This blog often highlights exceptional webmap and print map efforts that are artistic in style and general in subject matter. However inspirational these types of maps might be, the fact remains that most GIS experts are creating maps of a scientific nature meant for a limited audience of technical people who are already familiar with the sometimes esoteric subject matter.

In these types of mapping situations the temptation is to slap the map together and call it a day without regard to placement of map features, scale bars, and the like and certainly without regard to balance. For example, it is tempting to not care about whether the scale bars on the four maps are aligned. Perhaps just scatter them wherever and not bother to change their backgrounds to transparent when overlaying them on dark-colored aerial photos.*

While this may be a permissible amount of laziness when it comes to creating products for your workgroup, the minute these go out into the world they no longer convey the sense of credibility that you’re after. It still astonishes me how many small organizations will include maps like these in slideshows that eventually make their way onto the web. What “worked”** 10 years ago no longer passes muster today.

So let’s take a look at a good example of a scientific map that is well constructed:

From a paper on the Late Cenozoic Uplift of the Amanos Mountains

This map overcomes its black and white constraints with admiral design skill. The patterning is in light gray and the labels and bounding line are in black, forming a foreground/background contrast that is pleasing to the eye. The completely white linear feature in the center provides a natural separation and visual rest area. The architect’s box—map information collected at the bottom of the page—is not cluttered with extra bounding boxes and contains well aligned elements separated by white space. This is a lot of information to get onto one map but this example shows that it is possible.

*Yes, I’m referring to a map I saw this morning but I won’t name names.

**And really, let’s not kid ourselves, these maps never “worked” they just were more common 10 years ago, so you could get away with it more.