Abstract: At its heart, making maps involves simplifying reality to help us navigate and to explain our world. Cartographers are trained in the art and science of shaping spatial data to support a wide range of user needs. The rise of AI begs us to consider how the process of designing geovisualizations should change. AI also offers the potential to serve as an interactive assistant to help people understand what they see in a geographic visualization. In this talk, I highlights results from recent efforts to envision how cartographers might use AI, as well as ongoing work to leverage AI approaches for improving map accessibility for people who are blind or visually-impaired. I conclude with reflections on why automating cartographic design is hard, and why I think it might remain that way despite the promises of AI.

Bio: Dr. Anthony Robinson is E. Willard & Ruby S. Miller Professor of Geography, Director of Online Geospatial Education Programs, and Director of the GeoGraphics Lab at Penn State. His research focuses broadly on designing and evaluating geovisualization tools to improve geographic information utility and usability. Using methods that draw upon Human-Computer Interaction studies, his research has focused on contexts like epidemiology, crisis management, higher education, and ecology. Dr. Robinson is the current Chair of the American Association of Geographers Cartography & Mapping Specialty Group, a past-President of the North American Cartographic Information Society, and vice-Chair of the International Cartographic Association Commission on Geovisualization.

---

IPaT: GVU Lunch Lecture Series