Newsletter No. 437

5 one service to the community. Since a decade ago, the Department of Geography and Resource Management has been providing consultancy services to the government in using satellite data to record and update the land use, urban development and environmental changes in the territory, which has greatly improved the practice and record system of the government authorities for the benefit of charting and planning for the territory’s development. With development in remote sensing technology, hitherto inaccessible parts of the globe have become at least theoretically accessible so that any part on the globe’s surface can be surveyed for the purpose of cartographic representation. For example, microwave technology can penetrate thunderstorms and clouds to map the equatorial rainforests in South America in all weather in order to obtain new and accurate data to complete the jigsaws in that part of the world. Finally, coming to Google Map and GPS, Professor Fung thought that such new tools have certainly brought advantages to the users, and open up maps and map- making to all. For instance, passers-by can take pictures of trees threatened by bugs and upload those pictures to a website to notify the authorities of trees needing treatment. This is an example of common people taking part in providing and enriching geographical information or ‘volunteer mapping’. Like many disciplines, cartography has seen drastic changes in the last couple of decades. 2D or 3D, maps represent man’s unquenchable desire to know what’s out there and beyond. The advance of new technologies has not rendered cartography into an obsolete art but rather suggested possibilities for its reinvention. 甜蜜蜜窩夫 What’s Waffle 甜品店在鬧市開得如雨後春筍，是都市人在繁忙節奏中一個避風港。甜品文化 在中大校園也漸漸冒起。遠眺吐露港的和聲書院Cafe Tolo，去年夏天開業起， 提供多款甜品小食，其中「甜蜜蜜窩夫伴雪糕」可謂冷與熱的交融。窩夫即叫 即製，要待上十五至二十分鐘，上碟時熱烘烘的，一客三件，灑上朱古力醬和糖 霜，配搭一小碗草莓、藍莓和火龍果等水果，再伴以朱古力、雲呢嗱或草莓雪糕 球，賣相已甚具看頭。 有說甜品中的糖份可刺激腦內分泌更多安多酚，這激素能令人產生快樂感覺， 難怪只要在Cafe Tolo點一客甜品，邊淺嚐邊感受蒼山碧海的擁抱，幸福指數 就會提升。 A haven of tranquility for urban dwellers, dessert shops have been mushrooming downtown in recent years. The trend seems to have spread to our campus. Situated in a valley overlooking scenic Tolo Harbour, Cafe Tolo of Lee Woo Sing College opened last summer, serving a dozen desserts. Among them, ‘What’s Waffle’ distinguishes itself by its hot and cold combination. The sweet dish is made on demand hence customers have to wait 15 to 20 minutes. Topped with chocolate and sprinkled with icing sugar, three pieces of warm waffles are served with a small bowl of strawberries, blueberries and diced dragon fruit, as well as a scoop of chocolate, strawberry or vanilla ice- cream. The outlook of the dish is almost as appealing as its taste. It is said that sugar can stimulate endorphin secretion and produce a sense of well-being. No wonder having dessert at Cafe Tolo, surrounded by green hills and a harbour, will make your happiness soar. The universe of cartographic uses is expanding, too. Apart from the more familiar physical and geographical maps, for example, census data can generate maps carrying a layered range of demographic information (age, sex, education, income level, religion, etc.). The benefit to, say, an owner of a business entity who may want to know the distribution of his stores in relation to parameters such as population, income level and competitors, is obvious. Geographical information has wide applications, and the importance of maps as a planning and development tool cannot be overstated. With GIS technology, many functions can be merged and correlated into one map, or many maps, for analytical purposes. All the data can come into dialogue with each other, as long as the coordinates remain the same. Such change in cartographic thinking has brought about new possibilities. Professor Fung recalled his university days when students of cartography had to actually draw and make maps manually. They had to learn what to include and what not to. For example, in drawing a map of the Yangtze River, one would have found oneself acquiring related information such as that on the provinces and cities along the river. Nowadays, computer technology and the internet have made it so much easier for the students that they rarely go through such drills. To Professor Fung, the click is too convenient as it has deprived students of the opportunity to go back to the basics. Reflecting on his career at CUHK, Professor Fung was particularly fond of the polar regions at the expense of the equatorial parts, thereby inviting criticism of a north-south tilt with geo- economic biases. Within its four corners, a map has a wealth of information. It can have many map layers each of which provides data defined according to different criteria. For example, a map of buildings may be refined into the outlines of buildings, parts of buildings and types of building. With computer technology, more kinds of data may be included in a map, and called up for tailor-made visual representation according to the choices of its users. In addition to physical maps, the genus includes many species defined according to functions with practical consequences. Maps showing planned land uses and dangerous slopes, to give two examples, are daily tools to town planners, developers and property owners. In other words, contrary to the layman’s conception that there is a definitive map for any part of the Earth’s surface, there are actually many maps serving different purposes for particular groups of users. No. 437, 4.5.2014