I finally got to San Diego last night after a delayed flight and am now happy to be reporting from the Esri User Conference!
There are lots of topics I could blog on today but the one thing I want to focus on is an observation about how conference presentations relate to cartography.

The presentations made at the two plenary sessions today–and no doubt in the plenary still to come this afternoon–were, without a fault, presented “well”. What does “well” mean in this context? The presenters had strong voices, fluent speech without the dreaded “ums”, well-rehearsed content, and fast-paced, well-timed visuals. Because all the presenters were outstanding in their presentation delivery skills, the audience could focus entirely on the content of the talks rather than be distracted by poor speech delivery.

How does this relate to cartography? You guessed it: an outstanding map is visual perfection; it makes map readers focus entirely on the content of the map, and the message that it is conveying, rather than obstructing them with bad design.

We all have mental “gate keepers” that disallow information from being stored if it isn’t presented correctly. Get past your map readers’ mental gate keepers by creating the most visually compelling, strong-voiced, well-researched maps that you can.

The top 10 cartography myths:

1. You have to know the full history and mathematics behind projections before you can choose one. While both of these are fascinating subjects they aren’t absolutely critical to mapping. When it comes to projections the concept of primary importance is distortion. That is, you want to recognize which projections are best in the following four categories: area, angle, distance, and direction and choose one that fits well with the purpose of your map. For medium and small scale maps the projection is less important (but not unimportant) than for large scale maps. In the case of small scale maps, in particular, aesthetics may be the ultimate influence for your choice.
2. A robust knowledge of color theory is imperative to producing a harmonic palette. Just as with projections, while learning color theory is a worthwhile pursuit, your lack of knowledge in this area doesn’t need to preclude your success in creating a pleasing color scheme. In fact, there are many short-cuts that any introspective observer can use such as keeping an eye out for paintings, websites, posters, fabrics, and other inspirational media that have good color schemes and borrowing them for your map.
3. All elements on a page need to be clearly separated from the other elements. Negative. The more the elements flow together the more cohesive the design appears. Separation doesn’t have to be completely absent but judicious use of white space can go a long way to providing the needed separation without the gaudy effect that a plethora of boxes create.
4. The map must fit into the allotted space, which is usually rectangular. Some of the best maps I judged in the GISCI poster contest last year were circular and one jutted into the rectangular margin where it had data that wouldn’t quite fit. Breaking through imaginary constraints in a visual way surprises the map reader and and shows a willingness to “think outside the box”.
5. Mercator is the best projection for webmapping. Just because Mercator is the defacto standard for most webmapping APIs doesn’t mean that it is the best. The areal distortion in the polar regions is almost inexcusable when alternatives such as the Winkel Tripel exist that handle those regions much better. While, for the most part, Mercator is what we’re stuck with for now, stay tuned to the geo-channels for when this starts to change.
6. Don’t use more than two fonts on a map. While this is a nice rule-of-thumb, the idea that you should only use one sans-serif and one serif font on your map is not always true. Maps that are annotation-rich may require several fonts for a proper hierarchy to be achieved. If you do use more than two fonts, you must take care to maintain a visual harmony among them, which is best achieved by trial and error. Remember, in the case of fonts, visual harmony doesn’t necessarily mean that the fonts should look alike. In fact, contrast within the same style (traditional or modern) may work best.
7. Pare the data down to the most basic possible and declutter. Decluttering is good, up to a point. Remember Donald Norman says “people prefer a medium level of complexity”. You don’t want to make your map reader feel dumb or risk not giving them enough information but you also don’t want to overwhelm them. There’s a sweet spot to hit in the middle.
8. Only people with a design background can make creative maps. Even if you are the most hard-core analytical person you know (and you know this because you’ve certainly analyzed everyone you know), creating a work of design genius is still within your reach. Analytical-minded people already have the ability to determine what the map needs to do as well as the patience to see a design through to its completion. The creative part of the equation is accomplished through practicing creative skills with any myriad of creative activities that don’t have to take up much of your time at all (see previous posts in this blog on creativity for more information on how this works).
9. It’s all been done before. We might be approaching some kind of apex in map design or we might still be at the burgeoning stage of new and creative map design. Either way, there is most certainly room for improvement and an increase in variety of styles and means of getting our map’s messages across.
10. If you don’t have the right software you can’t make a decent map. No longer do we need to fret the purchase of extremely expensive software in order to turn out a map. Much of the proprietary software now offers month-to-month licensing for those who aren’t in constant need but who do require professional software from time to time. Much of the free and open source software available today is as good as, or in some cases rivals, that of the professional software. You might have to use a variety of software to achieve your goal with foss but it can be worth that extra pain up-front.