Vít PÁSZTO, Pavel TUČEK

Informační zisk a entropie v kartografické tvorbě

Pászto, V., Tuček, P.: Information Gain and Entropy in Cartographic Production. Kartografické listy, 2009, 17, 6 figs., 2 tabs., 9 refs.

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to briefly present possibilities of using the information gain and information entropy in evaluation the similarity or the dependence between two maps and evaluate its basic patterns. Information gain (or loss) and information entropy are evaluated while generalization or categorization of geographical phenomena into groups is examined. Relatively old-fashioned concept of entropy is reused in the way of new perspective and power-ful capabilities of Geographic Information System (GIS), its analytical tools and visualization engine. We give a new meaning of the entropy and allow all GIS users to study and display geographic phenomenon and processes in a new relationship with the help of robust analysis and visualization tools provided in GIS. The article contains the overview that should serve as a motivation to the analysis of the entropy in the cartography, spatial modeling and visualization. The whole theory is accompanied by of examples computed over the climatic raster datasets of Czech Republic.

Keywords: entropy, information gain, geoinformatics, cartography, information theory, geocomputation, classification