Analysis and concept
Afterwards, within the analysis and concept phase, the foundations for the next steps,
the design of the map and the map content are determined. The analysis of the topic and the
elaboration of the theme structure form the mental basis, which is followed by thoughts such
as:
- Familiarization of the topic, researching and determining which sources to use (e.g.
reports, literature, atlases, magazines, but also newspaper articles and possibly domain
experts to address specific questions).
- Which questions should be answered by the map later-on? Which geometric reference does
the attribute data have? Do they reference points, lines or areas? Are the data of nominal,
ordinal or numerical scale? On which level should these information be made available to
the user, depending on the user group?
- According to Imhof (1972) ordering, classifying
and summarizing provides the structure of the content, which has to be set to the beginning
of each mapping project, because it is part of the mental preparation. The graphical
construction is undertaken at a later point in time.