Jakarta atlas maker Holtorf goes digital<\/p>\n
Marco Kusumawijaya, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Gunther W. Holtorf, the maker of Jakarta Street Atlas and Names
\nIndex, recently arrived back in Jakarta with an interactive CD-
\nROM version of the map.<\/p>\n
Users can search for places by clicking one of the 30 buttons
\n-- which represent 30 special groups or categories -- and then
\ntyping in the place's name.<\/p>\n
\"Street Name\" is just one category. Others include: Apartment,
\nEmbassy, School, University, Estate, Hotel, Kelurahan
\n(subdistrict), Housing Complex, Market Place, Shopping Mall, Toll
\nGate, Bus Terminal, Hospital, Map Number, Post-code and even
\nFlyover\/Underpass.<\/p>\n
As with street names, users can search for new as well as old
\nnames, as long as the latter are still being used. One good
\nexample is the street where The Jakarta Post office lies. It has
\nbeen changed to Jl. Gelora X; but you can also type in Palmerah
\nSelatan, the old name. Unfortunately this CD-ROM is not
\napplicable to Mac computers.<\/p>\n
Holtorf actually started computer-assisted processing with the
\n12th edition of the map issued last year, resulting in the first
\nmap in the world in which all the streets are completely
\ndigitized into vectors.<\/p>\n
The map has accurate latitudes and longitudes. Budapest's
\nskillful cartographers mostly do this work, as they are \"very
\ngood, although not very fast\". (In 1977 when Holtorf started,
\nthey were also very cheap).<\/p>\n
The interactive CDS-ROM's accompany re-prints of the 12th
\nedition atlases, with each pair to be sold at the original price
\nof the first prints last year Rp 199,000 (about US$23). The CD-
\nROM, but not the re-prints, contains some 9,000 corrections made
\nby March 2003. Holtorf claims that neither in Europe, nor Asia,
\nthis format of map exists -- as far as he knows.<\/p>\n
The 30 select categories reflect conditions specific to
\nJakarta and are designed to fulfill what Holtorf describes as
\nJakarta folks's peculiar need to search for neighborhoods or
\nplaces, as opposed to street names. It includes 1,300 real
\nestates.<\/p>\n
So if you are looking for a house in a housing estate, you can
\nsearch the location by entering either the street or the estate
\nname. You cannot type in your street number just yet. Considering
\nthat numbers are not always consecutive along Jakarta streets
\nthis would be far too much to expect old Holtorf to provide.<\/p>\n
For example, there are five number 5's on Jl. Fatmawati. And
\non Jl. Sumenep in Menteng no.26 replaced the original number of a
\nhouse upon the request of the occupant who believes 26 is his
\nlucky number.<\/p>\n
The map is devised to accommodate the navigational needs of
\nmotorists. As such, it is actually no longer a \"Falk\" map.<\/p>\n
The Falk system was developed in Europe in 1946, based on the
\nspecific condition of European cities: many walked or used public
\ntransport, while land-use was stabile. Two colors are
\npredominantly used as background: pink (from the color of roofs)
\nto signify built areas, and green to signify un-built areas.<\/p>\n
Basically the whole map's background is colored solid. Street
\nnames are blurred by such a background. Main streets are colored
\nyellow and exaggerated in width, misleading users.<\/p>\n
Holtorf's map is predominantly white in background, giving
\nmaximum contrast to street names and other texts in black. Other
\ncolors are still used, but selectively and mostly in transparent
\nwashes. He uses pink only to signify dense kampongs, for example.<\/p>\n
Maximum clarity and contrast are important for motorists, the
\nintended users of Holtorf's map. They need to notice information
\nat a glance. It shows u-turns, one-way streets and their
\nhierarchy. Overlaps between pages are generous and grids are
\nsmaller to speed up or make searches more accurate. Three sets of
\n\"key maps\" are provided at three scales: 1: 330,000 for the whole
\nof Jabotabek (Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang, Bekasi) and
\nsurroundings; 1: 150,000 for Jakarta and surroundings; and
\n1:75,000 for large parts of them. The detailed pages are on a
\nlarger scale of 1: 12,500, as compared with the previous edition
\nat 1:15,000.<\/p>\n
Jakarta and its surroundings does seem to require a clear and
\naccurate map -- more than just a Falk's -- because its organic
\nform has grown haphazardly over a long period, very much like
\nJapanese and European cities.<\/p>\n
In the USA, said Holtorf, there is no tradition of complicated
\nand detailed map making. Its cities have inherited gridiron
\npatterns from their colonial past and are not as confusing.
\nJakarta is difficult for a map maker to view as a whole due to
\nthe rapid level of growth, characterized by a lack of planning.<\/p>\n
Slowly but surely, the public imagination of Jakarta has
\nsurpassed its administrative boundaries. Suburbanization has
\nblurred the fringe areas between the mother city and its
\nsurrounding planets (Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi) into a
\nvague continuum.<\/p>\n
Developed infrastructures have made the whole region the de
\nfacto socio-cultural and economic space of the next generation.
\nThey must be free to move and connect efficiently within and
\noutside the continuum shortened as Jabotabek.<\/p>\n
Planning professionals and authorities are mostly lagging
\nbehind in treating the region as a continuum -- arguing about
\njurisdictions and reluctant to take joint action regarding
\nimportant cross-boundary issues, such as the environment and
\ntransportation.<\/p>\n
Whereas a map of Jabotabek serves as just the opposite:
\nconfirming the factual physical, socio-cultural and economic
\ncontinuum and helping its users to move within it efficiently. It
\nis also changing the mentality of the metropolitan citizens. For
\na very long time, Indonesians used to live by an expression Malu
\nbertanya sesat di jalan (if you are too shy to ask, you get
\nlost). Now they do not need to ask, to use the \"mouth compass\",
\nthey can just look at the map!<\/p>\n
Holtorf's 12th edition map has indeed expanded to cover not
\nonly Jabotabek, but also Karawang (to the end of the toll road at
\nCikampek) and Cipanas (part of Cianjur district). The map maker
\npromises that the 13th edition will also cover Sukabumi, Cianjur,
\nPurwakarta, Cikampek, Padalarang and the western parts of
\nBandung, more or less covering the factual, ever expanding living
\nspace of Jakarta's middle class\".<\/p>\n
Jasinga -- a part of Bogor district closer to Jakarta than
\nsome \"other places\", will not be covered precisely because it is
\n\"not a place that is often visited by Jakarta folk\". Holtorf has
\na clear deliberate bias toward Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Holtorf also recognizes the popular perception of areas by
\nframing each area in one page, according to how they are
\ngenerally perceived to be bordered. He puts the area's popular
\nname in the middle of the page. Therefore we have the whole of
\n\"Kebayoran Baru\" on page 54, most of Menteng on page 35, and
\nCinere on page 84.<\/p>\n
What is special about Holtorf's atlas is, in the last
\ninstance, the amount of information contained in it. With very
\nfew books written about the contemporary condition of Jakarta,
\nthis atlas is such a book -- only presented in an atlas format.<\/p>\n
Street names are but 30 percent of the book's content and
\nvalue. It provides a base for future map-makers of Jakarta. It
\nsells quality information, collected through a tenacious working
\nethos. Perhaps that's why others produce a lesser quality map
\nthan Holtorf's and not many cities have similar maps.<\/p>\n
However, his map is not very useful for users of public
\ntransportation, excluding taxis. One may indeed hope to see
\nHoltorf's monumental work overlaid with information about public
\ntransport -- if this is possible, considering its changing
\nroutes and irregular services. Neither is the map satisfying for
\nthose looking for a beautiful image of Jakarta's Metropolis. But,
\nbetter than that, it is an honest view of the city.<\/p>",
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