CARTOGRAPHY IN UNIVERSITY EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM

摘要

Cartography as a scientific and educational subject in universities is in a crisis in many countries. The development of digital technology has introduced new fields like Geoinformatics/Geoinformation Science and even some academics seem to think that Cartography is something old fashioned and as a university curriculum can be replaced or at least included in Geoinformatics or GIS. In this paper the emphasis is in the opinion to Cartography educational programs should be strengthened. The need for cartographic knowledge is all the time increasing. However, the contents of the curriculum should be carefully designed and the educational goal consciously defined. Cartography curriculum should be developed - not overlapping but parallel - with the curriculum of Geoinformatics. As an example of educational program in Cartography the curriculum of Cartography and Geoinformatics Helsinki University of Technology is introduced. Cartography and Geoinformatics are both individual majors and their educational contents are different. Because the teaching environment is Technical University the difference is even more clear. However, it shows that Cartography has contents enough to be an individual subject and field of science and a clear difference between Cartography and Geoinformatics can and should be recognized.