National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis

Animation is an important method of communicating information that lends itself to cartographic display. Exploration of this medium resides at the forefront of cartographic research. The purpose of this project has been to develop a viable cartographic animation process employing hardware and software currently available in the Geographic Information and Analysis Laboratory (GIAL) at the Department of Geography, State University of New York at Buffalo. Successful utilization of the process has produced an animation that displays the spatial distribution of average yearly surface temperatures across the U.S. for the 90 year period, 1897 through 1986. The production of an animated surface temperature map was prompted by personal concern about the possibility of global warming resulting from increased concentrations of anthropogenic greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. Understanding of this greenhouse phenomenon and its consequences is dependent upon the dissemination of information regarding the event and its consequences. Animated cartography offers the opportunity to communicate in such a manner.