Visualizing a Map of Walter Christaller, Poland 1941: Part I, Benchmarking the Map

Once the zipped file is downloaded, launch index.html in your internet browser window.One complex system from the early 20th century in the history of geography is the development, by Walter Christaller, of a theory of settlement locations: central place theory. The communication of his ideas is in the printed format of the times. There are black and white maps of complex systems of pattern; they tell one story. What might they look like, however, when recast using contemporary capability? How might this capability expand the research frontier? This sequence of images and text examines a single map of Christaller, from a 1941 document, and brings it into the virtual reality of Google Earth®. When the reader downloads the zipped file, the power of the Internet is harnessed to permit him/her to replicate the results of the article while reading it and to experiment with related ideas at the same time. Such capability is an important aspect of scientific communication.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/58310/1/Germany.zi