Technical quality of the Mexican Volcanic Belt cartography: an analysis in thesis and geoscience publications of the UNAM, 1980–2000

Abstract

The Mexican Volcanic Belt (MVB) is a region of great interest, mainly due to its unique interaction of geodynamic phenomena in combination with the concentration of population and its activities. The knowledge of the MVB has increased through the integration of maps in different scales, from regional to local scale. This study presents a quality assessment of the cartography of the MVB published from 1980 to 2000. In particular, we analyzed those maps included in thesis from undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as all the cartography published by earth sciences research institutes at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). The data were obtained from a bibliographic review of thesis, institutional cartography and journals. The assessment also served as a feasibility study for the integration of already published cartography into a spatial database derived from digitized maps. Geological, geomorphological and geophysical maps were evaluated using the MVB as a representative sample of current cartographic production. Thus, a quantitative evaluation was carried out by means of a statistical analysis and comparison against a pre-defined set of cartographic attributes, which were grouped into four different categories: identification, mathematic basis, representation and special elements. Some particular combinations of these attributes were used for basic and rigorous assessments, and served as quality indicators. The mathematic basis group showed the lowest grade. Absence of these cartographic attributes crates a serious problem for the integration of a spatial database, because they are key elements for any re-projections or coordinate transformations, as well as for its geographic registration. In general, those maps included in thesis dissertations had a lower quality grade compared to those published by research institutes. Potential problems that may be faced during map digitalization, spatial database integration, and map production are described. Finally, some solutions related to projections are proposed, which can be implemented to systematize processing task into new cartographic products.