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Designing sound in cybercartography: from structured cinematic narratives tounpredictable sound/image interactionsS. Caquard a; G. Brauen a; B. Wright b; P. Jasen b

a Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre (GCRC), Department of Geography and EnvironmentalStudies, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada b Institute for Comparative Studies in Literature, Art and Culture(ICSLAC), Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

First Published:2008

To cite this Article Caquard, S., Brauen, G., Wright, B. and Jasen, P.(2008)'Designing sound in cybercartography: from structuredcinematic narratives to unpredictable sound/image interactions',International Journal of Geographical Information Science,22:11,1219— 1245

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Research Article

Designing sound in cybercartography: from structured cinematicnarratives to unpredictable sound/image interactions

S. CAQUARD*{, G. BRAUEN{, B. WRIGHT{ and P. JASEN{{Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre (GCRC), Department of Geography and

Environmental Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

{Institute for Comparative Studies in Literature, Art and Culture (ICSLAC), Carleton

University, Ottawa, Canada

(Received 10 January 2008; in final form 10 January 2008 )

In this paper we draw on the analysis of sound in film theory in order to explore

the potential that sound offers cybercartography. We first argue that the

theoretical body developed in film studies is highly relevant to the study of sound/

image relationships in mapmaking. We then build on this argument to develop

experimental animated and interactive sound maps for the Cybercartographic

Atlas of Antarctica that further explore the potential of sound for integrating

emotional, cultural and political dimensions in cartography. These maps have

been designed to recreate cinematic soundscapes, to provide contrapuntal

perspectives on the cartographic image and to generate an aural identity of the

atlas. As part of this experimental mapping, an innovative sound infrastructure is

being developed to allow complex sound designs to be transmitted over the

Internet as part of atlas content. Through this infrastructure the user can select as

well as contribute his own sounds. The overall cartographic message is becoming

less predictable, thus opening new perspectives on the way we design, interact

with, and modify sounded maps over the Internet.

Keywords: Cybercartography; Sound map; Internet sound infrastructure;

Geospatial narratives; Film theory

1. Introduction

In the contemporary world, sight continues to offer the primary means throughwhich we map our multisensory environment. As pointed out by Norman (2004,

p. 56) ‘the conventional map does its visible work without a murmur. And nobody

complains, although if in reality the world fell completely silent, we would stop and

shake out our ears in disbelief.’ While the conventional map remains silent and

visual, the importance of sound for better understanding, exploring and representing

geospatial processes is slowly making its way into mapmaking. While Murray

Schafer’s foundational maps of the soundscape (1977) remained—perhaps

ironically—primarily silent, map and sound are now being linked together in arange of ways for a variety of purposes. Synthetic voices are used with GPS maps to

give directions to car drivers or to visually impaired people. Didactic voices illustrate

maps on videos and DVDs just like animated maps illustrate narratives in

documentaries. Artists combine sound with maps to convey emotions and

*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]

International Journal of Geographical Information Science

Vol. 22, Nos. 11–12, November–December 2008, 1219–1245

International Journal of Geographical Information ScienceISSN 1365-8816 print/ISSN 1362-3087 online # 2008 Taylor & Francis

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perceptions that are geospatial in character. In small communities, artists and

residents annotate maps of their neighborhood with audio and video files in order to

influence the way their community is represented, perceived and understood. With

recent Internet applications such as Google map and the resulting multiple ‘mash-

ups’, these local audio snapshots are now populating annotated maps of the world

widely available through the Internet. Citizens, artists, activists, journalists,

planners, or private companies are now able to mix sound with maps in many

different ways for many different purposes.

Paradoxically, sound remains largely under-theorized in cartography as noticed

by Glenn Brauen and Fraser Taylor (2007). Although sound has been present in

multimedia cartography for a couple of decades, the cartographic literature on how

to apply sound is not well developed. As Paul Theberge (2005, p. 398) points out:

the recent literature on sonification continues to address many of the same issues that

preoccupied its predecessors: these include discussions of the psychological and

cognitive aspects of sound, the mapping of data onto sound variables […], using sound

to provide feedback to enhance user interaction, processing sound to provide spatial

cues, and developing sonic resources for the visually impaired, among others.

Without undermining the value and the importance of these kinds of approaches, it

is also important to conceptualize sound as an opportunity to bring different spatial

dimensions into cartographic representations, including those that address emotion,

culture and memory. This potential can radically transform the design, use,

perception and function of sounded maps and contribute to the emergence of new

forms of cartographic expression.

In this paper we explore a range of these transformations through a multi-

disciplinary approach of the sound/image interaction in contemporary cartography.

The experience of sound in film is extremely well documented and provides us with

the theoretical framework for our research. In the first section we present some of

the sound/image relationships theorized in film studies and video games, focusing

more specifically on three major aural codes: voice, sound effects and music. In the

second section we present and discuss examples of the use of each of these aural

codes in the context of the design of the Cybercartographic Atlas of Antarctica.

Finally, in the third section we discuss more specifically issues and opportunities

provided by the delivery of sound maps over the Internet. This overall structure

highlights the idea that we are theorizing a range of uses for sound in cartography

ranging from a cinematic synchronized association of sound and image in

mapmaking toward a much more flexible and less controlled use of sound in

cybercartography. Just like the integration of sound in movies in the 1930s radically

transformed cinema, the integration of sounds in maps offers the possibility of

radically transforming the discipline of cartography. This paper aims to explore

some of the issues and potentialities related to these changes.

2. Sound theory in cinema studies and video games

There are a number of means through which one can analyze and theorize the use of

sound in maps. One that is particularly valuable draws on sound theory in cinema

studies. Indeed, the primary aim of this section is to explore the ways in which sound

functions in audiovisual media including cinema and television. While this brief

discussion is not meant to provide an exhaustive understanding of the soundtrack, it

1220 S. Caquard et al.


is important to highlight the various categories of sound that shape the narrative

function of cinema and, by corollary, interactive frameworks. Despite the relative

paucity of academic literature on the subject, this section will provide a basic archive

of theoretical models of sound in cinema, which can be applied to the expanding

field of sound maps.

The dynamics of contemporary audiovisual media is most easily understood if

one mutes the soundtrack to a contemporary film. When sound is evacuated, not

only does narrative comprehension become more difficult, but also the third

dimension of the audiovisual apparatus effectively collapses. Imagine watching Star

Wars (George Lucas, 1977) without hearing the portentous and cavernous voice of

Darth Vader, or experiencing the shower scene from Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock,

1960) without the violent strains of Bernard Herrmann’s musical score. When the

soundtrack is muted, not only are visual images deprived of their aural identity, but

aural images are erased entirely. These aural images are made up of sounds that lack

a concrete visual identity: they exist solely on the soundtrack in the form of music,

voice-over, or pure sonic atmosphere. Michel Chion has argued that the aural image

‘carries with it vision that are more beautiful than images could ever be’ (Chion

1994, p. 137). In Days of Heaven (Terence Malick, 1979), the sounds of wind, rain,

insects, and farm machinery are established on the soundtrack without any visual

representation. As well, the dense soundscapes of television shows such as Lost

(ABC) and Law and Order (NBC) add a sense of spatial depth at which visual

imagery can only hint.

While the academic study of cinema has traditionally favored the image, it is

important to consider the soundtrack as an equal partner to the visual apparatus. In

a certain sense, the visual bias in cinema studies is ironic, given that sound has been

a part of the cinematic experience since the inception of the medium in the late

nineteenth century. Even though synchronized sound only became an industry

standard in the late 1920s, Thomas Edison produced a short in 1894 that joined the

sound of a live violin with the image of the man playing the same instrument. In

addition, in the so-called ‘silent’ era, which spanned nearly 30 years, theaters rarely

played films silently. Instead, live musicians would provide background music, and,

in some cases, live narration and sound effects would join the otherwise silent

images. However, when one considers the cinematic medium, it is often with respect

to the image: audiences don’t ‘listen’ to movies, they ‘watch’ them. Moreover, the

degree to which film theory has relied on this visual bias is well noted in the annals

of the academy, yet only recently have theorists attempted to explore the

psychological, emotional, and narrative salience of the soundtrack. Gianluca Sergi

(1999) writes of the persistent visual bias:

One of the reasons why film is still regarded as a visual medium is not because of some

intrinsically universal quality but because of the image crafts’ ability to allow audiences

to appropriate and make their own the vernacular of those crafts. Thus, scholars and

critics feel right at home when using terms that professionals use: pan, close-up, frame,

dolly, p.o.v, etc. This is the antithesis of sound where, music aside, scholars, critics and

everyday audiences are at a loss as to how to talk about the most basic aspects of the

soundtrack.

To complicate matters, the contemporary film soundtrack is often a densely layered

palette of sounds, ranging from the familiar to the alien, from the sensual to the

abrasive. In many ways, sound assaults the listener.

Designing sound in cybercartography 1221


With this in mind, it is important to forge an understanding of the technical and

aesthetic framework that comprises soundtrack construction. How are sounds

organized? What role do sounds play in a narrative context? In order to properly

address these questions, we must deconstruct the soundtrack at a theoretical and

practical level. We must investigate the ways in which voices, music, and sound

effects shape the contours of the soundtrack.

The soundtrack is very similar to R. Murray Schafer’s conception of the

soundscape. Schafer (1994, p. 7) has argued that ‘The soundscape is any acoustic

field of study. We may speak of a musical composition as a soundscape, or a radio

program as a soundscape or an acoustic environment as a soundscape. We can

isolate an acoustic environment as a field of study just as we can study the

characteristics of a given landscape.’ The isolation of the soundtrack reveals a

number of sonic features that the analyst must investigate. There are dominant

sounds, fleeting sounds, and sounds that blend together. Sound can create depth and

space the way that the image can only suggest. The expansive landscape in Gerry

(Gus Van Sant, 2004) is characterized by the relentless hum of the wind, which

deepens the characters’ despair and isolation. Sound can provide tactile sensations

through an enhanced bass response, thereby ‘touching’ the listener from a distance.

The footsteps of the giant, imposing Orcs in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

(Peter Jackson, 2002) are not only heard, but felt by the listener.

More fundamentally, the soundscape of audiovisual media is like any other text in

that it communicates a narrative. Indeed, Hollywood cinema has relied on the clear

communication of narrative information since the 1910s. In this respect, sound has

been subject to a hierarchy that depends on the clear transference of story

information. Voice retains the top position, while music and sound effects follow.

Since dialogue is primarily responsible for communicating story elements, it

dominates the soundscape in many situations. However, music and sound effects

serve an equal purpose in communicating specific narrative ideas. The examples

from Gerry and The Lord of the Rings demonstrate a key function of sound effects,

while the music in Psycho attests to the dramatic and emotional resonance provided

by musical underscore. Therefore, while the soundtrack may at times be in service to

a narrative, it actively participates in shaping the contours of the story through aural

textures.

The tone of the voice can impact the narrative more than the words it speaks. This

is most evident in the voice-over, a category of sound in cinema that is characterized

by a vocal entity that is off-screen. The most famous of voice-overs is the voice-of-

God in the documentary tradition. The voice-of-God is usually an outside observer

to the narrative action, perhaps the filmmaker. The voice-of-God can be stern,

dramatic, and imposing, and is conventionally male, thus reflecting gender biases in

society at large. It can also be gently authoritative, subtly subversive, and sometimes

eerily powerless. These qualities are a result of the timbral features of the voice, its

tone, and inflection. However, a voice-of-God narrator is not necessary in order to

tell a story. On-screen and off-screen voices can communicate information with

equal efficacy. Ray Liotta’s impassioned voice-over narration in Goodfellas (Martin

Scorcese, 1990) imparted not only vital story information, but also communicated

intensity, drama, and pathos that furthers the audience’s understanding of the film’s

thematic structure.

The role of music in the cinematic soundscape is often a complex stratagem of

dramatic and functional modes. The differences between diegetic and non-diegetic



music provides a useful entry into this field. While diegetic music refers to music that

is presented within the actual space of the narrative, non-diegetic music is

traditionally understood as music that exists outside the fiction, and is often used

to provide commentary and dramatic resonance. In Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975),

the two-note double bass figure that signifies the presence of the shark is coded as

non-diegetic since the characters cannot actually hear this music. The Jaws motif

represents a tradition in film music that is often referred to as the ‘leitmotiv’. Scott

Paulin (2000) has written about the connection between Richard Wagner’s use of the

leitmotif principle in his operas and its implementation in Hollywood cinema. Paulin

(2000, p. 68) argues that ‘The notion that Wagner’s music is representational ‘‘in the

minutest detail’’ is a common misreading of leitmotif technique as unambiguously

denotative, whereas it can be more revealing to see the Wagnerian Motiv [‘leitmotif’

is a word not used by Wagner himself] as carrying a semiotic excess that resists strict

denotation.’ Paulin suggests that some commentators such as Kracauer and Harry

Potamkin criticized ‘overconcordance’, preferring anti-parallelist strategies of

accompaniment—a criticism that would extend to the sound period and the work

of Max Steiner, Bernard Herrmann (from the 1930s to the 1960s), and more recently

with the work of John Williams ‘being denigrated as ‘‘mickey-mousing’’ for its

cartoonish mimicry of the image’ (Paulin 2000, p. 69). However, Rick Altman and

Paulin suggest that this ‘redundancy’ in parallelism is not entirely accurate. Paulin

suggests that ‘Sound and image validate—not duplicate—each other, and together

disguise the material heterogeneity of the ‘‘whole’’. Sound/image parallelism

involves the mutual invisibility of visual ‘‘work’’ and inaudibility of soundtrack

‘‘work’’ in the service of creating a realist illusion’ (2000, p. 73). Thus, film music

extends the concept Wagner developed about a totality of opera.

Sound effects represent the last element of the sonic hierarchy that will be

examined here, but remain the most theoretically under-developed aspect of the

soundtrack. In a broad sense, sound effects constitute all the sounds in the diegetic

environment, from raindrops and thunder to city noise and distant conversations.

They hide in the corners of the theater at very low volume or overtake the sound

space in a thunderous cacophony. Chion (1994, p. 155) suggests that in

contemporary films the traditional voice, music, sound effect hierarchy is being

reworked:

With the new place that noises occupy, speech is no longer central to films. Speech

tends to be reinscribed in a global sensory continuum that envelops it, and that occupies

both kinds of space, auditory and visual. This represents a turnaround from sixty years

ago: the acoustical poverty of the soundtrack during the earliest stage of sound film led

to the privileging of precoded sound elements, that is, language and music—at the

expense of the sounds that were pure indices of reality and materiality, that is, noises.

Music can mask itself as sound effects, just as vocal performances could constitute

effects: in the last reel of Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991) music and

atmospheric rumbling coalesce to create an eerie sound space in the basement of the

film’s serial killer. Chion (1994, p. 145) has further noted that ‘noises, those humble

footsoldiers, have remained the outcasts of theory, having been assigned a purely

utilitarian and figurative value and consequently neglected.’ Yet, the noises of the

environment provide the aural identity to the cinematic soundscape. As effects, these

sounds are not merely decorative but can serve a dramatic function, as noted with

the example from The Lord of the Rings. Ambient effects, those ephemeral sounds



that pervade the soundspace, constitute a key feature of the soundtrack. Ambiences

fold themselves around the voice to enhance the reverberant space of the diegesis, or

they can signify the empty and desolate psychological landscape as in Days of

Heaven (Terence Malick, 1979).

The dynamic nature of contemporary video game soundtracks offers an intriguing

parallel to modern cinema sound. Game audio engineers and editors have integrated

the aesthetic models of construction and immersion established by film sound

editors in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The interactive environments of many games

feature immersive sound designs that attempt to situate the game player within the

game itself. Indeed, the experiential qualities that characterize games such as Medal

of Honor (1999, Electronic Arts) are bound to an industrial mode of representation

and production, which is rooted in Hollywood sound practice (for a comprehensive

history of Hollywood sound practice, see Altman 1992).

Despite a growing corpus of work on game audio, much of this emerging research

concentrates on game music, specifically the non-diegetic orchestral underscore that

accompanies games such as Medal of Honor (see Kassabian 2003, Troubie 2004).

Music constitutes only one component of the aural template, with dialogue and

sound effects rounding out the ‘Holy Trinity’ of game sound. In much the same way

that film sound is hierarchized based on narrative clarity, game audio follows a

similar design. Building sounds one layer at a time, game audio editors respect the

unwritten codes of Hollywood sound track construction, established during the

conversion period of the 1930s (Lastra 2000). The narrative importance of dialogue

to communicate story information ensures that voice dominates the sound track.

Localizable sound effects such as the footsteps of an approaching enemy constitute a

dominant role as well, leaving music and ambient sounds to ‘fill out’ the sound

space.

One of the key features to contemporary video games is aural immersion. Rob

Bridgett has written several articles on game audio immersion. He has suggested

that silence and ‘low-key sound effects’ in addition to ‘maximal’ volume can

augment a player’s perception of a game and elicit various emotional responses

(Bridgett 2007). His desire for dynamic range in game audio leads him to contrast

the subtle nuances of a film soundtrack to the ‘faster, louder’ ethos of game audio

designers.

To be sure, the implementation and design of an immersive ‘surround’ game

environment is not entirely similar to film sound. The interactivity of game play

necessitates a different approach by game audio editors, who must anticipate and

design a variety of potential sound scenarios. However, the simulation of a three-

dimensional sound field remains tethered to the cinema’s industrial and aesthetic

mode of production.

This brief discussion of the cinematic and gaming sound has attempted to explore

the various ways in which sound affects the form and function of narrative. Taken

as a soundscape, the soundtrack is more than a mixture of voices, music, and effects:

it is the aural landscape of the diegesis. It not only shapes the space of the image, but

informs the dramatic function of the narrative. The sound of cinema can be solid or

liquid, loud or soft, large or small, textured or flat, tactile or invisible. If it is muted,

however, it evaporates into the ether and the audience is left with a flat, two-

dimensional image.

Based on our reading of cinema and game sound design, we propose that sound

has the potential to communicate narrative information, to enhance emotional



engagement, and to create environmental ambiences. Adding interactivity, the user

can manipulate the space of the sound map with the click of a mouse and navigate

through different soundscapes. Voices, music, and sound effects can serve a linear

narrative or can be organized and controlled by the user and/or author to suit

educational or entertainment needs.

3. Designing sound for the Cybercartographic Atlas of Antarctica

3.1 Cinema and cartography

Christian Jacob (1992, p. 97) envisions cartographic atlases as a way to reconcile the

general and the specific through a cumulative and analytical logic providing a distinct

view of the world that is both ‘‘intellectual and encyclopedic’’. As highlighted by

Theresa Castro (2005), this approach is made possible by the structure of atlases based

on the idea of cutting. In traditional atlases, geographical entities such as continents,

regions or countries are cut out and dissociated from the spatio-temporal continuum

in which they are in reality located. Castro argues that this cutting imposes a framing

and an assembly generating an impression of progression from the reader’s point of

view either at the level of the represented space or of the study/reading of the atlas as a

whole. This impression of progression is derived from the logic that prevailed during

the organization of the maps in the atlas. This logic, which is neither random nor

objective, generates specific rhythms as well as feelings of slowing down or accelerating

(Castro 2005, p. 3). These notions of framing, assembling, structure, rhythm and

progression lead Jacob (1992) to consider atlases as being cinematographic.

The emergence of electronic atlases and virtual globes is transforming the nature

of this cinematographic analogy. These new forms of atlases provide highly

interactive ways of panning and zooming, discarding any needs for spatial cutting.

They also integrate two novel dimensions inherently that are cinematographic:

animation and sound.

The development of animated cartography through the twentieth century has

been influenced by cinematographic techniques and concepts (see Campbell and

Egbert 1990). Animated maps appeared in cinema long before cartographers

became interested in them (Harrower 2004). It was only in the 1960s that

cartographers started to consider seriously the potential of animated maps as a

means for conveying spatial information more efficiently. Cinema provided a source

of inspiration for this purpose. For example, the set of cartographic dynamic

variables developed by David Dibiase et al. (1992) and completed by Alan

MacEachren (1994) were inspired from Christian Metz’s (1968) cinematographic

typology developed to characterize the temporal visual manipulations in movies

(MacEachren 1995, p. 237). While cinematographic concepts and techniques have

shaped animated cartography, the same does not hold true for sonified cartography.

We believe, none the less, that cinema could have had an influence on sonified

cartography. In fact, maps that have appeared in movies have often been associated

to different kinds of sounds. In Cartographic Cinema, Tom Conley (2006) provides

different examples of sound/map interactions in films revealing, in turn, unexpected

stories and meanings. The famous Carte du Pays de Tendre created by Madeleine de

Scudery (1654), for example, becomes a fascinating road map for an emotional

journey in the film Les Amants (Louis Malle, 1958). Associated with Brahms’ music

at the beginning of the movie, the memory of the map is triggered every time the

music is played during the movie, linking music and maps with memories and places.



Conley also studies other narrative forms generated by the resonance of maps with

sound. In Roma citta aperta (Roberto Rossellini, 1945), a map speaks through the

god-like voice of the Nazi officer to become an authoritative instrument of control

and power. In Les 400 coups (Francois Truffaut, 1958), maps on the classroom walls

become symbols of the silent authority of the nation state, which resonates with the

notion of cartographic silence introduced by Brian Harley (1988) in cartography. As

illustrated by these different examples, film directors have combined music, voice,

silence as well as sound effects with maps in order to generate emotions and convey

complex ideas related to time and space. To date, such examples have not directly

inspired the still scattered field of sonified cartography.

3.2 Sound and cartography

As recently noticed by Brauen and Taylor (2007), despite the opportunities provided

by the Internet, the addition of sound to maps remains unusual. Indeed, even in the

context of Web cartography ‘sound is not really one of the options one thinks of

when discussing elements that could be part of a map’ (Kraak and Brown 2001,

p. 187). In his work on ‘Sound and Geographic Visualization’, John Krygier (1994)

already noted with regret the lack of sound in data display and geographic

visualization. To fill this gap, Krygier explored the abstract dimensions of sound

(e.g. pitch, loudness, timbre) and developed a set of abstract sound variables

dedicated to geographic visualization. This approach was widely inspired by work

done in psychology, cognitive sciences, and Human computer interaction (see

Brauen 2006 for an updated review of the use of sound in these fields). This work

contributed to our understanding of the use of sound for complex data exploration

and for improving user interaction by providing user feedback.

This kind of approach, which uses sound to map data or to provide spatial cues

and to enhance interaction, has dominated the field of sound cartography, leaving

uncharted cultural perspectives on the use of sound in cartography. In his work on

‘Sound Maps: Music and Sound in Cybercartography’, Paul Theberge (2005, p. 405)

acknowledges the importance of research on the psychological and cognitive aspects

of sound, but he also argues strongly in favor of a complementary approach based

on a thoroughgoing understanding of the cultural use of sounds in cybercarto-

graphy. In this paper we propose to explore further this cultural dimension. Before

presenting and discussing examples developed for the Cybercartographic Atlas of

Antarctica, we first review the general functions and uses of voices, sound effects

and music in cartography.

Voices are used in cartography, mostly for didactic and descriptive purposes.

Through commentaries, narrative voices can add layers of information to a visual

message. They can serve to highlight and discuss specific phenomena. They provide

a useful alternative means for conveying spatial information when the visual

message is difficult to grasp. Different strategies of associating speech and image

have been studied to improve the communication of the information in cartography

(see Monmonier and Gluck 1994). Common applications of speech in maps include

GPS navigational maps embedded in car and mobile maps to assist pedestrians (see

Gartner 2004) and visually impaired users in navigation tasks (see Vasconcellos and

Tsuji 2005).

Voices can be less functional and didactic; they can suggest instead of asserting,

evoke instead of communicating. They can embody emotion and perception related

to space and convey information in a subtle and intimate way. Voices can become a



means of murmuring geospatial stories. These stories can even be different than the

one told by the visual elements. In his electoral sound map of Ottawa, Brauen (2006)

overlays the voices of the different leaders of political parties based on the

percentage of votes each party obtained in each electoral district. The ‘cacophonic

overlapping of political discourses’ (Taylor and Caquard 2006, p. 3) conveyed by

this map calls for less didactic and more evocative ways of using voices in

cartography.

In aural culture societies, voices take on another dimension. As illustrated by

Aboriginal songlines of Australia (see Chatwin 1987) or by aural ancestral hunting

routes used by Inuit communities to navigate through the pack ice (Aporta 2004),

geographical knowledge remains mainly aural in many indigenous communities. In

these contexts, voices become the main means for conveying fundamental notions

related to space. Some of these voices have been mapped, for instance in relation to

place names (see Mouafo and Muller 2002) in order to ensure the preservation and

the accurate transmission of this aural knowledge. The geospatial knowledge

embedded in songs has also been used for land claim purposes. In British Colombia

(Canada), certain First Nations’ groups have used ancestral ceremonial songs to

demonstrate their historical use of land and to claim ownership over territories in

opposition to official visual maps (see Sparke 1998). The lack of success of these

kinds of initiatives should not undermine the unique value of these musical voices

and the connection between culture, history and geography they perpetuate.

Aboriginal songlines of Australia as well as Canada’s First Nation songs provide a

different form of mapping in both formal and political terms: they destabilize

dominant visual and institutional representations of territories conveyed by official

visual maps. Mapping these musical voices can become a political form of

expression and resistance, just like any other form of cartographic practice.

Sound effects in cartography are usually seen as a way to heighten the realistic

representation of the world. Realistic use of sounds includes the representation of

soundscapes. The Toronto Island Sound Map, for example, links sound effects with

places and pictures, and provides a sense of the diverse soundscapes of the island

(http://www.yorku.ca/dws/tism/). The quantitative dimension of the soundscape can

also be mapped. For instance, it can serve to characterize the noise level in urban

environments and to evaluate the impact of planned infrastructures such as airport

or highways (see Servigne et al. 1999; Muller and Scharlach 2001). Sound effects can

also be used to attract attention in order to reveal invisible information. Birgit

Woods (2005) uses the sound of running water in an interactive 3D terrain of

Antarctica to stimulate the curiosity of the user and reveal the presence of an

invisible running spring hidden under the ice shelf. Sound effects can also be

evocative and embody a sense of space. They can contribute to improve our

understanding of places by enriching our multisensorial reading of space. As

Davidson and Milligan (2004, p. 524) argue, ‘Perhaps through an exploration of

diverse senses of space, we could become better placed to appreciate the emotionally

dynamic spatiality of contemporary social life.’ Sound effects, voices and music can

contribute to this multisensorial approach of space.

The use of music to improve the communication of information in multimedia

applications has been studied (see, for example, Flowers and Hauer 1995, Hansen

et al. 1999), but very little research has addressed the use of music in cartography.

This is a surprising gap because music is closely related to place and culture and, as a

result, can provide key elements to better understanding and representing places. We



propose that music can fulfill similar roles within sound maps to what it plays in

interactive games and cinema. In addition to conveying cultural content, depending

on the music selected, music can help the user to establish an emotional connection

and enhanced sense of engagement with the subject matter of the map. Music has to

be handled carefully, none the less, to avoid ‘musical stereotyping or cliche […[, or a

form of easy exoticism’ (Theberge 2005, p. 405). When using music in cartographic

applications, one needs to take into account the complexity of the relationships

between music and place. For instance, in a globalized world, this complexity takes

on new characteristics with the circulation of popular music via technology and new

media and the global displacement of ethnic populations (Theberge 2005). The use

of music in cybercartographic applications should integrate these cultural,

technological and geographical changes.

The use of sound in general, including voices and sound effects could in fact serve

to convey critical, cultural and political perspectives on space. This is illustrated by

the ‘Folk Songs for the Five Points’ which combine multiple sound elements (see

www.folksongsproject.com). In this map, voices, music and sound effects are

recorded and located on a map in order to convey a sense of diversity in New York’s

Lower East Side. Through the use of spatial perception and political statement, and

interactive layering and looping, this sonified map provides an aural metaphor to

the mixed and multiple layers of identities, languages, cultures, and music

characterizing this part of the city. This kind of combination between maps, sounds

and technology remains unusual; yet it illustrates the potential sound holds for

stimulating different perspectives on places based on emotional, cultural, political

and aesthetic dimensions.

Yet sound design, including voices, sound effects and music, cannot, or rather

should not, be viewed as simply a convenient way of conveying more descriptive and

quantitative information about space and territories. Rather, the use of sound forces

us to rethink the very concept of the map as primarily a visual image of space that

serves as a simple conveyer of information. The integration of sound might involve a

deeper understanding of the cultural, geographical and political dimensions of

maps. Our goal in this research is not to argue that adding sound to maps is

necessarily better than existing visual cartographic techniques, rather it is to further

explore the potential of sound for integrating these dimensions in cartography and

contributing to a multisensorial approach to space.

3.3 Sound effects and narratives of Antarctica exploration

The Cybercartographic Atlas of Antarctica provides a relevant environment to

evaluate, explore and experiment with a range of roles for sound in mapmaking.

This Atlas aims to expose users, primarily high school students, to relevant and

engaging information about Antarctica (Pulsifer et al. 2005) following the principles

of cybercartography (Taylor 1997, 2003). This atlas is structured around content

modules containing cartographic, narrative, and multimedia elements for the

purpose of examining a particular question, topic, area, or phenomena related to the

Antarctic region such as Antarctica exploration or territorial claims (Pulsifer et al.

2007). Voices, sound effects and music have been integrated in different modules of

this atlas with different functions.

Antarctica was the last ‘uncharted’ continent: it took a great deal of exploration

and four centuries to whittle down ‘the fabled Great South Land’ associated to

Antarctica (McGonigal and Woodworth 2001, p. 384) and then to chart



exhaustively the entire continent. This exploration of Antarctica has been made

possible through different phases associated to different modes of transportation

(Simpson-Housley 1992): the sailor’s perspective (from the sixteenth century to the

end of the nineteenth century); the land explorers (early twentieth century); the

pilot’s view from the air (in 1929 Byrd was the first to fly over Antarctica); and

the satellite view (in 1997 the RADARSAT Antarctic Mapping Mission 1 provided

the first high-resolution images of the entire Southern continent).

In the module of the Cybercartographic Atlas of Antarctica dedicated to

Antarctic exploration, an animated map has been designed to show successively the

different routes of exploration in the process of ‘unfolding’ Antarctica (see Pulsifer

et al. 2007). In this animated map, four sequences of sound effects provide an

understandable cartographic synthesis of the four exploration phases. These sound

effects set a tone for which phase of exploration the user is experiencing: the sounds

of waves and the creaking timbers of a ship signifies maritime exploration, the

sounds of wind and footsteps crunching through snow signifies terrestrial

exploration, the sound of a plane engine signifies aerial exploration and the sound

of an electronic communication signal signifies satellite exploration. These sounds

also provide tactile sensation through an enhanced perception of, for example, the

relentless hum of the wind which deepens the sense of remoteness and isolation

associated to the terrestrial exploration.

In the exploration module of the Atlas of Antarctica, early user comments

concerning the transportation sound effects convinced us that the sound effects did

not, for all users, stand on their own. This issue has been addressed in film theory.

Chion (1994, pp. 63–64) used the concept of synchresis to describe the ‘spontaneous

and irresistible weld produced between a particular auditory phenomenon and visual

phenomenon when they occur at the same time.’ He argued that, although not all

combinations of visual and auditory phenomena will combine through synchresis, a

surprising number of combinations, including many that would seem to be

contradictory, do create in the mind of the viewer/listener the conviction that the

sounds heard do indeed arise as a result of the visible phenomenon. A corollary to the

principle of synchresis is the fact that many sounds could be combined and made

meaningful through combination with a variety of visual phenomena and, further,

those sounds on their own may be ambiguous if left unconstrained, or not obviously

constrained, by visual phenomena. As a result, we integrated animated pictograms (a

boat, some foot steps, a plane and a satellite) into the exploration map timeline to

constrain the interpretation of these sounds (see figure 1) and to help the user associate

the sound effects to the transportation modes. Thus, the overall graphic representa-

tion had to be modified in order to convey the intended message. This illustrates the

idea that sound in map design cannot simply be seen as an element to add to the visual

map but rather as an element to take into account in the design of the overall sound

map. Sound should be understood in its interaction with graphic elements as well as

with other sounds and media in general. Introducing these graphic elements is also a

way to move toward a more narrative function of the map.

The design of this sound map highlights the temporal dimension of spatial

exploration. The different lengths of the different exploration phases are

emphasized. The maritime exploration clearly appears to be the longest one.

Beyond emphasizing the duration, it is hoped that the sound helps to capture the

attention of the user by creating narrative expectations. Just like in a movie,

something is likely to happen as the map unfolds. Here, sound effects create a



tension that keeps the attention of the map user. The sounds become associated with

the unfolding story on the screen, characterized by the movement of the animated

icon. In this linear representation, the associated sound/animated icon might

provide an aural identity to the evolution of the cinematic soundscape of Antarctica

exploration. Just like in the film Les Amants (Louis Malle, 1958), where the memory

of the map is triggered every time the music is played during the movie (Conley

2006), the memory of this map might be triggered elsewhere in the atlas by playing

the same sound effect.

3.4 A contrapuntal use of voices to map territorial claims

As discussed in section 2, different voices can have different functions and the tone

of the voice can dramatically impact the narrative:

Figure 1. Antarctica exploration module: sound effects and animated pictogram serve torepresent the different phases of Antarctica exploration (from the ‘Island of Utopia’ to thehigh resolution satellite mapping). A prototype of this map is available at: https://gcrc.carleton.ca/confluence/x/oQE.



The human voice can be used to personalize and embody knowledge, the identification

of social actors can clarify the origin (and bias) of information, and access to multiple

voices can illuminate not only different points of view, but also the social, cultural and

political stakes that are implicit whenever notions of geography, territory, identity,

economy and the nation state are invoked. (Theberge 2005, p. 396)

In the Atlas of Antarctica, some of these functions have been used in the module

dedicated to territorial claims. This module presents and explains the historical and

geographical context of territorial claims in Antarctica. As described in the atlas, the

UK started territorial claims (1908) based on historical discoveries, followed by

colonies New Zealand, Australia, then by France, Norway, Germany, Chile and

Argentina (the US has not made a formal claim, nor do they recognize claims by

other nations; however, they have reserved the right to do so). All these claims are

based on a sector theory – scribed territorial boundaries extended to the South Pole

similar to ‘slicing a pie’ (see figure 2). While most of the territory claimed is not

contested, the territorial claims of the United Kingdom, Argentina and Chile in the

Antarctic Peninsula region overlap. It is in this contested area that sovereignty-

related conflicts have been most prominent in the history of the region.

In this module, the function of vocal narration is to highlight the tension between

these three countries. To do so, newspapers articles from the UK, Chile and

Argentina that address this issue more or less directly have been recorded in their

original language providing impressions of broadcast voices. Broadcast voices can

have many different functions (see Norman 2004). In our case, a male mature voice

characterizing the voice-of-God (see section 2) has been used to record the English

text and to link it to the historical base of the British claim. Younger voices

characterizing the voices as challengers have been used to record the Chilean and the

Argentinean texts. These two voices are similar in terms of language which creates a

common aural texture that reflects some cultural similarities. The distinction

between these two voices is signaled using gender: the Chilean speaker is a male

while the Argentinean is a female. These voices embody the nationalistic enterprise

that is at stake in territorial claims.

These broadcast voices have been linked to the interactive map of the territorial

claims (figure 2), building on a similar idea developed in the electoral sound map of

Ottawa (see Brauen 2006). When the mouse is over a part of Antarctica only claimed

by one country, the voice associated to this country is triggered. The audio message

is, however, clear and seems simply descriptive. When the mouse is over contested

parts of Antarctica, the user hears different voices simultaneously. The audio

message is no longer clear and descriptive but becomes incomprehensible, symbolic

and intuitive. The voices do not talk to each other, but rather are layered one on the

other. These voices are becoming noises emphasizing the blurriness between the

aural codes as well as the richness of the combination and layering of sonic elements.

The resulting cacophonic environment becomes an implicit marker of the

complexity of the tension associated with territorial claims. This tension is enhanced

through the increased volume of the combined voices in the contested areas. These

voices generate an unexpected destabilizing auditory environment that contrasts

sharply with the clarity of the graphic delimitation of territorial claims. This use of

vocal narration highlights the cartographic tension existing between the complexity

of the world and the cartographic simplifications required to analyze, represent and

communicate these phenomena. Just as film music can serve as counterpoint to the

image action (see section 2), voices here run counter to the image map providing an



anti-parallelist strategy of accompaniment to the visual message. In this case, vocal

narration conveys the idea that territorial claims are highly complex and tied to

notions of history, identity, culture, geography and authority. This resonates with

the notion of contrapuntal cartography developed by Sparke (1998). Sound maps

could then serve ‘at once both to communicate in and to disrupt the cartographic

conventions’ (Sparke 1998, p. 473). Sound can be used to challenge the social,

cultural and political point of view provided by conventional maps and emphasizes

the idea that cybercartography allows for both the figurative and literal expression

of distinct voices (Taylor 2005).

3.5 Designing the audio identity of the atlas

The purpose of the audio identity is to provide the atlas of Antarctica with an aural

theme that contributes to the overall tone of the project and assists in constructing a

coherent and immersive environment for the user. It consists of a set of recorded

elements which recur throughout the project and provide a common sonic and

conceptual basis for all other sound icons, motifs and user feedback effects. In this

way, it relates to the concept of leitmotiv (see section 2) and functions as the aural

companion of a project’s so-called ‘look and feel’. The visual interface produces a

coherent user environment by adhering to a pre-established structure, a limited and

consistent colour palette, and recurring sets of dynamic graphical elements.

Similarly, an audio identity assists in orienting the user and contextualizing (that

is, not simply reproducing) on-screen information and events by establishing a

pervasive aural environment comprised of thematically linked sonic elements which

become increasingly familiar to the user through their repetition and variation.

Immersion, however, should not necessarily entail ever presence. An audio identity’s

palette can make significant use of silence as well, whether as a means of

punctuating on-screen (non-)events or creating a sense of dynamic interplay between

visual and aural components. An economy of well-deployed sound elements can be

used to powerful effect, whereas an inconsistent sonic framework can jar users out

of their engagement with a multimedia project.

Our aim in building the audio identity of the Atlas was to convey the theme of

Antarctica not only as a natural environment, but also as a site of social and

technological convergence. The resulting sound-image has therefore been conceived

as a loose depiction of three intersecting components: an exterior frontier

(represented by the high-pitched sound of cold winds whistling across a plain);

the human-made interior space of a research station (represented by the muffled

rumble of winds buffeting a small, enclosed acoustic space); and intermittent bursts

of short wave radio activity, meant to suggest the convergence of what Arjun

Appadurai (1996) has labelled techno- and mediascapes. Elsewhere in the project,

recreations of British, Argentine, and Chilean radio broadcasts regarding the

territorial claim tensions are used to depict clashes at the level of what Appadurai

calls the ethno- and ideoscapes. A final component of the audio identity is a recurring

‘sound icon’—a brief, non-musical, non-referential motif which serves as a signature

for the project as a whole and which may act as a model for a variety of user

interface feedback sounds (this audio identity is available at: https://gcrc.carleton.ca/

confluence/x/GAQ).

An earlier version of the audio identity contained two elements which were

conceptually interesting, but ultimately had to be discarded. One of these sounds, a

looped recording of radio signals arcing through the polar atmosphere, seemed well



suited to convey a technological presence in Antarctica. Oddly, however, several

individuals who were asked to review our work in progress, and who were unaware

of the recording’s original context, commented that it conjured images of tropical

birds in a jungle. A decision was thus made to choose sounds above all for their

potential to be learned and recognized rather than for any inherent meaning that

might be supposed to inhabit a given recording. The second element to be removed

from the audio identity was a short, looping musical motif produced with a software

synthesizer. A four-note sequence of bass notes was layered with an atmospheric

texture designed to emulate a windswept Antarctic landscape. In this respect, this

version of the audio identity was quite successful. However, several reviewers

ultimately determined that music of any sort might be too prescriptive of a

particular mood amongst users and too culturally specific (in this case, reflective of a

traditional Western tonal system) for the subject matter of the Atlas. This is not to

say that music cannot or will not have a place within the project but that, in each

instance, its cultural and thematic implications will need to be considered.

The design of the Atlas’ audio identity has also had to take into account a number

of technological variables. Bandwidth constraints and the varying capabilities of end

users’ computer systems are always central concerns in the development of web-

based multimedia. This is particularly the case where sound is concerned. While

contemporary graphic designers can be certain that the majority of users’ systems

will have reasonably advanced graphic capabilities within a known range, the sound

designer must consider an immense range of capabilities as well as the possibility of

no sound at all. This can be attributed in large part to the centrality of the graphic

interface to modern computer usage compared to the uneven attention given to

sound. The proliferation of a high-speed Internet, although unevenly distributed

internationally and unevenly accessible to certain groups within communities often

(casually) considered highly connected (Petrazzini and Kibati 1999, Warf 2001), and

low-cost graphics hardware (monitors, and integrated graphics or video cards) have

ensured that many users can view photorealistic images at reasonably high

resolutions without difficulty on home or institutional systems.

Sound design, on the other hand, faces a number of challenges related to users’

hardware and data transmission. Many computers use small speakers enclosed in

plastic boxes or speakers built-in to the monitor or the computer itself. Like a

transistor radio, each of these options is capable of reproducing only a very small

portion of the frequency range, and are therefore an impediment to reproducing

immersive sound. At the same time, a smaller, yet significant number of systems are

designed precisely for the immersive experiences of gaming and watching videos,

and their sound reproduction capabilities are much closer to those of a multi-

channel (‘surround sound’) home theater system. This variation forces the sound

designer to target the project towards one type of system in an attempt to

accommodate the full range. Secondly, audio files tend to be much larger than

graphic files and, even when compressed, use significantly more bandwidth.

Moreover, because the compression process removes sound data from the file

(beginning with the highest and lowest frequencies, and moving towards the middle)

in order to make it smaller, highly compressed audio can also be an impediment to

an immersive experience.

Design of the audio identity has taken these concerns into account while also

avoiding a lowest common denominator approach to audio in the Atlas. This is

reflected in the construction of the wind sounds which form the basis of the audio



identity. The high- and low-frequency samples used to create the wisping and

rumbling of the wind can be thought of as two distinct layers of sound, constructed

around possible end user systems. Wisps and gusts have been created using an

isolated range of upper frequencies (1 kHz and upward), ensuring that the sounds

will be adequately reproducible on virtually any sound system, regardless of its

limitations. These sounds alone contribute only partially to the desired state of user

immersion, but ensuring their audibility will help to ensure sonic coherence within

the Atlas, even on low-end systems. The second sonic layer is limited to a portion of

the low-frequency range, beginning at 125 Hz and continuing downward beyond the

threshold of human hearing. Sound in this range is felt as a vibration as much as it is

heard, and it is precisely this immersive effect that home theater-style computer

audio systems are designed to reproduce. Finally, midrange frequencies have been

largely silenced in order to emphasize activity within the two layers, and to avoid

forms of harmonic distortion that commonly occur when small plastic speakers

reproduce certain combinations of mid-frequency sound. The end result is an audio

identity which, rather than being crippled in deference to less capable systems,

maintains a level of universal functionality while also containing an additional sonic

layer that will enhance immersiveness on more powerful systems. Moreover, if it is

later determined that bandwidth constraints require the sound data to be made more

compact, this isolation of sonic elements in the mixing of the audio identity will

make it easier to remove the low-frequency component without the need for further

re-mixing.

This section has presented some considerations in the design of sonic elements for

use in a cybercartographic atlas, drawing attention to the interplay of visual and

audible elements, to the sometimes culturally-biased design and interpretation of the

sound used, as well as to the blurriness of the limits and functions of the major aural

codes. Through these examples we have highlighted some of the consequences of the

recreation of a cinematic soundscape: we discussed the potential of the contrapuntal

functions of sound in mapmaking; the use of sound to create a parallel and

validating narrative element complementing the visual map; and we introduced

some of the conceptual and technical issues that need to be considered when

attempting to enhance coherence of the atlas and the user sense of immersion

through the design of specific audio elements such as the atlas audio identity. These

conceptual and technical issues are highly interrelated in cybercartography as in

other forms of multimedia design and especially in any form of multimedia designed

for use in the Internet. The following section recontextualizes some of these

conceptual and technical issues and highlights the sometimes oppositional nature of

some of the goals of sound design in the Internet environment.

4. Framework for Internet sound maps

In this section we draw on established sound-design genres such as film sound design

and video game sound design (e.g. see Gal et al. 2002, Theberge 2005) to explore the

potentials and constraints of combining sound with maps in the specific context of

the Internet. The presentation and discussion of desired sound design features and

the constraints of presenting sound on the World Wide Web leads us to propose a

taxonomy based on sound predictability, interactivity and control.

Designing sound for cybercartographic atlases requires imagination, sound design

skills, and technical innovation for both the transmission of sound in the context of

a cybercartographic atlas and in the authoring environments for the creation of atlas



content to include sound. A sound infrastructure is being developed to support atlas

module authors in experimenting with a variety of styles of sound definitions (Hayes

2006); atlas modules incorporating music, voices, sound effects, and combinations

thereof are being developed or planned; and user evaluations of atlas modules and

prototypes using the sound infrastructure are soon to be conducted. To enable the

sound design experiments described in this document, this infrastructure, designed

to provide sound for the cybercartographic atlases operating as World Wide Web

applications, has been implemented to provide the following functional capabilities

(some or all of which may be used by a particular sound map):

N Sound layering: several sounds and several types of sound (e.g. spoken

narration, music, and sound effects) are simultaneously playable. As described

above, it may be desirable to layer elements in the creation of an atlas theme or,

as in the case of the territorial claims map, to highlight differing perspectives as

part of a map. Additionally, it may be desirable to layer at a higher level, for

example by overlaying thematic information related to a particular map with

the atlas theme.

N Sound looping: sounds of all types may also be played in a loop, repeating a

limited number of times, or for as long as the module is being viewed by the

user, or until some action by the user causes the sound to stop. As discussed by

Theberge (2005), looping has often been used as a strategy to overcome

technical limitations in the ability of systems and early computer games to play

long or complex sounds but has also become a popular technique in dance and

electronic music for producing complex aggregate sound designs based on the

underlying loops as relatively simple components of the final production. The

reality of sound design for the World Wide Web is that simultaneous

transmission and playback of sound still requires a significant amount of

network capacity; reducing the network requirements of a sound design in this

context continues to be necessary and looping can contribute to this goal.

N Interactivity: for some of the sound designs discussed in this paper, the user

must be able to interact with the sound design in the sense that the user should

be able to modify some or all of the sounds or the playback parameters of some

or all of the sounds (e.g. gain setting) through interactions with the atlas.

Designing sound for user interaction may, among other techniques, be done

through the use of layering such that the actions of the user modify the

playback status or parameters of each layer differently. User activity may

trigger ‘scene changes’ within the atlas that may, in turn, require sound

transitions as the new atlas content is presented. The use of interactivity (with

reactive visual and/or auditory elements) must be evaluated for each map in

which it is used because it can increase the overall complexity of the map and

does not necessarily improve the effectiveness of a given map. For example, the

envisioned uses of the audio identity of the Cybercartographic Atlas of

Antarctica certainly includes non-interactive applications.

These functional capabilities are similar to those required by film, computer game

and multimedia sound design, although only computer games and multimedia share

the need for interactivity with the atlas sound design—film sound is designed as part

of the production and the audience does not have the ability to modify the sound

during a performance. While we have been guided by sound design from other

genres in what we want the atlas design to sound like, the need for interactivity in



many ways dictates how we need to organize our sound design so that it can be

made responsive to the activities of the user. An additional constraint on the

responsiveness of the atlas to user interaction is the time required to send complex,

high-fidelity sounds in digital format to the user’s computer. A failure to take these

transmission delays into account will result in a map use experience which, to the

map user waiting for a map to load, will seem decidedly non-interactive.

Two different mechanisms for transmitting and playing sounds, each with its own

implications for the delays involved, are available for use in a computer network:

sound streams and sound clips. The term stream is used to describe a sound that is

played by the receiving computer as it is being transmitted from the atlas server; the

receiver does not wait until the sound has been fully received to start playback. The

term clip is used to describe a sound that is sent to the receiving computer and is

stored, in its entirety, in the memory of the receiver prior to being played. Each of

these types of sounds has advantages and disadvantages. Clips are limited in

duration because of the requirement for the receiving computer to store the entire

clip in memory. The delay to begin playback when a clip is first transmitted may be

noticeable, depending on the duration of the clip, because the entire clip must be

received before playback begins. However, once loaded, clip playback is very

reliable because there is no dependence on network transmission to maintain sound

quality and a clip may be played in a loop on the receiver with no need to retransmit

any data. Streams can generally begin playback on the receiving computer more

quickly, except when compared to very short clips, and can be of any duration since

the receiver at any time only stores a small portion of the complete sound. Stream

playback is, however, always dependent on network transmission so network delay

can cause audio drop-outs and looping a stream requires retransmission.

The sounds generated by an atlas module result from the sound definition of the

module author modified by activities of the user, as allowed by the author. As a

minimum, the user must choose to view a module in order for that module’s sound

definition to be loaded. But once loaded, the definition of the module’s sounds may

be more or less predictable depending on how the author has defined it. The author

could design the sounds to react to the actions of the user, such as cursor

movements, by modifying playback parameters of some or all of the sonic elements

in the design. The author’s sound definition, in some form, is stored on the atlas

server preparatory to being downloaded as the user browses the atlas and the sound

definition could be different for each atlas module.

As an abstraction, the sounds presented to the user can be classified in terms of

predictability, determined by the sound definition type created by the author and the

level of interactivity made available to the user while browsing the atlas module.

Figure 3 shows this conceptual model. Darker shading indicates more predictable

sounds in the sense that every time the user reloads a predictable atlas module he or

she would expect to hear the same sounds. Less predictable sounds would be ones

that change across repeated perusals of the module or in response to activities of the

user. Note that the predictability of sounds associated with a module is not the same

as those sounds being repetitive. A composed piece of music may not be internally

repetitive despite the fact that it is used repeatedly as part of the module. A single

sonic element (e.g. a duck quacking) that is repeated within a module sound

definition would quickly be noticed as a repetitive element even if it is mixed with

many other random elements. Although repetitive elements, such as animal noises,



may become annoying if overused they can also serve to create an audio identity for

an atlas or module (see section 3.5).

The sound definition types shown in figure 3 are outlined in table 1. Each differs

according to the type and level of composition on the part of the author and each

provides different sound design characteristics to the atlas user and different

possibilities for designing user interaction capabilities into an atlas module. Table 1

presents four main categories of sound type definitions and for each provides:

N The interpretation of the sound type from the perspective of the author (i.e.

‘how do I create this type of sound definition?’).

N The anticipated interpretation of the sound type from the perspective of the

user (i.e. ‘not knowing how this module’s sound was defined, what does it

sound like or how may I interact with the sounds?’).

N Examples of sound designs created using this sound definition type.

To create a composed sound definition, the author selects all of the sound elements

and determines the timing of the playback of those sounds. Individual sound

elements do not respond to user interactions. Sound elements could include

prerecorded music, sound effects, narration or a combination thereof, but the

sounds are presented to the user as a single composition with no interactive

elements. Layering may be used to combine sounds, but from the user’s perspective

they appear as a single layer. An example of composed sound is provided in the

module of Antarctica exploration in which sound effects are scripted along with the

map animation to illustrate the different phases of Antarctic exploration (see section

3.3).

To create a compiled sound definition, the author selects all of the sound elements,

but playback parameters of the individual sound elements (probably created as

separate layers) may be modified by user actions. The user could interact with the

sound design by moving the cursor over different regions of a map or other graphic

or by clicking the mouse buttons while the cursor is located over specific graphic

elements. There are two variants of compiled sound definitions, synchronized and

unsynchronized, which are distinguished by the types of sounds being compiled.

Synchronized compilations are intended for the creation of interactive music sound

designs in which the playback parameters of individual sound layers may be altered

by user interaction but the timing of the layers is synchronized by the author’s

definition. The individual layers are synthesized music such as Musical Instrument

Digital Interface (MIDI) sequences that are composed to be used as a group and the

synchronization between layers is maintained by the atlas sound infrastructure (e.g.

Hansen et al. 1999). Unsynchronized compilations are intended for the creation of

interactive sound designs in which playback parameters of individual sound layers

may be modified by user actions, including timing (e.g. start or stop times) and other

settings such as gain and mute settings. The synchronization of the individual layers

is not maintained by the atlas sound infrastructure. Brauen (2006) used a design

based on an unsynchronized audio compilation as does the territorial claims module

of the cybercartographic atlas of Antarctica described previously (see section 3.4).

To create a sonified sound definition, the author associates sound definitions such

as MIDI instrument type designations (e.g. baby grand piano) with thematic data

associated with regions of a map or some other graphic in an atlas module. Playback

parameters of the MIDI instrument such as pitch, note duration, or note rate are



modified according to the value of the thematic data associated with the region over

which the cursor is positioned. This type of sonification has been widely used for

non-spatial applications (Flowers and Hauer 1995, Flowers et al. 2001, Hermann

et al. 2003) as well as for spatial ones (Fisher 1994, Coburn and Smith 2005). One of

the authors has been developing an application for browsing data derived from

Canada’s trade with world regions to experiment with both synchronized sound

compilations and sonified sound designs but a description of this application is

beyond the scope of this paper.

For conceptual completeness, we include undefined sound definitions in which the

content of the sound design is unknown or modifiable at the time a user interacts

with the map such that the author may never have heard the combined audiovisual

presentation, as experienced by that user. To create an undefined sound definition,

the author provides access to sound sources, the contents of which are unknown at

the time the rest of the atlas module content is written. Examples of such sources

would include Internet radio streams or streaming audio from live microphones.

Although the presence of dynamic audio sources by themselves makes this type of

sound definition very unpredictable, the user could be given interactive control

through the ability to select among several streaming audio sources or could control

the mixing of several audio streams through individual gain controls. Although we

have verified the ability to connect audio sources such as these into the atlas sound

infrastructure, we have not yet experimented with atlas modules based on this type

of sound definition.

Note that it is possible to use a selection of sounds, each of which may be of a

different type and each of which may be characterized differently in terms of

predictability. For example, composed music could be layered with ambient

background sounds. While sounds internal to the music are obviously synchronized,

there will not be synchronization between the music and the background sounds.

For all sound definition types, it would be possible for the author to provide

alternative sound definitions from which the user could choose while using the atlas.

For example, alternative compositions could be offered in which different styles of

theme music or environmental sounds could be offered to the user, possibly through

personal atlas preference settings. Although in all cases this increases the

unpredictability of the atlas sound design, it may in the case of a composed sound

definition qualitatively change the author’s ability to deliver an audio-visual

presentation as a ‘package’. The user’s interpretation of the content, as much as it

may be guessed by the author, may vary based on which sound definition alternative

is chosen.

The sound definition types in this framework define a range of predictability from

the very predictable instance of a composed sound presentation to the completely

undefined and therefore unpredictable instance of streaming live audio. This

predictability framework does not place any normative value on the level of

predictability of a particular sound design, but instead reflects the ability of the

author to control the presentation of the atlas content as a ‘package’; the more the

user can control sound parameters while using the atlas, the less likely the author is

to have heard the atlas presentation as the user will experience it.

We intend this framework as a means to assess trade-offs between predictability,

interactivity, control, and the desire of the author to compose a module with an

intended mood or message. This framework should allow us to assess how well

authors can predict the user’s interpretation and understanding of combined visual



Table 1. Atlas sound definition types: user and author perspectives.

SOUND DEFINITION TYPE

Composed Compiled (multi-track) Sonified Undefined

PERSPECTIVE Author Synchronized audio presentation Synchronized Unsynchronized Parameterization ofdata to generatesound

Author providesdynamic sound content(e.g. Internet radiostream or streamingaudio from livemicrophones) or theability for the user toadd her/his own sound.

Single-tracksound sample.

Multi-tracksound samplesplayed as a unit.

Multiple MIDI tracksdesigned for use as agroup – each track isa musical part (e.g.melody, harmony).Playback parametersof Individual tracksseparately controllable.

Multi-track soundsamples compiledfor use as a group.Playbackparameters ofIndividual tracksseparatelycontrollable.

Sound definitions (e.g.MIDI instruments,and playbackparameters such asvelocity) associatedwith spatial data.

User Audio composition (music,ambient sounds, sound effects,or combination) accompanyingmap.

Interactive composedmusic (different partsassociated withdifferent variablescomputed fromspatial data).

Unsynchronizedsound compilationwith interactiveparts.

Interactive musicsynthesis based oninteraction with map(different musicalinstrument associatedwith differentvariables computedfrom spatial data).

User may be able toadd sound definitionswhile viewing. Usercould interactivelyselect betweenstreaming sources orcontrol the mixing oflive sources.

EXAMPLES Antarctica Exploration map(see section 3.3) and the audioidentity of the Atlas ofAntarctica (see section 3.5).

Pro-muse (Hansenet al. 1999) provide anon-geographicexample. Browserapplication for dataderived from Canada’sTrade with worldregions.

AntarcticaTerritorial Claimsmap (seesection 3.4).

Sonified mapreliability data(Fisher 1994). Browserapplication for dataderived from Canada’sTrade with worldregions.

Map of the extent ofradio station emissions.

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and auditory atlas content and user evaluations that are soon to be conducted

should help us to begin assessing the interpretations users develop as a result of

working with a range of sound definition types. Research into intertextuality

(Richardson 2000) shows that people understand complex media content based on

their previous knowledge, culture, beliefs and attitudes. This suggests that

introducing cultural elements, such as sounds, into cartography and atlas design

affects the user’s interpretation of the visual content.

This infrastructure then raises some questions regarding the overall message

conveyed by the sound map. How does a more varied sound design, either because

sound elements change on repeated listening or because of the use of interactive

sound elements, affect the user’s interpretation and understanding of atlas content?

In light of the difficulties involved in transmitting complex sound designs on the

World Wide Web, there is a need to evaluate if a less predictable sound design can

compensate for the potential tedium created by low fidelity sound or short sound

loops. Do relatively low fidelity sounds or short loops become tedious for users? If

so, does increased unpredictability of the sound design alleviate the user’s sense of

tedium? In assessing atlas interpretation, highly interactive possibilities such as

allowing users to bring their own sounds to the map affects the overall cartographic

message. How well do users understand the design and intended use of interactive

sound elements? How do the visual elements of the atlas design need to be modified

to assist the user in understanding the auditory elements of the design? Beyond these

questions, one of the main issues in mapmaking is to better understand how the

increasing movement toward map user as map creator—which is becoming

prevalent in the Internet era—is affecting the way these new forms of maps are

changing our understanding, perceptions and uses of territories. These issues

concern sound maps as discussed in this paper as well as the overall world of

mapmaking.

Figure 2. Territorial claim module: voices are overlapping when the mouse is over the contestedareas. A prototype of this map is available at: https://gcrc.carleton.ca/confluence/x/oQE



5. Conclusion

In this paper we presented different perspectives on sound design in contemporary

mapmaking. Just like in many other domains such as computer games, sound in

mapmaking can benefit from the extensive theoretical and applied work done in

cinema. The introduction of sound in cinema has deeply affected the movie

conception, production and its interaction with the audience. Sound has been linked

with images in many kinds of ways, for many different purposes involving

description, emotion, aesthetics or political statements. Playing with sound in

mapmaking opens a range of possibilities. Some of these possibilities have been

explored in this paper through examples of sound design for the Cybercartographic

Atlas of Antarctica. Sound effects have been used to recreate a linear cinematic

soundscape of the different phases of Antarctica exploration. Voices have been

overlaid to explore the contrapuntal function that sound can add to the map image.

The design of the audio identity of the Cybercartographic Atlas of Antarctica

emphasized the idea that sound can be combined to create an aural identity for the

atlas.

As the examples above have demonstrated, designing cybercartographic sound

maps is a complex process of arrangement and interaction. Each medium interacts

with the others thereby affecting the overall message conveyed. Adding sound, just

like any other media, requires a transformation in graphics. Yet the combination

sound/image forces us to rethink the very concept of the map as a primarily visual

image of space.

This combination sound/image also opens up perspectives in two major research

directions related to cybercartography. First it highlights the importance of mapping

and exploring emotions, perceptions or sensations related to space. Studies in

emotional geographies have emphasized the idea that our emotions affect our

relation with our environment and vice-versa (see Davidson and Milligan 2004).

Exploring the way places convey emotions helps understanding how we interact

with these places and with people in these places. These emotions can be mapped

and explored with the use of sound in order to expand the meaning of the map

beyond its primarily functionalist dimension. The challenge for future research will

be to further develop our understanding of how (sound) maps can capture and

convey emotional geographies.

Second, the cybercartographic sound infrastructure described in the last section of

this paper opens the perspective for the audience of becoming more involved in the

choice of sound and the way it will be played and combined with visuals. This

Figure 3. Soundscape predictability parameters. The different taxons are described morespecifically in table 1.



infrastructure allows anybody to generate personalized sound maps. These new

forms of maps could have a tremendous impact on the way we understand,

perceive, use maps on the Internet, and interact with them. Better under-

standing how personalized (sound) maps affect the way we understand, perceive

and interact with space remains another major and stimulating challenge in

cybercartography.

Acknowledgments

This is an expanded version of a paper presented at XXII International Cartographic

Conference (Caquard et al. 2005) This research was supported, in part, by the

Cybercartography and the New Economy project which is funded by the SocialSciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada under the Initiative

on the New Economy (INE) Collaborative Research Initiative Grant. Dr. D.R.

Fraser Taylor is the Principal Investigator for the project. It was also supported by

two SSHRC strategic research grants funded under the Image, Text, Sound and

Technology (ITST) program. The authors would finally like to thank three

anonymous reviewers for comments and suggestions on an earlier version of this

paper.

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