A prototype instructional system based on a hypermedia workstation will be developed for introductory cartography courses. The goal of the project is to allow students to use an interactive system which will provide a knowledge-based guided environment in which cartographic theory and knowledge can be stored and used during the map design process. The system will use a high resolution color display and will be linked to a set of examples (stored on videodisc) drawn from the cartographic literature and from the existing body of published maps. These examples will be used to illustrate options that are available to student cartographers. Hypermedia technology will be used to structure the system and to provide the framework in which design options can be explored. The prototype system will focus on three problem areas: choropleth maps, graduated symbol maps and map layout. This system will enable students to systematically explore interactions among elements within these problem areas in a way that does not require them to invest long hours in manually crafting examples. In addition, the hypermedia environment allows the system designer to select examples that are particularly well-suited to the educational objective of the system.
