C. Clarke. 2004. CaGIS 31(3): 131-136.
7. Designing the Next Generation of Distributed, Geocollaborative Tools. By Wendy A. Schafer, Craig H. Ganoe, Lu  Xiao, Gabriel Coch, and John M. Carroll. 2005. CaGIS 32(2): 81-100.
8. ColorBrewer in Print: A Catalog of Color Schemes for Maps. By Cynthia A. Brewer, Geoggrey W. Hatchard, and Mark A. Harrower. 2003. CaGIS 30(1): 5-32.
9. A Prototype Temporal GIS for Multiple Spatio-Temporal Representations. By Yanfen Le. 2005. CaGIS 32(4). 315-329.
10. A GIS Analysis of the Relationship between Criminal Offenses and Parks in Kansas City, Kansas. By Nicole DeMotto and Caroline P. Davies. 2006. CaGIS 33(2): 141-157.

Articles most downloaded in November 2007, after an addition of part of the CaGIS backfile:

1.  Rethinking Levels of Measurement for Cartography. By Nicholas R. Chrisman. 1998. CaGIS 25(4): 231-242.
2. Cognitive Map-Design Research in the Twentieth Century: Theoretical and Empirical Approaches. By Daniel R. Montello. 2002. CaGIS 29(3): 283-304.
3. Dasymetric Mapping and Areal Interpolation: Implementation and Evaluation. By Cory L. Eicher and Cynthia A. Brewer. 2001. CaGIS 28(2): 125-138.
4. Perception of Spatial Dispersion in Point Distributions. By Yukio Sadahiro. 2000. CaGIS 27(1):  51-64.
5. ColorBrewer in Print: A Catalog of Color Schemes for Maps. By  Cynthia A. Brewer, Geoffrey  W. Hatchard, and Mark A. Harrower. 2003. CaGIS 30(1): 5-32.
6. Toward a Participatory GIS: Evaluation Case Studies of Participatory Rural Appraisal and GIS in the Developing World. By Brian H. King. 2002. CaGIS 29(1): 43-52.
7. Choosing Geographic Units for Choropleth Rate Maps, with an Emphasis on Public Health Applications. By Francis P. Boscoe and Linda W. Pickle. 2003. CaGIS 30(3): 237-248.
8. Individual Differences in Map Reading Spatial Abilities Using Perceptual Memory Processes. By Robert earl Lloyd and Rick L. Bunch. 2005. CaGIS 32(1): 33-46.
9. A Snake-based Approach for TIGER Road Data Conflation. By Wembo Song, Timothy L. Haithcoat, and James M. Keller. 2006. CaGIS 33(4): 287-298.
10. Daymentric Estimation of Population Density and Areal Interpolation of Census Data. By James B. Holt, C.P. Lo, and Thomas W. Hodler. 2004. CaGIS 31(4): 103-121.

The papers most downloaded in recent history of online CaGIS represent a wide range of cartographic interests and include work by a number of researchers with the highest name recognition in the field of cartography and GIScience.

The article published by Alan M. MacEachren and colleagues in the 32^nd volume [3^rd issue] of CaGIS was the most downloaded paper in the period under review. Its lead author,  Alan MacEachren, is credited with far-reaching research on visualization. Other top ranking authors publishing in CaGIS are Cynthia A. Brewer, acclaimed for her exhaustive research into the use of color in mapping; Terry Slocum whose research interest is in thematic cartography and visualization; Menno-Jan Kraak, a prominent Dutch researcher focusing on geovisualization and GIScience; and Keith C. Clarke, whose recent research focus has been on mobile mapping.

Among the topics, visualization and GIScience ranked prominently among the downloads of full-text articles, but other topics, such as dasymetric mapping, designing next-generation geo-collaborative tools, automated cartography (by William A. Mackanes), and color in mapping were equally of great interest. Nicholas R. Christman’s “Rethinking levels of measurement for cartography” (vol. 25(4), 1999) was the top article download in November 2007, indicating the immense interest in, and value of, providing the CaGIS backfile online.

Currently, the digitized backfile of CaGIS articles goes back to volume 20 (1993), when Cartography and Geographic Information Science was known as Cartography and Geographic Information Systems, and it is available on subscription [contact: mbaile@tsp.sheridan.com].

Ilse Genovese
CaGIS Managing Editor