3D Cartography

Three dimensions in cartography is literally the cutting edge of the field. If any map enthusiast looks back on the history of this profession it is but a mere 5 years ago when all that was available was flat maps. it is all about technology. Computer software has been a godsend for mapping. Without the advancement of the computer we would still be in the field with a tape measurer and other tools I am not even familiar with because they are obsolete. The old way and only way to see elevation was on a topo map. Sure it got the point across but the terrain itself had to be, at least in part, imagined. 3D cartography takes us far beyond this. Now we can use software that allows us to "fly" over an area, all the while displaying detail that could only be imagined on paper maps. It is my opinion, however, that technology has the potential to hinder mapping. When I first got into this stuff I had an idea in my head that I would be working with my hands. By my hands I do not mean pushing a mouse, right clicking and left clicking, but rather in the field. I long to measure, to survey something, anything. Don't get me wrong, the technology is amazing. A computer generated model of any given area might be amazing, yet highly impersonal and sterile. I hate to criticize anything and that is definitely not the idea here, but I do long to use my hands and feel the earth and stand on the landscape, carefully listening to what it has to say. Accuracy and presentation are often benefits of the technological way, but should we really forget, move past the roots of cartography? One might argue that it is still a field highly reliant on field work, but I would tend to disagree. The argument would be that the field work is now moving toward GIS and GPS data collection, but what about when the data has all been collected? I don't know and perhaps I am just bitter but it is this reason alone that I am not sure whether or not I will do this work in the future. The very near future now. I long to be outside and my honesty tells myself and the world I will not spend the next thirty or so years right clicking. The impression that I am against the technology and 3D cartography is wrong. I still look forward to creating some unique and 3D maps, but I wish it was different. I wish I could have both sides cartography. Old and New.