Tag Archives: Map
Esri Map Book, Volume 27 now available
By Aileen Buckley, Esri Research Cartographer
The Esri Map Book, Volume 27, shows how GIS enables change and provides innovative, spatially based solutions to wide-ranging issues, including those affecting business, the environment, utilities, transportation, and government.
More details are available on The Esri Press website. If you are not already on the list to receive this book and you would like a copy, please contact esripress@esri.com.
The Esri Map Book, Volume 27, PN: 126715, ISBN: 9781589483149, Price: $24.95 ($28.95 in Canada)
Thematic Atlas sample app now available
The Esri Thematic Atlas Sample App is a configurable web application that uses a collection of intelligent web maps with text, graphics, and images to talk about our world. The sample application allows the author to organize maps into groups … Continue reading
Using a mapmaking checklist for map design
By Kenneth Field, Research Cartographer, and Damien Demaj, Online Cartographic Product Engineer
We all have favorite maps that we think are great, but rather than just saying a map looks great, how many of us are able to take a critical look at it, evaluate it, and explain why it looks great? Having the ability to reflect on and evaluate maps as information products is important to understanding effective cartographic design so you can optimize communication of the intended message in your own maps as well as be able to understand why other maps work. In this blog entry, we’ll briefly look at some static maps and a web map to see what we think makes them great and then show you how using a checklist gives you the tools to reflect on maps in the same way. Continue reading
An intelligent map checklist
When you create an intelligent web map or map service, you are sharing something that you hope will stand on its own and be useful to others. How can you deliver a map that is both attractive and useful for … Continue reading
ArcGIS for Android 1.5 Released!
The Mobile Team is proud to announce the 1.5 release of the ArcGIS for Android application. It is available now on both the Google Play market and the Amazon App Store. ?
Key features for this release include:
- Improved layer controls for managing dynamic map services, map notes and group layers
- Support for secured services
- Expanded device support (including the Kindle Fire)
- Improved GPS auto-pan functionality
- Stability improvements (sign in, mobile content server, more…) Continue reading
Map orientation: When true north is NOT at the top
By Aileen Buckley, Mapping Center Lead
We got an excellent comment from a reader this week about maps that are not drawn with true north at the top. Referring to the San Diego Convention Center (SDCC) maps that are included in Esri User Conference agendas and other publications, Stephen wrote:
The map of the San Diego Convention Center is upside down, in my opinion. Flipping it and putting north toward the top would make the map much more intuitive to read and interpret. I always orient myself with north up on the map…
Marker fill symbols add realism to your maps
By Aileen Buckley, Mapping Center Lead
Another way to create polygon symbols that appear more realistic is to use marker fill symbols that mimic what you would see on the ground, but also to vary them so that they do not clip at the polygon edges (figures 1 and 2). Continue reading
Picture fill symbols add realism to your maps
By Aileen Buckley, Mapping Center Lead
The key to using a picture fill symbol when imparting realism is to choose one that has a random appearance. Another trick is to pick one that looks something like the type of feature you are mapping. A number of pictures are provided with ArcGIS, and many of them fit these criteria. Follow the steps below to see how you can apply this symbology on your maps using pictures provided by Esri. Continue reading
Polygon fill symbols add realism to your maps
By Aileen Buckley, Mapping Center Lead
When working with polygon data, it is common to symbolize these features with a colored fill and an outline (figure 1). However, if you are trying to create a realistic impression on your map, this symbology works against you. In the real world, we rarely see lines around areas, and the inside of those areas is rarely the same color everywhere. Continue reading
Stream tapering adds realism to your map
By Aileen Buckley, Mapping Center Lead
Stream tapering is a technique cartographers use to add realism to a map and help readers determine the direction of flow by using a wider line for downstream reaches than those upstream. Streams in nature vary in width due to things like flow, topography, or anthropogenic confinement. Tapering wider downstream lines into thinner ones upstream simulates the variation in stream width caused by increasing flow downstream. This method, which has long been used in cartography, is also described in Tom Patterson’s article, Getting Real: Reflecting on the New Look of National Park Service Maps on his web-site, Shaded Relief. Although he describes how he achieved the effect using Adobe Illustrator, this blog entry describes how you can use ArcMap to accomplish the same thing. Continue reading
