Visually impaired people use tactile maps that can be read by the sense of touch or, to a limited extent, with their eyes. This article concerns the methods of assessing tactile maps in terms of their information value. In the research, methods used to assess traditional maps have been adopted to assess tactile maps. Tactile elements of two maps - one developed with the use of traditional methods and the second developed with the use of 3D printing - have been compared. Structural measures of information as well as the information efficiency coefficient of each map have been determined to assess whether new cartographic symbols proposed on a multi-level 3D printed map can increase its information value.

Nowadays, map users come from a diverse disciplines and use maps for different purposes, but they all are confronted with the same task: finding the maps they need. Searching systems, used by museums or archives collecting maps, rely on metadata. However, the scope and method of saving map data in metadata are not often connected with the way in which users search for maps and therefore they are often unable to find the maps necessary for their research. Moreover, the ways of describing maps in metadata are different in each institution, what hinders the interoperability and wide using of data. In this context, the key questions are: what scope of metadata can provide a proper description of maps and how to evaluate if metadata from concerned institution fulfill these needs and give user the chance to find necessary maps. Therefore, the aim of our research was to evaluate topographic maps metadata in the context of the possibility to evaluate their usability of specific users’ needs in the National Library of Poland (NLP). The area of interest are topographic maps because they are the most heavily used for research and other purposes. To assess metadata for the purposes of evaluating the usability of topographic maps, a two-stage procedure was used. It covers the evaluation of topographic maps metadata, followed by their assessment in terms of whether maps found on their basis might be useful in our research. The research was carried out on 35,092 topographic maps issued in the years 1608–2017, in scales ranging from 1:10,000 to 1:500,000 from the National Library of Poland. These maps mainly cover the current territories of Poland, Belarus, Germany, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Lithuania, and Russia. The conducted analysis of topographic maps in the National Library of Poland revealed that the collected data are very interesting and match the users’ needs.

Purposes: This paper aims to present an objective summary of the current state of research concerning the evaluation criteria of map metadata. The undertaken research identifies which authors and to what extent the discussed issues related to the metadata of objects collected in digital libraries, with particular emphasis on cartographic materials. Design/methodology/approach: Independent reviewers analysed the basic articles data. Selected papers were subject to quality assessment, based on the full text and 12 questions. Finally, iterative backward reference search was conducted. Findings: The results demonstrate that there are no universal criteria for metadata evaluation. There are no works that would assess the metadata of cartographic studies, although numerous publications point to the need for this type of work. Practical implications: Metadata evaluation allows users to obtain knowledge whether objects found in the library are relevant for their needs. Originality/value: The criteria and methods most often used for assessing metadata quality which can be adopted to map metadata evaluation have been identified. The authors identified the existing research gaps and proved that there is a need for research contributions in the field of evaluating map metadata.

The article presents research on the evaluation of hidden map metadata. A hidden map is a map being part of a book that illustrates certain facts described in the book (e.g., military campaigns, political processes, migrations). The evaluation regards their completeness. Metadata completeness is the degree to which objects are described using all metadata elements. The analysis took into account the metadata of archival maps accessed via the GeoPortOst geoportal. Over 3000 hidden maps from the period 1572–2018 were analyzed, and the map set was divided into 8 collections. The main purpose of cartographers and librarians is to facilitate understanding of the relationship between individual information (librarians) and spatial data (cartographers). To this end, the research focused on the kind of information about old maps that should be stored in metadata to describe them in terms of space, time, content and context so as to increase their interoperability. The following metadata were taken into account in the assessment: title of content, type of content, date, date range, rights, language, subject, distribution format, geographic location, scale of map, reference system, mapping methods, map format, and source materials used to develop the map. The completeness of individual metadata as well as the completeness of metadata for individual collections was assessed. Finally, good practices of individual collections and metadata that could increase the interoperability of the entire collection were identified. The evaluation enables the owners to show the strengths and weaknesses of a given collection in a quick and easy way.

The paper presents methods of area calculation, which may be applied for big geodesic polygons on the ellipsoid. Proposal developed by the authors of this paper is discussed. The proposed methods are compared with other, alternative methods of area calculation of such polygons. Test calculations are performed for administrative units in Poland. The obtained results are also compared with areas of those units registered in statistical annals. Utilisation of the equal-area map projections of the ellipsoid onto a plane seems to be the best solution for the discussed task. In the case of small distances between points we may expect accurate results of calculations, since the area size is influenced by the projection reductions only, which are small in such cases. In some cases their influence on results of calculations may be neglected. Then, only re-calculation of co-ordinates from the GRS80 ellipsoid to the cartographic, equal-area projection is required.