the map design process and the elements of map composition sp 240 cartography alex chaucer

The Map Design Process and the Elements of Map

Composition

SP 240 CartographyAlex Chaucer

Spatial Information Technology

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Chapter Overview

• Design Process• Elements of Map Composition

Planar Organization Contrast and Design

• Total Map Organization• Visual Hierarchy• Figure-Ground Relationship


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Design Evaluation

• An outside evaluator never knows what compromises the cartographer had to make to balance decisions in the design process

• A map’s design should be judged only with regard to the map’s purpose and intended audience


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Design Evaluation: Design Characteristics of Successful Maps

1. should be suited to the needs of it’s users2. should be easy to use3. accurate, presenting information without error,

distortions, or misrepresentations4. language of the map should relate to the

elements or qualities represented5. should be clear, legible, and attractive6. creation of many maps would ideally permit

interaction with the user, allowing change, updating, or personalization

Southworth and Southworth, 1982


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Creativity and Visualization

Creativity (def.) the unusual ability to see relationships among elements

“Although there is no recipe for creativity, certain activities appear to be shared by people considered to be great thinkers, scientists, or artists.”

Burdick, 1982


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“Creative” Activities

1. Challenging Assumptions – daring to question what most people take as truth

2. Recognizing patterns – perceiving significant similarities or differences in ideas, events, or physical phenomena

3. Seeing in new ways – looking at the commonplace with new perceptions, transforming the familiar into the strange, and the strange into the familiar

4. Making connections – bringing together seemingly unrelated ideas, objects, or events in ways that lead to new concepts


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“Creative” Activities cont.

5. Taking risks – daring to try new ways, with no control over the outcome

6. Using chance – taking advantage of the unexpected

7. Constructing networks – forming associations for the exchange of ideas, perceptions, questions, and encouragement

How can these activities aide in cartographic design?


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Creativity to Map Design

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Visualization

Visualization Process – a mental process in which the designer experiences whole new creations by rearranging previously stored visual images

Imagining – creating visual images in the mind’s eye; applied to cartographic design: seeing the map before physically creating it


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How New Ideas are Formed…

1. Preparation – visual images stored away2. Incubation - person focuses on other

things3. Illumination – the solution to the problem

appears suddenly4. Verification or revision – the person

consciously works out the details of the solution, formal structures result


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Developing an Image Pool

• Experience as much graphic art, art, and cartography as possible

• Go to art museums, animated film exhibits, go through old atlases

There is also scientific visualization – utilizing computers to test ideas for maps to digitally “sketch” ideas; experimentation


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Some sites to browse to see maps

• www.davidrumsey.com

• http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/EART/browse.html

• http://oddens.geog.uu.nl/index.php

• http://www.itc.nl/personal/kraak/1812/minard-orignal.htm


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Experimentation

• Sometimes you must work things out on paper

• Explore alternatives• Time and cost are enemies to

experimentation


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Map Aesthetics

• The art of cartography• Harmony, composition, clarity

“an ugly map, with crude colors, careless line work, and disagreeable, poorly arranged lettering may be as intrinsically as accurate as a beautiful map, but it is less likely to inspire confidence.”

-John K. Wright, Map Critic


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Map Design – New Challenges

• Today design focuses on the map• There have been great advances in

psychology• To the future you may see a greater

emphasis on integrating the user of the map, and the complexity of cognitive abilities


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Maps

• Used for “Communication”• “Function provides the basis for map

design” -Robinson• The challenge:

a map that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing


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The Map’s Design Elements

• Titles• Legends• Scales• Credits• Mapped Areas• Borders• Symbols• Place Names

Design Principles• Simplicity• Appropriateness• Pleasing Appearance• Considerations of

Economy

Goal is to bring all of these into balance


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Design Levels on the Map

Think of each design element existing on separate planes/levels

Map Composition: thearrangement of the map’s elements

Planar organization: arrangement at a given level

Hierarchical organization: relations between levels


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Elements of Map Composition

Balance• The optical center• Visual weight and direction• Golden section• Inequal divisions: “visually alive”

Focus of Attention• Natural visual equilibrium

Intraparallelism• Internal Organization


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Contrast and Design

Line Contrast• Line weight (flow maps)Texture Contrast• PatternsValue Contrast• Light to Dark areasDetail Contrast• Use detail to draw the eyeColor Contrast


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Total Map Organization, The Visual Hierarchy, and the Figure-Ground Relationship

Figure and Ground Organization Figure – important objects Ground – things less important

Designate the figure and ground first in the creative design process

Visual Hierarchy Important objects are more dominant


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Perceptual Grouping Principles

Items on a map seem to group together as a whole, based on similar:

Shape Size Proximity


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Look for design elements

http://www.sztaki.hu/sztaki/maps/budapest.gif


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the map design process and the elements of map composition sp 240 cartography alex chaucer

Documents

map design process

maps design

cartographic design

new ideas

new ways

new perceptions

visualization creativity

mental process