Flow map
Encyclopedia
Flow maps in cartography
are by definition of Phan (2005) "a mix of map
s and flow charts, that show the movement of objects from one location to another, such as the number of people in a migration, the amount of goods being traded, or the number of packets in a network".
In contrast to route maps, flow maps show little from the paths form one point to another.
Flow Maps are one of the ten diagrams defined in Thinking Maps
.
there are several other kind of flow maps:
Cartography
Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.The fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to:*Set the map's...
are by definition of Phan (2005) "a mix of map
Map
A map is a visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes....
s and flow charts, that show the movement of objects from one location to another, such as the number of people in a migration, the amount of goods being traded, or the number of packets in a network".
Overview
Flow maps according to Harris (1999) "can be used to show movement of almost anything, including tangible things such as people, products, natural resources, weather, etc, as well as intangible things such as know-how, talent, credit of goodwill". Flow maps can indicate things like- What it is that flows, moves, migrates, etc.
- What direction the flow is moving and/or what the source and destination are.
- How much is flowing, being transferred, transported, etc.
- General information about what is flowing and how it is flowing.
In contrast to route maps, flow maps show little from the paths form one point to another.
Flow Maps are one of the ten diagrams defined in Thinking Maps
Thinking Maps
Thinking Maps are a set of graphic organizer techniques used in K-12 education . There are eight maps that are designed to correspond with eight different fundamental thinking processes...
.
Other types of flow maps
Beside the flow maps in cartographyCartography
Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.The fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to:*Set the map's...
there are several other kind of flow maps:
- Baker flow map of fluid flows
- Blood flow maps, see history of neuroimagingHistory of neuroimagingThe history of neuroimaging, began in the early 1900s with a technique called pneumoencephalography. This process involved draining the cerebrospinal fluid from around the brain and replacing it with air, altering the relative density of the brain and its surroundings, to cause it to show up...
- Flow map or solution operator, see random dynamical systemRandom dynamical systemIn mathematics, a random dynamical system is a measure-theoretic formulation of a dynamical system with an element of "randomness", such as the dynamics of solutions to a stochastic differential equation...
- Process flow map of a manufacturing process
- Sankey diagramSankey diagramSankey diagrams are a specific type of flow diagram, in which the width of the arrows is shown proportionally to the flow quantity. They are typically used to visualize energy or material or cost transfers between processes.-Application:...
in petroleum engineering - Traffic Flow Maps
- XSL flow maps, see XSL Formatting ObjectsXSL Formatting ObjectsXSL Formatting Objects, or XSL-FO, is a markup language for XML document formatting which is most often used to generate PDFs. XSL-FO is part of XSL , a set of W3C technologies designed for the transformation and formatting of XML data. The other parts of XSL are XSLT and XPath...
Further reading
- Borden D. Dent (1999). Cartography : Thematic map design. McGraw-Hill. New York. 1999.
- Alan MacEachrenAlan MacEachrenAlan M. MacEachren is an American geographer, Professor of Geography and Director, GeoVISTA Center, Department of Geography, The Pennsylvania State University. He is known for his cross-disciplinary work in the fields of human-centered geographic visualization, scientific and information...
. (1995). How maps work: Representation, Visualization, and Design. Guilford Press. New York. - Robert L. Harris (1999). Information Graphics. Oxford University Press US
External links
- Flow Map Layout
- CSISS/Flow Mapper Software from Waldo R. ToblerWaldo R. ToblerWaldo Tobler is an American-Swiss geographer and cartographer. Tobler's idea that "Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related to each other" is referred to as the "first law of geography." Tobler is a Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Santa Barbara...
- Flowmap 7.3
- JFlowMap - Flow map visualization tool