7 replies to this topic

[jkneeshaw]

Hey All!

I am part of a small team of Entrepreneurship students from the University of Washington and we have started a company that intends to sell weather protected road-maps for motorcyclists (yes I'm part of this team http://www.cartotalk.com/index.php?showtopic=2545&st=15). Over the last few months we have spent a lot of time researching routes and gathering points of interest. We have written a business plan and secured funding that should pay for the creation and printing of an initial run. Our map is essentially a 24''x36'' folding road map printed on hopsyn. The map will highlight roughly 30 routes and several points of interest for each route (food, bars, gas, etc.). On the front side we want the entire state of Washington with the routes highlighted and possibly some points of interest along the southern routes. On the flip side we would like to blow up 3 regions that contain the bulk of the routes and add points of interests and, in a few cases, turn by turn directions. Here is a very rough idea of the layout:



Unfortunately we made a poor decision when we selected our GIS guy and have come to the realization that we will probably need to find someone else.

We have all of our route data and points of interest ready to go in KML format, we just need someone to overlay it on to a Washington State road map and make it presentable for print. We really need to get this map work done as soon as possible so we can hit the streets and start selling. Is there anything we could do on our end that will make it easier for a cartographer to use our data? Can anyone recommend someone who could get this job done for us at a reasonable rate?

Thanks,
Jacob Kneeshaw
COO Journey Maps
jkneeshaw [AT] gmail [DOT] com

[Rob]

Jacob,

sorry you find yourself in a bind on the first of the year. Here's a first impression of the layout you posted: the blow ups don't seem to really blow up that much; seems just slightly larger scale from the images posted. Perhaps reconsider the scale and appropriate scale related information you intend to show on these as you move forward; can all be accomplished on the front side at that scale?

Good luck with the project.

rj

[Kevin McManigal]

Jacob,

Some things you could clarify that would help any cartographers who may want to bid:

Where are the KML files coming from? Google Earth? They would need to be converted for use in ArcGis.
What files are you planing to use for the base maps of Washington? Are they the same ones you posted? Are you planning to show any terrain relief?
What format do you need the final map delivered in? Illustrator?

Ok, just some questions I had on the first read. Of course there would also be all kinds of questions on the design and display of information in the maps. But base data is a good place to start.

Cheers, Kevin

[Unit Seven]

One idea could be to head down to your local info centres and map shops and have a look at other maps/atlas' of the area that look like thay have your required detail/area and see who produced these and approach them. They may have appropraite data sets to use for the basemaps to create your mapping from which would save a lot of the work. This would also give you a good idea of the types of maps of the area and what direction you'd like to go in—do you include relief shading, what about features 'x' which we hadn't though about.

Maybe do a search on local cartography co's and flick them an email with details as others have mentioned.

Maps.com could be worth approaching to do the work, or a post here with another subject title, something like "Work Opportunity: Washington State Motorcycle Touring Map" so from the title people know its a road map and where it covers. While you can draw a map of anywhere someone who has mapped that area before (possibly has data still) and is familar with it would be more likely to take the job and find it easier to do—and would therefore prob offer you a better price.

Good luck with the project anyway and come back and post the finished map in the map gallery for us—or the draft if you'd like some constructive advice.

[Jimbo]

My impression on this project is if you are looking at the right end of Cartography, the project sounds more like a job for the graphics spectrum, then of course you want KML, is there any specific reason why? Could the problem also be that you hired a GIS technician as opposed to a Cartographer with GIS knowledge?

[jkneeshaw]

Hey all,

Thanks for the replies and PMs. A couple people are interested in helping us on our project and I will get you more information shortly. It looks like I need to make a few clarifications about our current situation. When I say we have KML data I mean that we have our highlighted routes and points of interest in that format. We used google mymaps/earth to do this. I'm not sure if you will need to do additional work with this data to get it to into a more workable format, but this was the method we were using to communicate this information to our GIS guy. Aside from that, we need everything else done. We need someone with a better basemap that includes roads and other features you would see on a street map made for car navigation (numbered roads, towns, parks/national forests, etc). Light terrain relief would also be nice.

Hasdrubal, you may very well be right that we hired the wrong type of person. The person we were working with seems to want to make things more complicated than what we feel it should be and didn't have the design skill to get the map ready for proofing (there were also some major lack of communication issues). The next person we hire will certainly need to have more knowledge of graphic design like you suggested.

Regards,
Jacob

[A. Fenix]

I'm not sure if you will need to do additional work with this data to get it to into a more workable format, but this was the method we were using to communicate this information to our GIS guy.

KML files can be converted into GIS format (e.g. shapefile) relatively easy. However, I would be surprised if your "GIS guy" hasn't already done this. You may want to ask him for all the products that he created from your initial work together, so you can give your new hire the data (and not have to pay for any additional time).

Good luck finding your mapper!

analisa

[Adam Wilbert]

For the back side, consider having the same scale as the front, but different content. IE, the back could be just the routes with the details on stops, attractions, directions. Then the front could have a more traditional road map feel with relief, cities, more of the road network, etc.