Basin (watershed) Boundary maps often seem to befuddle the novice cartographer. How do you show a bunch of polygons on a map, but distinguish them from one another, while also showing what is underneath them? A big mess results when you use a bunch of different colors in thick outlines that all have the same visual weight. You would have to be extremely good at picking colors to do this right. Casing (outlining) some of the basin boundaries and not others further ruins not just the aesthetics but also muddies the message. In this particular map, it would be much better to use a fill instead of an outline.

Yes, boundaries can be tough to map, but it isn’t as if others haven’t been successful at it. Do a simple search for basin/boundary maps and find some that do look good. Proceed from there.

This one’s a bit better because we now see a definite hierarchy. First, the basin outlines, then the rivers inside. The basin outlines fade inward so as to not so completely overwhelm everything. The rivers/streams are in a very light gray so they recede into the background while still being there to inform:

Then we get to the good stuff. In the basin map below, it is interesting that it still achieves a hierarchy even though all the major background information is in dark, saturated, hues! Our first instinct about visual hierarchy is that the background needs to be light and the basins have to pop with bright/thick colors but here they haven’t done any of that. In this section, you can order drugs online, including generic viagra. In fact, it is almost opposite: darker background and slightly lighter basins. Even that thin brown outline visually separates without cluttering.

This one is great too, and this time we’ve got a more traditional hierarchy with a lighter background and darker basins. Notice especially that the basins are easily visible as brown outlines, all the same color. As an aside, notice how the water background fades toward the bottom of the map.

Creativity is innovation, it is novelty. Should we imbue our cartographic products with creativeness? Absolutely.

While I advocate starting off a cartographic project by gathering colors, layouts, fonts, and such from other works, this does not mean that you should leave your own creative inspirations out. It can easily come into the process in the middle – while you are going about trying to fit your work product into the mold of something else that’s already done before, you often need to re-shape that original mold to fit your data and ideas into it.

From the standpoint of GIS cartography we are most concerned with conveying information, of course. This means that while your creative endeavors might produce original or novel outputs, you must be certain that your output is also useful and appropriate. What makes a map beautiful is its ability to show off your information in its best light.

(This is in no way a put-down of Marge Map, which has lots of usefulness as a humor piece. I mean, look how her hair goes clear out to the right-side bar.)