9 replies to this topic

[johnnyh]

Hi all,
I've got another day to finish this 54" W x 64" tall wall map for a fire dispatch office.

Attached is a 1:1 detail. Links also to a thumb of whole map and a detail of the collar reference grids.

The center of the map I did, the most important information being the color land ownership. I used small black dots for the presence of forest... What do you guys think? Is there a better way to show both ownership and forested?

The rest of the map is a Forest Service visitor map. Haven't worked out a legend yet. All done in Arc 9.3 with Maplex (definitely some improvement from 9.2) and probably don't have time for anything else.

Tips are greatly appreciated!

[Green Palolo]

Nice look, hillshading is hard to do in an area with mixed flats & hills.
Interesting approach to showing trees, did you try dark green dots rather than black?
Also dropping 2/3 of the section numbers could cause a problem for dispatchers. I would use a smaller font and label all sections to avoid confusion in emergencies.

[MapMedia]

Hi John - thanks for sharing. Well done.
I like the dots as long as you have it in the legend. Though spot elevation symbols should be + and not larger dots, imho.
You might calculate area for waterbodies and separate smaller lakes/pond into separate layer so you can assign little or no boundary, so it looks cleaner.
Yes, should label all sectors.

Are you doing a drive time map too?

[klacefield]

Nice map. I am a little leery of the black dots representing forest as I could see them mistaken for residences/structures. I have seen fire command post maps that represent structures as dots, as well as other emergency maps I have seen or made. I think that the suggestion of green dots rather than black might work well. That would back the prevalence of them down just a tad without removing the importance of them. Other symbol fills might also work. Obviously the trick is to get something to work where there are large contiguous areas of forest and also the small areas as shown in your example. The above suggestion for water bodies is also a good idea as well. Good map and good luck with the timeline.

[johnnyh]

Thanks all, looking better. Replaced the black dots with dark green, labeled all sections, X symbols for spot elevations, took out the outline of smaller water bodies.

Here's an update. What about the lat/long + / - grid ticks, do you guys think they are visible enough? Anything else jumping out?

Are you doing a drive time map too?

I'd like to but don't have any speed limit or routable road data.

[DaveB]

That's weird, I'm not seeing any attachment, but obviously other people are...

[johnnyh]

That's weird, I'm not seeing any attachment, but obviously other people are...

I've got the images hosted at dropbox... Maybe your IT blocks it? A proxy might work.

[Michael Karpovage]

Hi JohnnyH,

First impression of your map is I really like it! I'm not a GIS mapper but rather more of a pictorial map illustrator and visually speaking your map is spot on. I really like the detail alot. I would say one improvement if not too late is maybe toning down the large lavender/purple area. It sort of sticks out - unless that is intentional. Maybe keeping more in your earth tones color palette or at least toning that down. That's it!

C-ya!

Michael

[Green Palolo]

Nice improvements.
One thing to consider for aerial obstructions is to us symbols similar to aircraft sectional maps.

http://flighttrainin...art_Symbols.pdf

That way when pilots are in dispatch they are familiar with the symbols.

[Dennis McClendon]

I agree with toning down the purple. When used for areal extents like this, the eye can distinguish among very subtle changes in color.

You're not using white for anything, which is like keeping one of the map designer's most important tools locked in the closet. The perfect use on this map would be for section lines and numbers. That way no one will think the section lines are roads, which is a little bit of a problem with the gray. The section lines could be really thin: 0.5 pt or even less, because the eye will follow an absence of color along a straight line very well.

I'm not crazy about the white halo around every label, but that may be a necessary compromise so that MapLex can do virtually all your labeling work. I would say the road names are a little too close to the roads they pertain to.