NR 422- Advanced GISCartography

Jim Graham

Spring 2009

GIS Professionals

• Produce GIS reports, articles, posters, and web sites that are:– Accurate & Precise– Astatically pleasing– Informative– Legal– Include the standard cartography elements:

• Spatial data, legends, scale bars, north arrows, regional maps, credits, author(s), and projection & datum

• Are recognized as authors!

What is a map?

Questions• Purpose:

– What is the map trying to communicate?

• Audience?• What data is available?• What is the schedule?• Required accuracy?• What resources are available?

– Software– Computers– Existing photos, graphs, maps

Maps by type

• General reference maps– Show a variety of fixed features– Water bodies, coastlines, roads, etc.– Topographic maps

• Thematic or special purpose maps– Show one attribute or relationships between

them

• Charts– Navigation by boat or plane

Maps by subject

• Cadastral: ownership

• Weather

• Research

• Recreational maps

• Planning

• Informational/Educational

Overall Style

• Antique

• Political

• Chart

• Academic

• Trail Maps

• Street Maps

• USGS Topographic Map Series

Levels of Quality

• Hand drawn

• MapQuest

• ArcMap

• PowerPoint

• Illustrator & Photoshop

• Quark

• Media: Electronic or paper

Types of content

• Contone– DEMS– Photos– Some statistical layers

• Spot color (drawings, vector)– Points– Polylines– polygons– Categorical rasters:

• Land cover

GoogleMaps

ESRI ArcMap Data Set

Map Production

• Computer Screens (CRTs, Monitor):– Emit light in a grid– About 100 dpi– Red, Green, Blue– Good for contone

• Printers:– Place ink on paper– Cyan, Yellow, Magenta, Black (CYMK)– 300 to 2000 dpi– Good for spot color

Color Theory

Light: Additive Pigment: Subtractive

Computer Screens (CRT) Printers

Hue

CIE Color Diagram

Color Separation

Process Color

Color Printer Process

• Get the layout right

• Test the margins on a black and white printer

• Test the color print

• Adjust the colors until they look good

• Show it to others including target audience

• Cut off a white border if desired

Offset Press

• Professional grade

• Large numbers of copies– $500 for 500 copies– Cheaper for additional copies

• Each color on a separate “plate”

• Can mix special colors

• Almost all magazines and books are printed on offset press

Pre-Press Process

1. Talk to the printer!

2. Follow color printer process

3. Take the file and the color print to the process printer

4. Process printer creates “photo ready art”

5. May do a test run

6. Approve final output

Paper

• Paper is graded by “hardness”– Newspaper– Office paper– “Hard” paper (Hammermill)– Glossy paper

• Colored paper– Dark colors rarely work with computer

printers– Use white paper and print the background

solid

Using ArcMap with GA Applications• Prepare your map elements

• File -> Export

• Select the appropriate file type

• Resolution as specified by the printer:– With spot color: 300 to 1000 dpi– Without spot color: 150 to 200 dpi– Files will be big!

• Import into the other application– Add backgrounds, callouts, redo the legend

Export File Formats

• Contone:– JPEG– TIFF with JPEG compression

• Spot Color, Line Drawings– GIF– PNG– TIFF with LZW or run-length compression

• Combined:– JPEG with high quality (low compression)– TIFF without compression

Using Color

• Pastels - calming

• Saturated colors – fun, exciting

• Young:– Red, blue, green, saturated

• Older:– Blue, green, red, unsaturated

• Color preference varies by culture!

• 10% of men and 0.5% of women are color-blind (poor color discrimination)

Background Color

• Sets the tone– Black – dramatic– White – technical– Green – comforting, natural– Red – exciting, danger– Beige – soothing– Orange, yellow – warm

• Should not be bright

• Should compliment the content

Borders

• Neat lines – contrast background:– Light background: black– Dark background: white or yellow

• Large regions – typically black

• Dashed for smaller subdivisons

Solid areas

• Oceans: light blue

• Regions: pastels

• Patterns: going out of style?– Patterns of sparse vegetation, rocks, etc. are

ok.– Hashed areas only used for special purpose

Networks• Standard symbols for

highways, roads• Blue with black

outlines for rivers, black lines for streams

GoogleMaps

Points, “Marks” or Symbols• Standard when

available• Easy to identify and

remember• Size: big cities larger

National Geographic

Standard Symbols from the USGS

• http://pubs.usgs.gov/tm/2006/11A02/

http://www.nps.gov/pefo/planyourvisit/cultural-demonstrations.htm

Overlays

• Informational balloons

• Photos• Call outs

National Geographic

Labels• Typically black or a

dark color• Drop shadow or

“halo” to highlight on a dark background

• Size matches importance

National Geographic

Label Placement

• Typically horizontal

• Large roads and steams the label should be above the feature and curve with it

• Labels in regoins can follow it’s shape

• Should always be right side up

• Should not overlap with other labels and symbols

Positioning Guidelines• Entirely on land or entirely on water• Match orientation of the map

– Small scale: match parallels– Large scale: match bottom edge

• Not curve unless needed• If out of orientation, should have a slight

curve• Avoid wide spaces unless needed• Never upside down

Elements of Cartography

Label Placement

Place name 1

Place name 3

2 Place name

4 Place name

Place name 5

Place name 6

Place name 7

Place name 8

Place name 9

Place name 10

Elements of Cartography

Visual Variables

• Primary:– Shape– Size– Orientation– Color

• Secondary (Pattern):– Arrangement– Texture– Orientation

Map Elements

• Title

• Spatial Data w/neat lines

• Regional maps

• Scale bars

• North arrows

• Text: Author, data, projection, datum, sources, descriptive

• Grid lines and margins

• Magnetic declination: navigation maps

Regional Maps

• Enough for the user to identify the area– US map does not need regional

• Some maps need multiple:– Global– Regional– Local

North Arrow

• Style should match overall map style

• North points to true north

• Must follow lines of longitude (meridians) at the location of the arrow (ESRI does not do this automatically!)

Scale Bars

• Who is the audience?

• What measures for distance do they use?

• Units: Degrees, metric, English?

• Always use metric (SI) or degrees for scientific maps

• Must be readable

• Which region does it match?

Techniques

• Classification

• Simplification

• Exaggeration

• Generalization

Classification

• Express the salient character of a distribution

• Similar attributes into categories

• Create “typical” attribute for an area

• Clustering– Combining features at small scale (large

extent)– Combine related features that are close

together

Simplification

• Must reduce the detail of the map while maintaining it’s informational content

• Small-scale maps:– Find points that represent clusters– Polygons can be become points– Multiple points can become one

Exaggeration

• Exaggerate a feature of interest– Elevation– City size– Feature size

• Buildings• Bridges• Monuments

Generalization

• Reduces the size of the data (in bytes)

• Reduces detail

• Reduces interest in the generalized item

Composition

• Spatial data should be the focus, set the stage, and take up the most area (typically)

• Legends, scale bars, credits and other items fill in the gaps

• This makes each map layout unique

• Try different arrangements until you find the one that “looks best” (show it to others)

Map Element Placement

• Title at the top– Sometimes vertically on the left– Rarely on across the bottom

• In or around the map?– Either way it must stand out!

TitleTitle Title