11 replies to this topic

[Pyzdra]

Dear All,
I wonder if anybody has any thoughts about two books listed below. I would also appreciate any recommendations about other new carto (digital, web-based) books that be worth purchasing. One additional type of book I am also looking for is a general colour and visual design theory that is relevant to but goes beyond cartographic design. Thanks in advance for any advice!
P

Books:
1. DESIGNING BETTER MAPS: A Guide for GIS Users Author: CYNTHIA Brewer
2. Web Cartography Author: DULCIE

[Hans van der Maarel]

Moved to a more appropriate forum.

I've had the chance to leaf through Cynthia Brewer's book at last year's NACIS conference and I was rather impressed by it. Haven't bought myself a copy yet (oops), but it's certainly on my wishlist and I've been recommending it to some of my clients. Haven't seen, or even heard of, the Dulcie book, so I can't comment on that.

[DaveB]

1. DESIGNING BETTER MAPS: A Guide for GIS Users Author: CYNTHIA Brewer
2. Web Cartography Author: DULCIE

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It kind of depends on what you're looking for, but...
1. I may be a bit biased, but I believe Cindy's book is a worthwhile addition to the library of anyone who makes maps.
2. I have no experience with this one.

[zforest]

Cynthia Brewer is a brilliant professor at Penn State. However, her Designing Better Maps is extremely basic. It really is aimed at GIS professionals with little to no training in cartography or graphic design (this isn't a knock -- that's just the audience it was published for). It may be handy for someone returning to the field after a long absence but (given your post on choropleth maps) this doesn't seem to be the case with you. That said, the chapter on color basics was helpful to me as a refresher.

You probably already know of or have Slocum's Thematic Cartography and Geographic Visualization (the current textbook in cartography) but if you don't it is excellent and covers the field well from the principles of symbolization to animated maps and visualizing uncertainty. It is a textbook, but is fairly readable.

[paul]

Designing Better Maps is an excellent book; I'm more a straight GIS person, and it taught me a lot about true cartography. There's about 50 pages dedicated just to colors, and much of it would apply to more than just cartography.

ESRI is actually giving away this book right now if you have an ArcView 9.x license. I got a letter in the mail a few weeks ago telling me that if I did an online ESRI survey I could pick from 4 books as a free incentive, and this book was one of them. Unfortunately I had already bought it.

[benbakelaar]

ESRI is actually giving away this book right now if you have an ArcView 9.x license.

Really? Can you point me to where? I am going right now to poke around their site. Also, I wonder if my license would count.... it's the 180-day license that comes with the "Teach Yourself" book.

[David T]

ESRI is actually giving away this book right now if you have an ArcView 9.x license.

Really? Can you point me to where? I am going right now to poke around their site. Also, I wonder if my license would count.... it's the 180-day license that comes with the "Teach Yourself" book.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I got a flyer in the mail. I don't remember the link. It offered one of two books. Even though I already had a copy of Cindy's book, I opted to get another copy for the office.

Even though my background is cartography, I find this book indispensible around the office. Generally, when I'm called upon to make a map, it's usually a 'I need this in 10 minutes', so I don't get a lot of cartographic input. It's nice to pull out the book, and take a quick look at the colors, to be able to pull something out.

[benbakelaar]

For those of us who are lazy, it's only $20 bucks anyway on Amazon.com. I just ordered a copy off of half.com for $19 including shipping.

[Matthew Hampton]

What about Krygier's making maps: a visual guide to map design for gis book? Has anyone looked at that?

I have perused the contents and excerpts and it looks great.

[Pyzdra]

Dear List Members,
Thank you very much for all your recommendations and opinions.
Pyzdra

[Rick Dey]

What about Krygier's making maps: a visual guide to map design for gis book? Has anyone looked at that?

I have perused the contents and excerpts and it looks great.

John & Denis' book is very good in that it gives lots of visual examples to explain the concepts. Frequently they include bad practice examples as well to show the idea.

[MapMedia]

I should see Cynthia's book too, just not anywhere close to getting through current reading list (!)

Elements of Cartography (6th ed), is my favorite as it is well written and full of great references, although if you are looking for applications to current software EoC is a little dated, but it is still used as THE text for many cartography courses. Oh, its also around $40-70 on Amazon.

Chris