13 replies to this topic

[Gretchen Peterson]

Hi everyone,

I am really happy to report that my new book, "GIS Cartography: A Guide to Effective Map Design" is now available!
Look Inside the book on Amazon

Also, my webinar on the application of creativity science in the GIS profession is coming up in a few days - April 14th.
More about the webinar

[Hans van der Maarel]

I am really happy to report that my new book, "GIS Cartography: A Guide to Effective Map Design" is now available!
Look Inside the book on Amazon

Congratulations. Hard to gauge it from the Amazon previews, but it looks like it's a very complete guide.

[Matthew Hampton]

Congratulations!

I checked the Amazon site and was a little perplexed how a used book could cost more than a new one since it was just published.

 Picture_132.png   13.45K   51 downloads

Using current economic theories regarding supply/demand, it must mean that only a dozen were printed!?!

[Gretchen Peterson]

Hi Matthew,

I, too, was exceedingly perplexed by the price on the new/used books. Especially considering that there aren't any "used" books yet! Ha.

[Jimbo]

Congratulations on your new book, I had no idea you were a book writer of sorts. But does that mean every carto-talk member gets the book for free?

[A. Fenix]

Congratulations Gretchen! How exciting that we have another mapping resource. It looks quite robust, do you mind me inquiring how long you've been working on it? I hope you got taken out on the town and treated to dinner at the top of the space needle when you closed this chapter in your life! (pun intended)

[Gretchen Peterson]

Thank you all for the congrats.

Analisa - I started working on the book proposal in June 2007, sent it out in August 2007, had a contract signed by Dec. 31 2007, started writing the actual book immediately thereafter and had the final draft in to the publisher by Sept 1, 2008. There was a little bit of editing after that but my part was mostly done at that point. When I was in the writing phase in '08 I spent anywhere from 2-8 hours per weekday writing and about 20 hours almost every weekend. I only took one break from writing for one week during that time. I hope that helps you get an idea of how long it took to write! If you have any questions about the book writing/publishing process or need some advice feel free to let me know and I'll be glad to share.

It may also help to know that I've had the idea to write this book since about 1999.

[David Medeiros]

Looks like a good book. Congratulations!

I gotta say though, I'm a little confused by the concept of "GIS Cartography", or "Cartography for GIS users". The principles and design guidance are usually fundamental to basic cartography (traditional or digital) and not specific to GIS. And yet each new cartographic text I see is titled specifically for GIS (not that I don't understand why - GIS mapping standards are usually quite low and at the same time GIS use is increasing). One could even make the argument that until the map design and layout tools improve in ARC or GeoMEdia that really good cartography will not be possible (or worth the effort) in those programs and would be better done outside of a GIS.

Sorry to thread-jack, I've been a "digital cartographer" for 10 years now but am having to take a basic cartography coarse as part of a GIS certificate program and this topic has been on my mind a lot lately. Probably deserves its own thread.

d

[Gretchen Peterson]

David - on the back cover of the book it says, "It is time for the GIS field, which is becoming mature in other ways, to increase its skills in this area." That goes along with what you are saying about GIS use increasing and mapping standards being low. That's exactly why this book was needed. GIS people don't often have cartographic knowledge so they need the basics. And while it is becoming increasingly easy to make a good-quality map in some of the proprietary GIS software, you are right that you can also use non-GIS software to increase the quality of your finished products. This is a subject that is covered in the book. It might also be helpful to note that the book is platform independent.

[natcase]

Looks like a good book. Congratulations!

I gotta say though, I'm a little confused by the concept of "GIS Cartography", or "Cartography for GIS users". The principles and design guidance are usually fundamental to basic cartography (traditional or digital) and not specific to GIS. And yet each new cartographic text I see is titled specifically for GIS (not that I don't understand why - GIS mapping standards are usually quite low and at the same time GIS use is increasing).

I think part of it is marketing: If you include "GIS" in the title it increases sales, because a lot more people are using GIS (and trying to figure out how to make good maps using GIS) than are picking up Illustrator and starting that way. It's certainly what most geo-picture-drawing courses are classed under these days.

[Clive Cartwright]

Hi everyone,

I am really happy to report that my new book, "GIS Cartography: A Guide to Effective Map Design" is now available!
Look Inside the book on Amazon

Also, my webinar on the application of creativity science in the GIS profession is coming up in a few days - April 14th.
More about the webinar

Congratulation on your new publication. I look forward to reading it. I think a copy in the British Geological Survey library, my not go amiss.

[Crischan]

And you got a happy reader: http://www.spatially...ive-map-design/

[kay]

Congratulations on your new book!! It sounds really exciting. I am looking forward to reading it!

Cheers,
K

[gregsd]

Your book is reviewed on the DirectionsMag site -

http://www.direction...article_id=3197

In short, this is a valuable book to skim through and then keep nearby while designing maps by hand or with a GIS. While focusing on some best practices, Peterson regularly invites users to think and design outside the box - so long as there is a good reason to do so.