ARTICLES
YU Zhuoyuan, WANG Yingjie, SU Ying, TAN Yuqi, HONG Wei
2005, 7(2): 23-29,127.
The Population Atlas of China is a sound tool which has integrated the fifth census data of China in the forms of maps, documents, digits and graphs to illustrate the actual development level of the population nowadays in China. The digital atlas system, designed for the census data input/output, category, storage, query, statistics, mapping, analysis and management, provides the basic information and modern tool for the decision makers and researchers for analyzing population problems and making the long-term exploration policy. This paper discusses several key matters regarding the population visualization, including its system structure, the main functionality models and the atlas inventory, etc. First of all, a system structure composed of four modules of map maker component, atlas management component, atlas viewer component and census database querying component is summarized, and the key models of the system, such as cartographic symbols model, index tree management of census database model and atlas integration model are analyzed and designed based on the running mechanism and workflow of the system. Secondly, by the consideration of "the fifth census data" and the population problems in China, about 200 maps relating to 10 map categories (environment, population distribution, sex and age, immigration, nationality, family and marriage, birth, education, employment, housing) are created for the atlas, which can visually provide information about the real situations, variation, distribution, and constitution of population in China. Finally the paper discusses several cases of population maps made by variant types of cartographic symbols which are used directly to reflect the regional differences and the variations of population in China.