5 replies to this topic

[cubswinn]

I've enjoyed looking at the posts in the gallery and thought I would include one for your review. This is Steamboat Springs, CO a sky resort town. I lived there for a couple of years and really love the town. There in no purpose for this map other my own amusement (at this point). Hence the large open spaces outside the towns boarders. This was drawn in Xara I would be interested to hear if anyone else uses it for maps. I look forward to your honest (and I've noticed sometimes brutal) feedback.
1 MG attachment
John

Attached Files

•  steamboat_final_3.png   907.57K   274 downloads

[Matthew Hampton]

Nice map!

If the purpose if the map was for your own amusement - I think you've succeeded!

I looked at it for a few minutes and thought how funny it was that there weren't any mountains, although it is hard to critique a map that has no purpose other than the makers amusement...

[Jean-Louis]

Hi John,
My first impression was that it looked clean and professional.
Upon looking at it more closely, I found many elements interfered with each other such as the paking icons.
Too many competing strident colors also such as your magenta line competing with the electric blue of your river outline. you should use faded and bright colors to create layers of information
Small detail: when the map loads it is zoomed on the airport and I think that is the worst plane icon I,ve ever seen.

Anyways it sure is better than anything I,ve done for amusement. I think the overall look is very good. Where it needs work is in the finicky details- making sure that all the little things are consistent, harmonious and non overlapping etc. etc. It is this level of mapwork that is demanding, long and often tedious. It is here that your reason for making a map has to match the comittment you want to put into it. Like any art, mapmaking is 2% inspiration 98% perspiration

Hope this helps.

PS. when you say there is a large space around the town's boarders I take it you meant to say outside the town's borders and not that it's resident are quite fat

[Dennis McClendon]

Looks pretty good. A few typos: Pine Grve, Redwwods, Stemboat. The D&RGW has been the Union Pacific for many years now.

With a difference in color, I'd say there's no need for a dashed line showing city limits. Out near Mt Werner/Lincoln, the city limits look like some kind of road. The magenta trail also bothers me, particularly because it's a contrasting color with the green. I'd just use a longer green dash.

My main complaint is that the water is unnecessarily complex. Way too complex. Besides being visually distracting, it suggests a false accuracy: that you'd find those pools in exactly the same place today as they were when the aerial was shot or the water was digitized.

[MapMedia]

Nice start John. Overall clean and simple.
Why the inclusion of a select few businesses (Mortgage company, ski park, etc.)?

Steamboat Springs reminds me of a place I went to college, Prescott, Arizona.

Since you are using icons, you might add a few mtn/tree/park/wildlife icons around the blank space outside town.

[cubswinn]

Thanks for the feedback. That plane comment really hurts A lot of love went into that icon (it took me 3 solid days to create). I'm still afraid someone is going to steal that design.

In reference to the overlap on the parking symbols. I saw that, but thought it would be more disruptive to move things around than to have the overlap. I am changing to semi-transparent for the overlapping items. If the map had a purpose I guess that would help me in prioritizing the info.

I've changed the water outline to 100c in order to "soften" and lessen "distraction". Also toning down the core trail.

Thanks for the heads up on the typos.

I used to work for Steamboat Mortgage (just threw it in) and the Ski Resort is the most prominent thing in town.
John