Archive for September, 2010
Web Map Design
Sometimes it is so difficult to put together a web map, whether for yourself or your client, that once you have it working and live you wipe your brow, give yourself a pat on the back, inwardly give a big sigh of relief that you were actually able to get it to work, and consider it done.
Because of the initial functionality barrier, the development process stifles creativity and stifles design. It’s not a new concept in GIS. Typically the technological sophistication appears before the aesthetic sophistication.
Unfortunately we are now at a point where the proliferation of downright terrible looking maps has become a blight on the profession. If you are a web map developer who hasn’t paid much attention to design in the past then this is the number 1 area that I recommend that you spend your professional development time on.
An ability to both create web maps that work, and web maps that people actually use, is now important (unsurprisingly). Prove that you can achieve both of these outcomes and your career will soar.
Ignite Spatial Success
Ignite Spatial NoCo 2.0 was a great success last night. There were over 200 people there and good food and drink. The fact that the event is free (sponsorships make it possible) is amazing.
I managed to take some fantastically awful pictures…here’s the best of the lot (Brian Timony speaking)…
The event was streamed live. Word was that a total of 8 people were watching the live stream. 
Maybe we’ll get more people watching the live stream at the next event as I’m not sure a lot of people even knew there was one. I’ll post links to the YouTube presentations when they become available. There were two extremely good presentations: Brian Timoney: The Timoney Group – Life Lessons from History’s Great Cartographers and Peter Batty: Ubisense – Don’t Make Me Think.
Ignite Spatial 2.0
Tonight is the second round of Ignite Spatial Northern Colorado! I went all the way back through my tweets to February 25, when I first mentioned the idea of getting together for a round of very short and informative geo-related talks. I wish I could have culled the other tweets – the replies – but unfortunately I don’t see a way to get those at the moment. But at least you can see my side of the discussion.
You’ll see how I begin by proposing a vague idea about getting together to teach each other about GIS while not boring everyone to death. A bunch of other geoprofessionals jumped on the idea, and we decided to roll with it. I very quickly roped @wyojeff and @Taliesn in to organize the thing.
Here’s how it all started, back on February 25, 2010 at 11:50 AM, on twitter, naturally:
PetersonGIS: I want to see a bunch of 5 minute GIS talks. Learn a little bit about everything new. Once a year. #geoprofessionaldevelopment 11:50 AM Feb. 25th
PetersonGIS: @wyojeff Alright – now that you’ve named it will you organize it?
PetersonGIS: @gis_Todd Wow – flying out for it would be a big deal. Perhaps there’s something in this idea. 1:01 PM Feb. 25, 2010
PetersonGIS: #geoignitefrontrange or #geoignitefr 1:03 PM Feb. 25, 2010
PetersonGIS: @mcmoots 5 minute talk followed by 5 minute break, repeat…or 5 minute talk followed by 5 minutes of heckling I mean constructive commentary 1:07 PM Feb. 25, 2010
PetersonGIS: Sounds like plenty of people interested in a #geoignitefr. We’d need a free venue and a Friday afternoon perhaps.
PetersonGIS: @wyojeff Definitely. What have we got ourselves in to? 5:43 PM Feb. 25, 2010
PetersonGIS: @Taliesn That’s definitely something to keep in mind. Thanks. #geoignitefr 9:56 AM Feb 26, 2010
So I am very much looking forward to Ignite Spatial 2.0, tonight, which promises to be every bit as good as the first one. I won’t be speaking this time but I am a sponsor. If you want to catch my presentation from Ignite Spatial NoCo 1.0, you can see it here: Mapping, Please Don’t Do This.
A very big THANK YOU to @Taliesn (Brian Sullivan, City of Greeley) who made a small idea into an extraordinary event.
The Ignite Sptaial NoCo blog
Shell We?*
Posted by Gretchen in Inspiration on September 12, 2010
It’s amazing how every day things can inspire our maps. I recently was looking at my copy of Gift from the Sea
Here are some of the shells, arranged by a professional. But not really. Okay, my secret was to stand on a chair and take their picture, after having put them on a black shelf. You can see that they all look fairly uniform in color. However, when I used my color-picker software to get the RGBs (It’s called “Amazing Screen Color Picker” – anything that says it is amazing must be so, right?!), you could see that there are quite a few nuances in the colors and one could make a very nice map color scheme out of these. And of course that is exactly what I did. Here are the colors:
In RGB triplets, in the order you see them, they are:
214 222 225
222 236 245
170 148 137
224 207 213
166 147 167
You can also view the palette and the HEX equivalents, here.
*Full credit for the pun goes to Kris.
Type Tips
If you are using small caps for your labels (which we should do more of, they look good!), use true-drawn small caps. What this means is avoid using the “small caps” font changer in your software. (In ArcGIS this is found in the Properties dialog, Change Symbol, Properties, Formatted Text, Text Case.) In the following example, the first Hello There is written in 20 pt Fontin Sans Small Caps and the second Hello There is written in 20 pt Fontin Sans Regular with the Small Case option.
If you are creating a lot of labels in a small amount of space, use light or medium weight condensed typefaces. They are built specifically for small spaces in that the white space in each letter is less apt to disappear and the descenders will be shorter. Furthermore, serif condensed is okay for small type, but once you get to about 8 pt or smaller its best to use sans serif condensed. This example is taken to the extreme. You can barely read the 3rd Hello There, written in a sans serif condensed font at 7pt. However, you certainly can’t read the 2nd Hello There, written in a serif condensed font at 7pt.
Bold text is difficult to read at small sizes because it fills in the white spaces in the letters.
While many of us simply italicize labels for waterbodies such as rivers, oceans, and lakes, don’t forget that you can use a typeface that specifically has oblique and reverse oblique lettering for these labels.
Innovations Versus Standards
Posted by Gretchen in Cartography Profession on September 6, 2010
There is a dichotomy in the cartography profession. On the one hand it is a discipline with standards for all sorts of things ranging from the use of color to typography to what gets included on a map. On the other hand cartography is also an art and as such must embody the enthusiasm of artistic work in bucking convention and dealing with the particularities at hand by innovative means.
Sometimes we have cartographers who are firmly stuck in the slow and dismal state of “standards only” output and sometimes we have those who are revolving in their own alien world of mapping for aesthetic purpose and not for any utilitarian purpose. Most of us (sigh of relief) would put ourselves somewhere between the two extremes.
I wonder if, as we progress through our respective careers, which extreme we will tend to drift toward? Or maybe stay somewhere right in the middle? I’m a little bit toward the aesthetic side of things but not too much.
I still am fairly certain my next map will include some kind of blue hue for the water, it probably won’t have more than two typefaces, I’ll italicize stream names, I’ll use brown for contours. But I am also quite convinced that my next map will not have a logo on it anywhere, will utilize fashionable colors within those restraints mentioned, and will have the most simplistic, non-jargon, descriptive title possible.
How about you?
-
You are currently browsing the archives for September, 2010
The Books
Recent Comments