Mapping Center

One of the presentations we gave at this year’s User Conference was "The One Minute Cartographer". While we were developing the presentation, we had several intentions in mind. Most importantly, we wanted to demonstrate to the attendees of our session that making a good map in ArcGIS isn’t always as hard as it seems – often times, it is just a matter of going one or two steps beyond the defaults. Another thing that was really important to us was to make sure that all of the data we used to produce this map was also available to you through the ESRI Data and Maps DVD. And in addition, we wanted to create a set of resources with great potential to help map makers in a variety of ways: Read More...

All of the Mapping Center Team was at the ESRI International User Conference in San Diego, California this past week (July 11-17). We taught Tech Sessions, we demoed our online map services, we had meetings with users, we attended sessions, we judged maps, we promoted books, we solicited feedback on our work, and we made connections for future projects.  We also got to see many people we know and to make new friends!

We thought you might like to hear what the highlights of the conference were from our perspective, but we'd love to hear what you thought about the conference, if you were able to be here. Please take a moment to add a comment so we can hear from you! Read More...

Most of the Mapping Center Team will be at the ESRI International User Conference in San Diego, California over the next week (July 11-17). If you’re there, look for us in the following presentations:

• The One Minute Cartographer - Aileen Buckley and Mamata Akella
• Map Use Book Series - A. Jon Kimerling and Aileen Buckley
• Local Government Basemaps using ArcGIS - Charlie Frye and others (Scott Oppmann and Steve Grise)
• ESRI Geologic Mapping Template - Charlie Frye and Janel Day
• Map Use: Reading and Analysis - A. Jon Kimerling and & Aileen Buckley

The Mapping Center Team is pleased to share the ArcGIS Online News announcement that includes the availability of the new World Topographic Map. As several members of the Mapping Center team played a significant role in the design and production of this map, we would like to begin telling you about this map. The World Topographic Map covers the globe to about 1:1,000,000 scale. Within the U.S. (excluding Alaska), the map scale extends to about 1:18,000. The map is a cached map and uses the Virtual Earth/Google Maps tiling scheme (WKID = 102113). What follows are some of the essentials everyone should know about this map, including that the service is free. Read More...

How fast can you cache?  We keep asking ourselves that and keep finding that the more we know the faster we cache.

If you’re involved in the job of caching maps for online map services, you are already familiar with the need to optimize the process as much as possible so that it takes less time and effort. One way you can do this is to optimize how your maps are displayed – another is to optimize the environment you are caching your map in or the circumstances under which you are caching. This blog post is dedicated to the latter. Read More...

This post is to announce the Map Templates Resource Center. Map templates are useful examples. Each map template is a kit that contains a collection of resources needed to transfer a specific map’s design and ArcGIS implementation to you.

These templates are not the template map documents that you might have saved as an .MXT file. Instead these templates are .ZIP files that typically include: Read More...

Someone pointed out to me that ESRI's CEO, Jack Dangermond recently did an interview that focused on web mapping. You can read and hear it here: http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/04/jack-dangermond-interview-web-mapping.html. Read More...

This week, the Federal Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board is hosting an online forum looking for input from the Information Technology (IT) community on how Recovery.gov can be designed to enhance information access and transparency. For more info, see http://www.recovery.gov/. Read More...

At long last, a book that I had the good fortune to help author is now available! Here is the press release for Map Use: Reading and Analysis, Sixth Edition, which ESRI Press released on Feb. 14th:

Redlands, California—February 12, 2009—To unlock the wealth of information in a map, a person must know how to read one. That’s why Map Use: Reading and Analysis, Sixth Edition, will be a valuable book for people who work with, study, and appreciate maps and want to improve their map reading and analysis skills.

Replete with nearly 500 maps, photographs, tables, and charts to illustrate the text, this informative volume from ESRI Press teaches the basic concepts of geography and the skills of map reading and analysis. The book includes an overview of different types of maps, map scale and projections, grid coordinate systems, relief portrayal, qualitative and quantitative thematic maps, area and volume measures, GPS and maps, and spatial pattern analysis. Read More...

Bad maps, unlike bad press, do not garner the sort of attention that can be capitalized upon.  Bad maps are strong impediments to gaining mind share, and represent a significant risk to depleting mind share.  Why? Bad maps are a visual, i.e., strong communication method, and convey incompetence and poor judgment.

To many of us this is obvious, but we consistently hear from people who are professionals, who have to make maps. Read More...

Occasionally I'm asked to come into a project to introduce some cartographic thinking into work that ordinarily might not have much. I spent most of last week with some folks who know water utility GIS. I helped by designing a status map, and took some of that work to make some improvements to an editing map and a mobile map. The status map needed to be a multi-scale base map that showed the water network data (mains, valves, meters, etc.), and the status of assets and water service.  Many different people within a water department, local government, or even the public might see the map. This map had to be functional, attractive, and free of obvious  errors and awkward symbol or labeling choices. Read More...

New in ArcGIS 9.3: you can send error reports to ESRI any time ArcGIS crashes. Software crashes are a serious software quality issue. Our goal is to eliminate them. The folks on our development teams wanted to explain why crash reporting was added and why it can help build better software for you. Read More...

Please note that we will be on vacation the next two weeks and may not be able to get to your question until the end of August. We're a small team and we really love helping you, but we need to take this break so we can come back energized for the rest of the year! If you need immediate help, please contact your ESRI account representative. Read More...

The ESRI Map Book has become an annual must-have collectors item for ESRI International User Conference attendees and GIS users alike. The twenty-third volume of the ESRI Map Book showcases the innovative and inspiring accomplishments of GIS users around the world. The true excitement of this book lies in the discovery of which maps have made it from the 2007 ESRI International User Conference Map Gallery into publication. More than 100 full-color maps are featured from distinct industry categories such as cartography, environmental management, government, natural resources, planning and engineering, tourism, transportation, and utilities. Read More...

ArcGIS 9.3 has hit the streets, meaning some of you should have it in hand this week, and most of you will have it in the coming weeks. After you get it installed definitely read the What's new in ArcGIS 9.3 PDF [13Mb] (it also installed with ArcGIS 9.3 at C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Documentation\Whats_New_In_ArcGIS_93.PDF). Use the text search (CTRL-F) to find content, like "Maplex" or "Representations", or whatever term best describes the enhancement you've been hoping for. Read More...