FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF BUILT ENVIRONMENT

SYLLABUS
1. PROGRAMME : BSc Land Surveying
2. SUBJECT : Land Surveying
3. LEVEL OF STUDY : 1
4. COURSE TITLE : Introduction to Cartography
5. COURSE CODE : BLIC 1203
6. DURATION : 14 weeks
7. PRESENTED TO : Senate
8. PRESENTED BY : Dean, Faculty of Environmental
Sciences
9. LECTURE HOURS PER WEEK : 4
10. TUTORIALS/SEMINARS PER WEEK : 1
11. PRACTICALS HOURS PER WEEK : 3 (these may be staggered in three
weeks)
12. STUDENT INDEPENDENT LEARNING HOURS:11
13. TOTAL COURSE CREDITS : 16
14. PRE-REQUISITE COURSE CODE : None
15. CO-REQUISITECOURSE CODE : None
16. DELIVERY METHODS :
16.1. Mode of delivery : Face to face
16.2. Teaching Methods : Lectures, Tutorial and Practical
17. ASSESSMENT METHODS : Continuous and Final Examination
18. ASSESSMENT WEIGHTING : Continuous 40%
Examination 60%
19. AIM(S) OF THE COURSE:
To equip students with basic theory and practice of map making
20. COURSE OBJECTIVE(S):
At the end of the course students should be able to:
  Produce sketch plans, layout plans, working plans, deed plans & maps
 Select and design map elements
21. TOPICS OF STUDY:
1. An overview of cartography (history, current status, definitions) assignment
2. Basic mapping principles (scale, projections, spatial reference systems)
3. Elements of map design and layout (map types, lettering)
4. Cartographic analysis (data sources, cartographic reasoning, thematic analysis)
5. Map abstraction (classification, simplification, exaggeration, symbolization,
generalization)
6. Cartographic communication (visualization, map production process)
The impact of new technologies on cartography (GIS, RS, Internet)
7. Cartography and society (how to lie with maps, truths about maps, cartographic
ethics)
8. Coordinate systems
9. Map Projections
10. Derivation of formula and calculation of azimuth distance and area on the projections
for specialized purposes
11. Datums
Lab Outline: Map reading, Assignment on Types of Maps, Understanding of survey of Malawi
symbology and Development of Symbol Charts, Development of Graphical Map Projections,
Large to small scale map conversion, Data classification and Thematic Mapping, Map composite
development, Assignment on misleading cartography
22. PRESCRIBED TEXTS
Gretchen N. Peterson. 2009. GIS Cartography: A Guide to Effective Map Design
Menno-Jan Kraak, Ferjan Ormeling. 2010. Cartography: Visualization of Geospatial Data, 3rd
Edition
1.23. RECOMMENDED TEXTS:
Stefan Hahmann, Dirk Burghardt (auth.), Advances in Cartography and GIScience. Volume 1:
Selection from ICC 2011, Paris Anne Ruas
Monmonier, M. and De Blij, H., 1996, How to Lie with Maps.
MacEachren, A., 1995, How Maps Work.
Slocum, T. A., McMaster, R.B., Kessler, Fritz.C and Howard, H.H., 2005, Thematic
Cartography and Visualisation, Upper Saddle River, London,
This course outline was approved by Senate on