Panoramic Maps Over the Years

Th e aim of this paper is to present how the spirit of the time and the development of Alpine tourism aff ects the artistic depiction and the content of panoramic maps. It starts with an appreciation of H. Berann’s work and describes the use of panoramas until today by including them on new media platforms like the Internet. 1939: Th e rise of H.C. Berann’s career 1. Heinrich Berann’s cartographic career started in 1934. Some of his early works contain no cartographic information. On Fig. 1, only the beauty of the countryside is communicated, including the hint that the landscape can be accessed by tourists by a chair lift. Th e panoramic map of Gstaad (Fig. 2) already shows lifts and ski runs. Th e “lifestyle” element is present in the form of the ski-tracks and snowcapped fi r trees in the foreground. From 1973–1988, Berann painted 3 further panoramic maps of the Adelboden–Lenk area (Fig. 3). Th e reason was a new trend in the Tourism business. Tariff associations and mergers required new panoramic images. Berann changed his painting style and adapted the new requirements. Th e artistic elaborations on the panoramic maps have disappeared. Th e topographic and cartographic information prevails. 1989: A new era begins 2. Lenk is probably the fi rst health resort in Switzerland that used a panoramic map based on a computer model (Fig. 4). However, the colour scheme, structures, and precision of the depiction of the terrain are not yet very convincing. Contrary to hand-painted panoramic maps, the advantage of being able to view the model from various perspectives has never been utilized. Only this one print has remained until now. In 2000, the fi rst version of the “Atlas of Switzerland” was published. In 2004 an improved Version with navigation, visualisation and analysis functions followed. In the 3D section, panoramic views and block diagrams can be combined with satellite maps, lakes, forests, human settlements and glaciers (Fig. 5). In addition, fog, hard shadow, hypsometric gradations, gradient of slope, aspect, visibility and terrain profi les can be calculated and displayed. New technologies have come, old ones remain. 3. In tourist areas like Adelboden–Lenk, conventional panoramic maps are displayed on presentation boards equipped with LED lamps showing the status of open or closed lifts and display the avalanche danger level (Fig. 6). Google Earth is an ingenious information tool (Fig. 7). Every user with access to the Internet can add its own information, images or videos and thereby to the enormous growth of this tool. However, this also presents its weakness. It is impossible to check and review all information and therefore Google Earth is also fi lled with erroneous and useless information. Tourism is depending on controllable Internet presences which are individually tailored to the customer’s needs. In this medium, art does not play a major role any more. Th e handcraft mainly consists in layouting in a way that there is as much room as possible for lifts, slopes, and symbols by leaving enough space for the base map elements. Even in summer panoramic maps, one can observe an increase of information density, allowing the placement of new, more customer specifi c elements and attractions on the map, like e.g. hiking trails, bixe trails, trotti trails, wheelchair and stroller roads, high rope, etc. Today, every season, tourist resorts come up with new ideas and off ers. Panoramic Maps Over the Years 196 • Mountain Mapping and Visualisation 6th ICA Mountain Cartography Workshop H.C. Berann: Beatenberg, Berner Alpen (Source: www.berann.com, provided by Matthias Troyer). Fig. 1: H.C. Berann: Gstaad (Source: www.berann.com, provided by Matthias Troyer). Fig. 2: H.C. Berann: Adelboden-Lenk (Source: www.berann.com, provided by Matthias Troyer). Fig. 3: