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Cartograms are proving increasingly popular, but relatively little is known about the problems related to their use. A test program measured the performance of relatively inexperienced map users in identifying locations on a topological cartogram and on the geographic map from which it was derived. The spatial pattern of errors and the variation in task difficulty showed the dominant influence of two map transformation characteristics: change in angular location with respect to other units and change in unit shape. Also, it took significantly longer to perform the task on the map than on the cartogram.

Map-users often fail to obtain an accurate visual image of relief form from contour maps, though little is known about the specific problems experienced. A multiple-choice questionnaire given to 701 subjects concentrated upon the ability to identify different types of slope on contour diagrams. Conceptual difficulty existed, but the failure to judge the relative steepness of slope along convex profiles was best explained by recourse to perceptual error. It is concluded that this may be related to Gibson's texture gradient effect.

T ~ >HE problems related to the appearance of suburban sprawl have fully engaged the attention of many planners in the last two decades, but few geographers have directed their attention toward a detailed analysis of the processes in action along the urban boundary. In 1942, Wehrwein1 gave a general outline of the ruralurban fringe, and emphasized the importance of some of the problems involved in the transition from agricultural to urban activities. There have also been attempts to delimit a fringe area and to study some of the elements which appear common to this fringe.2 However, this fringe area is essentially a zone of discord between two contrasting types of land-use, and though the whole area may be exposed to transitionary influences, it is characterized by local variety rather than regional unity. In a case where the urban area has a rapidly increasing population, the fringe is merely a zone in which agricultural activities are being swiftly eliminated as a result of vigorous urban expansion. Recent studies in California have