ARTHUR H.

ROBINSON AND THE FABRIC OF CARTOGRAPHY

Judy M. Olson
Michigan State University

ABSTRACT
Arthur H. Robinson, 1915-2004, was doyen of cartography, former President of ICA, and author of the most widelyread English-language textbook in the field. But who influenced him? And what are some measures of his influence on
others?
References in his papers and references to his work are useful in shedding light on these matters, and so are
acknowledgements in his writings. One of the key influences on him is revealed in the very first sentence in the first
edition of Elements of Cartography (1953): "Cartography, according to the late Max Eckert, " Others named are
Finch, (Guy-Harold) Smith, Tissot, Zppritz, Raisz, Wright, Adams, and Barnes. His wife, Mary Elizabeth Robinson,
is acknowledged as reader and editor in several books.
An indicator of his influence on the field is his lengthy publication list and the extensive references to his works found
in the ISI Web of Science. He also advised a large number of cartography Masters and Phd students. He influenced
cartography in the federal government and at the state level, and he founded the journal that is now Cartography and
Geographic Information Science. His name is most widely known because of the widely-used map projection he
devised.
This paper is a tribute to Prof. Robinson and his role in our cartographic heritage.

INTRODUCTION
Professor Arthur H. Robinson, who passed away at the age of 89 in October of 2004, is among the best known
cartographers in the world. In the United States, he is widely known among non-cartographic circles as well as within
the profession because his map projection has been widely distributed by two major entities that are household names:
Rand McNally and National Geographic Society. Prof. Robinson was a modest man and not a flamboyant figure.
Rather, he was and still is--and will long be--known for his intellectual contributions.
As a key figure in the fabric of cartography, it is interesting to step back and see how he fit in. Rather than simply
review his vitae or give a history of his life, I will look at influences upon him and a few of the measures of his impact
in the discipline. The evidence for influence on him is taken primarily from his own works and his own words. The
evidence of his influence on the discipline is reflected in his publications and citations to them, his progeny, the journal
he founded, and the map projection that bears his name.

INFLUENCES UPON ROBINSON

Probably the most common pieces of evidence of who influenced whom among authors of scientific writings are the
lists of citations that appear in those writings. If author A cites author B, author A is obviously aware of author B and
drew upon that persons material. The number of citations in Robinsons works must number in the thousands. The
first edition of his textbook Elements of Cartography (1953) (hereafter Elements) had a mere 67 references to works
other than his own, the second (the last single-authored edition, 1960) over 100, and the last (with several additional
authors) about 450. Early Thematic Mapping (1982) had well over 300, most of which would not have appeared in
Elements; and Cartographical Innovations, for which he was co-editor with Helen Wallis (1987), listed close to 600
different authors, some with multiple citations. The last was a product of the ICA Commission on the History of
Cartography, and many people contributed to it. But Wallis writes in the acknowledgements In so far as possible we
checked every original work and reference cited (p. IX). Undoubtedly Prof. Robinson was familiar with many of these
sources.

It is especially interesting to look closely at the 67 references in the first edition of Elements. They reflect the roots of
what was to become the most widely-used cartographic text for decades (Tyner 2005). They are categorized into
General, Historical Background, Coordinate Systems and Projections, Techniques and Design, Lettering and
Type, Kinds of Maps and Distribution Mapping, Representing the Terrain, and Government Publications,
although the last is a general statement about the agencies that were publishing helpful material rather than a list of
specific items available at the time. Many of the articles referenced had been published in the Annals of the Association
of American Geographers and in Geographical Review. The only general cartography text referenced was the one with
that title, General Cartography, by Erwin Raisz (1948), the only American text of its kind at the time. The sections on
Techniques and Design and Lettering and Type were largely non-cartographic in origin, which is not surprising
given that cartography was not well developed as an academic enterprise in the early 1950s.
All references in the first edition of Elements were in the English language, which is surprising, given that his earlier
book, The Look of Maps (1952), in which there is much thinking that underlies the Elements textbook, has several
important German and French references. Presumably the references as well as the text in Elements were intended to be
more accessible and pedagogical; students taking a first course in cartography were highly unlikely to consult foreignlanguage materials. There is only one reference to his own major professor, Guy-Harold Smith, which is not surprising
since it was Smiths liberal attitude (Robinson, 1952, p. viii) and interest in cartography, rather than a well-developed
cartographic publication list on his part, that facilitated Robinsons graduate research under his direction.
Anyone wanting to understand the underpinnings of Robinsons cartography would do well to read the rather
inconspicuous but highly influential piece by Max Eckert On the Nature of Maps and Map Logic (1908) that is
referenced on p. 244 of the first edition. Eckerts entire 2-volume work Die Kartenwissenschaft (1921, 1925) and his
Kartographie (written under the name Eckert-Greifendorff, 1939) were referenced in The Look of Maps, but Eckerts
brief 1908 article, appearing in English translation in the Bulletin of the American Geographical Society (later
Geographical Review), speaks volumes about the origins of modern cartography. Many of us will find our work even
today echoing Eckerts words because his ideas were richly reflected in Robinsons text and in his research. Here are
some samples from it:
maps [occupy] a higher position than that usually occupied by illustrative material in other sciences. They
are no longer merely considered as aids that require the addition of descriptive text to portray adequately
geographic phenomena, but as products of scientific research which, being complete in themselves, convey
their message by means of their own signs and symbols and through these furnish the basis for further
geographic deduction. Eckert goes on to say Emil von Sydow expressed this thought fifty year ago; its truth,
however, isnot yet sufficiently realized. (Eckert 1908, p. 344)
The extent to which that truth was realized in later decades is what is attributable in very large part to Arthur Robinson.
[O]ne of the main duties of cartography is to investigate the nature of maps (Eckert 1908, p. 345)
The co-author of the book entitled The Nature of Maps was, of course, Arthur Robinson. The title may have come from
Eckert, but it is also easy to see the similarities (and differencesit was not called The Nature of Cartography) with the
much-read American book The Nature of Geography (Hartshorne 1939). The central notion of the map as more than a
technical device was, I suspect, almost certainly traceable to Eckerts influence.
To test the quality of a map is to determine how well it has solved the geometric problem imposed upon it of
reproducing constructively the distribution in space of geographic objects. Due allowance should be made,
however for the actual state of geographic knowledge and for the scale and purpose of the map (Eckert
1908, p. 354)
Just asa good portrait of a person gives us a clue to his past life, so maps shouldgive an insight into the
history of our earth. But this alone is not sufficient To reproduce the traces which organic life and,
particularly, man leave upon it should form one of the main aims of map-making. One might almost say that
maps showing the economic and commercial phenomena of any given region constitute a graphic epitome of
our geographic knowledge concerning that region. (Eckert 1908, p. 345)
Here is clear recognition of the importance of thematic mapping, one of the hallmarks of the Robinsonian era in
cartography and the subject of a considerable writing by Robinson, his students, and the students of his students.

[I]t is especially necessary to call attention to the fact that the Mercator map, which is, par excellence, the
map of the navigator, is in most cases unsuited to the purpose of the geographer, [who is] mainly interested in
the comparison of areas and for that reason requires an equivalent projection. (Eckert 1908, p. 346)
That is an observation Robinson understood well, as echoed in his critique of the Peters projection (Robinson 1985) as
well as in the straightforward lessons in his text.
It is evident that cartography is not merely a technical art. It is for the greater part an applied art, an art
governed and determined by scientific laws. But how can cartography avoid the rigid rules of mathematical
precision? The decisive turning-pointlies in the transition from the topographic to the general map. As long
as the scale allows the objects in nature to be represented in their true proportion on the map, technical skill
alone is necessary. Where this possibility ends the art of the cartographer begins. With generalization art
enters into the making of maps. (Eckert 1908, p. 346-7)
Robinson would develop a much more sophisticated and defensible view of cartography as an applied art, but it is
difficult to believe that the stimulus for his thinking had nothing to do with Eckerts views.
Eckert goes on to talk about the effects of maps on users and has a fairly long commentary on the sensible use of colors
on maps. He then states explicitly:
[O]ne of the most important topics that scientific cartography has to deal with [is] map logic. Map logic
treats of the laws which underlie the creation of maps and which govern cartographic perception. (Eckert
1908, p. 348)
How prescient of cartography in the last half of the 20th century!
It was not chance that led me to this crucial Eckert reference over all others, nor did I read all 67 of the items in the first
edition to find it. I was a graduate student of Arthur Robinson, and the name was a familiar one. Eckerts influence is
also revealed in the very first sentence of the Preface to the first edition of Elements: Cartography, according to the
late Max Eckert, the great German cartographer, is a mixture of science and art. (Robinson 1953, p. v) It is an
appropriate opening not only in setting the tone for the text but in linking it to this revered intellectual ancestor.
Prefaces and acknowledgements are, in fact, a rich source of information about how and from whom a scholar received
the seeds that take hold and germinate in the work. How many know, for example, from whom Arthur Robinson took
his first cartography course or at least the first course that piqued his interest in the subject? In his own words from his
Preface:
I should particularly like to acknowledge my debt to Professor Vernor C. Finch, of the University of
Wisconsin, in whose class I first became interested in cartography as an art and science, and learned that there
was something more to it than mere manual dexterity. [His] cartographic skill, his analytical attitude toward
this and other subjects, and his subsequent personal encouragement are largely responsible for my having
initially chosen to work in the field of cartography. (Robinson 1953, p. vi)
In addition to acknowledging Finch and (G-H) Smith, he states clearly
My debt to such cartographic stalwarts as M. Eckert, M. A. Tissot, K. Zppritz, E. Raisz, J.K. Wright, O.S.
Adams, and others will be readily recognized by the professional reader.
What I find particularly interesting about that statement is that his protgs would easily recognize these names and
would associate famous German cartographer, Indicatrix, projections, etc. with them. We were never led to
believe that Robinson invented cartography, but he was obviously a perceptive and keen thinker who could put the ideas
of his intellectual ancestors into clearer focus, organizing and integrating them, and bringing them forward within the
technological and intellectual milieu of his time.
Another person Robinson acknowledges in this first edition of Elements is Jim Barnes at the University of Georgia, who
would, almost 2 decades later be my colleague at that institution. Barnes was a contemporary of Arthur Robinson in the
graduate program at the University of Wisconsin where Robinson did his masters degree. The first article Robinson
published, in fact, was co-authored with Jim Barnes (Barnes and Robinson 1940). Barnes did not finish his PhD and
did not develop the extensive publication record that Arthur Robinson did. He was a good thinker, however, for whom
map logic seemed to come naturally, even on one of the very few concepts for which a less-than-sound conception

was perpetuated in the Elements text over the years

(contrast Barnes 1978 with p. 510 in the 6th edition of
Elements).
In the first edition, Robinson
acknowledges help from Jim Barnes on the material on
projections, a subject in which he had considerable
strength. Barnes used an approach in his teaching of
projections, in fact, that I drew upon for many years.
Robinson also acknowledges his students who have,
perhaps unwittingly, contributed heavily toward this
undertaking and specifically James Flannery for
his constructive role, an acknowledgement that
heralded various acknowledgements over the years of
students who contributed in some way to his work.
It is traditional for authors to recognize the
encouragement and patience of a spouse in their
publications, but Arthur Robinson goes further than
that, indicating that Mary Elizabeth Robinson read
much of the manuscript in draft, and all of it in final
form, and made many worthwhile editorial proposals
(Robinson 1953, p. viii). There are similar statements
in The Look of Maps and in other editions of Elements.
In Early Thematic Mapping he states flatly that
without her help this research would not be as far
along, nor would this book have been possible (1982
p. xiii). She was, by all indications, a strong influence
on the straightforward and clear writing, containing
few if any extraneous words, that was a hallmark of
his publications. I clearly remember his commenting
to us as graduate students that You cannot edit your
own work. His acknowledgements indicate who
edited his.
Arthur Robinson wrote over 60 articles and
monographs as well as cartography and other
textbooks. All of these would have drawn influence
from a vast variety of sources. The span of his grasp
on the subject matter and literature of the field was
nothing short of remarkable.

ROBINSONS INFLUENCE
Arthur Robinson published over a span of almost 60
years.
The subject matter included: general
cartography (textbook, professional reports, and
matters of the profession), design (including
symbolization, mapping methods, theory, and thematic
mapping), the history of cartography (from specific
maps to syntheses of widely ranging materials), map
projections (from corrections to construction tables to
information on his own projection), physical and
general geography (mostly text material), and
quantitative
methods
(applications
within
geography/cartography). Although individual items
often relate to more than one of these categories, I
attempted to select the most fitting one for each to
place it into a subject-matter-by-time list to illustrate
the progression of his work (Table 1).

General
m
m

1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
m
1946
m
1947 mmmmdc
1948
mmm
1949
1950
m
1951
A
1952
1953
B
1954
A
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
Bccc
1961
1962
1963
Ap
1964
pv
1965
AA
1966
A
1967
I
1968
Ac
1969
Bp
1970
o
1971
v
1972
AAp
1973
e
1974
SA
1975
1976
1977
AAA
1978
B
1979
A
1980
v
1981
1982
1983
1984
B
1985
1986
d
1987
Ae
1988
1989
c
1990
1991
AA
1992
1993
1994
o
1995
B
1996
1997
o
1998

Design
A

Physical /
History Projections GenGeog Quantitative
m

A
N
A

t
v

Av
A

B
A
B
A
A
A
c
Av

A
B

A
A

c
v

Ae
A
A

B
P
A
A
BA
BA

v
AA
v
Aa
Avv
vv
A

B
B
cc

A
AAA
B

A
A
v

Av

vv
B
A

v
B
A
B
c
A
B

A
A

A
B

Table 1. A. H. Robinsons publications (source: Robinson 1998).

A: Article (jrnl, proc) or published address
a: article translation
B: Book or monograph
C: Encyclopedia article
d: dictionary entry(ies)
e: editorial or foreword
m: map(s)
N: Dissertation (date from UMI website < wwwlib.umi.com>)
o: obituary
p: report
S: Atlas
t: table
v: review

Probably the most notable characteristic is the consistency over his career of most of the categories. The breadth of his
expertise showed up even before completion of the dissertation, which is not surprising given his extensive cartographic
experience in the federal government (Office of Strategic ServicesOSS) during World War II between his masters
degree (1938) and PhD (1947) (Robinson 1979). His significant contributions to quantitative methods in geography in
the early years of that movement may be surprising to younger cartographers. He was a supporter of sound applications
of quantitative methods far earlier than many other geographers and his work in that field is probably an important
reason that cartography was always an integral part of the quantitative movement.
The maps that are indicated in the table fall far short of those he supervised. He would have been involved in countless
maps produced in the OSS and probably had a significant role in those produced at the University of Wisconsin in the
early years of his faculty career there.
The impact of all these publications could be revealed in a number of ways and the one I have chosen here is citations
listed in ISI Web of Science (The Thompson Corporation 2005). This resource is not particularly strong on references
to cartographic materials, yet it yields over 680 references to Prof. Robinson's writings since 1970, the beginning of the
online records for the social science section (in which most of the references to his work appear), and of the 483 articles
in which the works were cited, 375 of them were published after 1980, the year in which Prof. Robinson retired.
Another mark of his influence is the set of outlets for his published work. He published 11 articles in the flagship
journal Annals of the Association of American Geographers, which must be among the highest number for any author in
that journal. He also published several items in the Geographical Review and in other geographic, cartographic, and
related journals. The Scientific Monthly and Social Education were also outlets and he was involved in the selection of
map entries for the Random House American College Dictionary in 1947 (Robinson 1998).
Publications of the sort listed in Table 1 were academic in nature, but they had an impact beyond academia. Few
cartographers in the government would have been unaware of at least his textbook and it was with good reason.
Robinsons experiences in the OSS were foundational to his views of cartography and of what needed to be done in the
discipline. His work was thoroughly grounded in the realities of both map production and map use, and he was keenly
aware of the institutional settings in which mapping took place. He also appreciated the necessity of the functions of
institutions within the cartographic enterprise, an appreciation that led him to promote the formation of a State
Cartographer Office in Wisconsin. He was the key figure in bringing that office into being (WSCO 2005).
Progeny are another indicator of the impact of Arthur Robinson. He advised 14 PhD students, 10 of whom were clearly
in cartography (Flannery, Thrower, Farley, Castner, Hsu, Bartz, Morrison, McCleary, Olson, Woodward, Pearson). He
supervised scores of Masters students, several of whom went on for the PhD under his or anothers tutelage. A family
tree that shows his students and the students of his students appears elsewhere (Castner 2005), and a scholar compiling
a more exhaustive list had about 450 entries at last count (Freundschuh 2005). That so many graduate students have
been generated by one scholar is remarkable, but such an enumeration does not include the countless others whom he
taught in classes or who were influenced by his books and research or by that of his direct intellectual progeny.
Another long-lasting effect he has had on the field is the development of the American cartographic journal. It began
publication in 1974 as The American Cartographer and later became Cartography and Geographic Information
Systems and more recently Cartography and Geographic Information Science. I have pointed out elsewhere (Olson
2005) that it was his patience, vision, and diplomacyand his willingness to serve as editorthat brought the journal
into existence. It was his skill in setting it up to succeed that resulted in a journal that would continue over the decades
and adapt to changing times.
No commentary on the influence of Arthur Robinson would be complete without reference to his map Projection. It is
by far the most important reason that his name is known well beyond the field of cartography. Rand McNally began
using the projection in 1965 and National Geographic Society used it for their general world map for a decade
beginning in 1988. These organizations are household names in the United States (and beyond) and the map has been
distributed to many millions of homes as well as to schools and libraries. The number of references to it in the
professional literature would be staggering, and there are many popular magazines, advertisements, and other outlets
where the map appears in the background.

FINAL WORD
Arthur Robinson lived in a time of tremendous technical and intellectual change that affected the field in which he was
so important. These changes were not only recognized but largely embraced throughout his writing, teaching, and

research. I will end here with an anecdote that captures his cognizance of change and his ability to foresee it as well as
observe it. As I wrote this paper, my department was in the midst of moving to a different building and large containers
occupied the hall near my office, heaped with awkwardly large and cumbersome maps, outdated and dusty ones, objects
no longer needed with the up-to-date versions of the information that can be accessed as data or graphics on the
Internet. Computers would occupy prime space in our new facility but map storage would be virtually non-existent. It
was in this setting that I reread Arthur Robinsons Cartography to the Year 2000, written for a symposium in 1976:
The user of 2000 may neither desire nor be willing to pay the cost of a flat paper map. Not only might it be
considered ecologically wasteful to produce maps on paper or plastic, the user may simply not want to have
them lying around requiring storage.
Robinson goes on to predict that animation would be more commonplace, time would be more commonly
incorporated into mapping, there would be (i)ntegrated systems of automated data acquisition and mapping, and
continuous mapping (to wit The National Map, USGS 2005). The cartography of 2000 would be very different from
1975 and
In all likelihood, computer output will have replaced manual mapmaking for well over 90% of all maps
produced by 2000 A.D.
Well over, indeed! And one has to remember that in the mid-1970s it was still controversial as to how useful computers
would be!
Robinson acknowledges Joel Morrison and Phillip Muehrcke in this paper, and his forecasting abilities were
undoubtedly enhanced by the input of his young colleagues. Had he not believed what he was saying, however, it
would not have been in the paper. He did not, of course, forecast the development of GIS and all its implications. He
was, after all, a human being, albeit a remarkable one!

REFERENCES
Barnes, James A. 1978. Control Areas and Control Points in Isopleth Mapping, The American Cartographer, Vol. 5,
No. 1 (April), pp. 65-69.
Barnes, James A. and Arthur H. Robinson. 1940. A New Method for the Representation of Dispersed Rural
Population, Geographical Review, Vol. 30, No. 1. (Jan. 1940), pp. 134-137.
Castner, Henry. 2005. (Graphic representation of Arthur Howard Robinsons students and their students),
Cartographic Perspectives, in press.
Eckert, Max. 1921, 1925. Die Kartenwissenschaft, 2 Vols. Berlin and Leipzig.

Eckert, Max. 1908. On the Nature of Maps and Map Logic, Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, Vol. 40,
No. 6 (1908), pp. 344-351, translated by W. Joerg.
Eckert-Greifendorff, Max. 1939. Kartographie. Berlin.
Freundschuh, Scott. 2005. Personal communication.
Hartshorne, Richard. 1939. The Nature of Geography: A Critical Survey of Current Thought in the Light of the Past.
Lancaster, PA: Association of American Geographers, 504 pp.
ISI Web of Science

Olson, Judy. A tribute to our founding editor: Arthur H. Robinson, 1925-2004, Cartography and Geographic
Information Science, Vol. 32, No. 2 (April), p. 133.
Raisz, Erwin. 1948. General Cartography, 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co.

Robinson, Arthur H. 1952. The Look of Maps. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press.

Robinson, Arthur H. 1953. Elements of Cartography. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 254 pp.

Robinson, Arthur H. 1960. Elements of Cartography, 2nd edition. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 343 pp.

Robinson, Arthur H. and Randall D. Sale. 1969. Elements of Cartography, 3rd edition. New York: John Wiley &
Sons, Inc., 415 pp.
Robinson, Arthur, Randall Sale, and Joel Morrison. 1978. Elements of Cartography, 4th edition. New York: John
Wiley & Sons, Inc., 448 pp.

Robinson, Arthur, Randall Sale, Joel Morrison, and Phillip C. Muehrcke. 1984. Elements of Cartography, 5th
edition. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 544 pp.
Robinson, Arthur, Joel Morrison, Phillip C. Muehrcke, A. Jon Kimerling, and Steven C. Guptill. 1995. Elements
of Cartography, 6th edition. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 674 pp.

Robinson, Arthur H. 1976. Cartography to the Year 2000, in U. A. Uotila (ed.), The Changing World of Geodetic
Science, Report No. 250, Dept of Geodetic Science, The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, Ohio, pp. 255-269.
Robinson, Arthur H. 1979. Cartography Then and Now, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 69, pp.
97-102.

Robinson, Arthur H. 1982. Early Thematic Mapping in the History of Cartography. Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press.
Robinson, Arthur H. 1985 Arno Peters and His New Cartography, The American Cartographer, Vol. 12, No. 2
(October), pp. 103-111.
Robinson, Arthur H. 1998. Curriculum Vitae, manuscript (January), 14 pp. (includes published works but not oral
presentations).
Arthur H. Robinson and Barbara Bartz Petchenik. 1976. The Nature of Maps: Essays Toward an Understanding of
Maps and Mapping. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
The Thompson Corporation. 2005. ISI Web of Science. <www.thompson.com>.

Tyner, Judith. 2005. Elements of Cartography: Tracing Fifty Years of Academic Cartography, Cartographic
Perspectives, in press.
USGS (U.S. Geological Survey). 2005. The National Map. <nationalmap.gov/>
WSCO (Wisconsin State Cartographers Office). 2003. About SCO. <www.geography.wisc.edu/sco/about/history.php>.

Wallis, Helen M. and Arthur H. Robinson (eds.). 1987. Cartographical Innovations: An International Handbook of
Mapping Terms to 1900. Map Collectors Publications (1982) Ltd. in association with the International Cartographic
Association.

Author contact information: Judy M. Olson, Department of Geography, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
48824-1117. E-mail: olsonj@msu.edu. Phone: 517-353-8757. Fax: 517-432-1671.