Alan M. MacEachren (born 1952) is an American
geographer
A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...
, Professor of
Geography
Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...
and Director, GeoVISTA Center, Department of Geography, The
Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...
. He is known for his cross-disciplinary work in the fields of human-centered
geographic visualization,
scientific
Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
and
information visualization
Data and information visualization (data viz/vis or info viz/vis) is the practice of designing and creating Graphics, graphic or visual Representation (arts), representations of a large amount of complex quantitative and qualitative data and i ...
, and in
statistics
Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...
.
Biography
Alan MacEachren received a B.A. in
geography
Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...
in 1974 at the
Ohio University
Ohio University (Ohio or OU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Athens, Ohio, United States. The university was first conceived in the 1787 contract between the United States Department of the Treasury#Re ...
, an M.A. in geography in 1976 from the
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...
and a Ph.D. in geography 1979 from University of Kansas.
From 1979 to 1983, he was Assistant Professor of Geography at the
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...
and Director of the Department of Geography Cartography Laboratory. From 1980 to 1983, he was Director of the Department of Geography Spatial Analysis Laboratory, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. In 1983, he became Assistant Professor of Geography at the
University of Colorado-Boulder
The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University o ...
and in 1985 switched to Associate Professor of Geography and Director of the Deasy GeoGraphics Laboratory at the
Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...
, where he worked until 1992. From 1992, he was Professor of Geography, and since 1998 Director, GeoVISTA Center, Department of Geography, Penn State University. In Fall 2007, he was Visiting Professor, Department of Computer Science,
Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
, and since 2007 also Affiliate Professor of Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State University.
Awards for Alan MacEachren in 2004-2007 include the E. Willard and Ruby S. Miller Professor of Geography, College of Earth and Mineral Science, Penn State University. He became an Honorary Fellow of the
International Cartographic Association
The International Cartographic Association (ICA) (, ''ACI'') is an organization formed of national member organizations, to provide a forum for issues and techniques in cartography and geographic information science (GIScience). ICA was founde ...
in 2005, making him only the sixth Fellow from the U.S. since 1974. In 2004, he was also recognized for Exceptional Scholarly Contributions to the Practice of Cartography, by the Canadian Cartographic Association.
See also
*
2.5D
*
Animated mapping
*
Figure-ground in map design
Figure-ground contrast, in the context of map design, is a property of a map in which the map image can be partitioned into a single feature or type of feature that is considered as an object of attention (the ''figure''), with the remainder of t ...
*
History of cartography
Maps have been one of the most important human inventions, allowing humans to explain and navigate their way. When and how the earliest maps were made is unclear, but maps of local terrain are believed to have been independently invented by man ...
*
Spatial analysis
Spatial analysis is any of the formal Scientific technique, techniques which study entities using their topological, geometric, or geographic properties, primarily used in Urban design, Urban Design. Spatial analysis includes a variety of techni ...
*
Theresa-Marie Rhyne
Publications
Alan MacEachren has written several books and articles. A selection:
Alan M. MacEachren
List of publications from the DBLP Bibliography Server.
* 1994. ''Visualization in modern cartography''. With D.R. Fraser (ed.). Taylor.
* 1995. ''How maps work : representation, visualization, and design '' How maps work : representation,
* 1994. ''Some truth with maps : a primer on symbolization and design''
* 1997. ''Rediscovering Geography: New Relevance for the New Century''. With 13 other authors. Washington, D. C.: National Academy of Science Press.
* 2005. ''Exploring Geovisualization''. With Jason Dykes and M.J. Kraak. International Cartographic Association.
* 2005. ''Illuminating the Path: The Research and Development Agenda for Visual Analytics''. With 25 other authors. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Department of Homeland Security.
References
External links
Alan M. MacEachren
Director, GeoVISTA Center. The Pennsylvania State University.
by Robert Kosara, 2007-04-03.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maceachren, Alan
1952 births
American geographers
Historians of cartography
Living people
Data and information visualization experts