The art of autostereoscopic relief representation in cartography

Abstract

When regarding autostereoscopic cartographic products displaying relief forms, it is not only the art aspect per se which makes these embodiments so appealing but also the aesthetic rendition of landforms. “3D in cartography” is simply attractive, a well-known fact recently corroborated by statistic investigations. The combination of a balanced tinting of elevation zones, a delicate hill-shading and a naturally looking vertical exaggeration is basically a matter of hard skills in software handling. It comprises, however, also a good portion of aesthetic feeling and intuition, which goes beyond the requirements for flat paper maps, to make the depicted landscape relief look attractive. The capability of autostereoscopic lenticular foil maps to let the letterings and map symbols hover above the terrain, even at different height levels, is an additional feature with an artistic whiff. The paper represents state-of-the-art examples and is meant as an invocation to consider maps, also true-3D maps, not only as a piece of hard-or softcopy geo-information but as a piece of art, too.