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Map Symbols: Showing Multivariate Data with Texture

Posted in 03 Mappable Data, 09 Map Symbolization, Map History, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on February 13, 2008 | 4 Comments »

Map of New York City, Showing the Distribution of the Principal Nationalities by Sanitary Districts published in Harper’s Weekly (June 1, 1894) using 1890 U.S. Census data.
This map looks great, revealing a substantial amount of information with its intense, juxtaposed patterns.
The textures on the map show the relative amounts of different nationalities (qualitative data) in [...]

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More Principles of Map Design

Posted in 02 Why Are You Making Your Map?, 06 Map Layout, 07 Hierarchies, 08 Generalization & Classification, 09 Map Symbolization, Deep Map Thoughts, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 5, 2008 | 5 Comments »

Making maps is rife with rules. But following rules does not necessarily produce a great (or even good) map. It may be the implementation of broader design principles that leads to a successful map.
Principles are an intellectual generalization of a broad field of knowledge: a kind of map, in the broadest sense of the word.
They [...]

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Perceptual Scaling of Map Symbols

Posted in 09 Map Symbolization on August 28, 2007 | 3 Comments »

What if there was a gap between mapped data and our perception of it?
Buried in the ArcGIS symbolization options for proportional symbol maps is a puzzling check box labeled Appearance Compensation (Flannery) that addresses one gap between perception and data symbolized on maps.

This check box is a vestige of academic cartography’s extensive engagement with psychophysics [...]

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How Useful is Tufte for Making Maps?

Posted in 06 Map Layout, 07 Hierarchies, 08 Generalization & Classification, 09 Map Symbolization, 10 Type on Maps, 12 Finishing Your Map, Map Books on August 16, 2007 | 14 Comments »

Edward Tufte’s The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (1998, 2nd edition 2001) is a classic book, arguably his best, and certainly a key text in the field of information graphics (which encompasses cartography). I know some cartography courses use the book as a text.
I recall being inspired by the book as a neophyte cartographer back [...]

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Map Police Review: the MLA Language Map of the US

Posted in 03 Mappable Data, 04 Map-Making Tools, 08 Generalization & Classification, 12 Finishing Your Map, Map Police on July 9, 2007 | 1 Comment »

The proliferation of mapping sites on the web provides ample fodder for critique by the map police (cartographic insiders). I usually feel a bit bad whining about the cartographic limitations of such sites. Cartographers have a history of obsessing with rules and such obsession has, arguably, limited creativity and undermined innovations. [...]

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