14 replies to this topic

[saffrongraphics]

Hi all.

A rather random query...

Are there any books out there that people recommend for learning about GIS and Illustrator map creation? Anything that covers both in one volume extensively would be fabulous, but I suspect that may be asking for too much!

Thanks in advance.
Tracy

[Hans van der Maarel]

A rather random query...

Are there any books out there that people recommend for learning about GIS and Illustrator map creation? Anything that covers both in one volume extensively would be fabulous, but I suspect that may be asking for too much!

Hi Tracy,

As far as I know, there is no book that covers that specific combination. What I'd recommend is take one or two good textbooks on cartography and GIS ("Making Maps" by John Krygier and Dennis Wood, or "Designing Maps" by Cynthia Brewer are two that I can personally vouch for). This would give you a good understanding of the concepts. If you then combine it with a manual or training course for the actual software you'll be using I think you're getting a very good basis.

[MapMedia]

A rather random query...

Are there any books out there that people recommend for learning about GIS and Illustrator map creation? Anything that covers both in one volume extensively would be fabulous, but I suspect that may be asking for too much!

Hi Tracy,

As far as I know, there is no book that covers that specific combination. What I'd recommend is take one or two good textbooks on cartography and GIS ("Making Maps" by John Krygier and Dennis Wood, or "Designing Maps" by Cynthia Brewer are two that I can personally vouch for). This would give you a good understanding of the concepts. If you then combine it with a manual or training course for the actual software you'll be using I think you're getting a very good basis.

I have heard the question many times here over the years. While I am still learning, I have learned A TON of what I practice in my daily work from the folks on this site.

[saffrongraphics]

A rather random query...

Are there any books out there that people recommend for learning about GIS and Illustrator map creation? Anything that covers both in one volume extensively would be fabulous, but I suspect that may be asking for too much!

Hi Tracy,

As far as I know, there is no book that covers that specific combination. What I'd recommend is take one or two good textbooks on cartography and GIS ("Making Maps" by John Krygier and Dennis Wood, or "Designing Maps" by Cynthia Brewer are two that I can personally vouch for). This would give you a good understanding of the concepts. If you then combine it with a manual or training course for the actual software you'll be using I think you're getting a very good basis.

Thanks for your response. I do actually have rather a lot of map books on the philosophy/psychology of map design, and all the usual recommended map design/cartography text books recommended for students. I was hoping there'd be something out there which covered the overlap between vector graphics and cartography, especially with reference to GIS - it's possibly too much a niche market compared to the more wide-ranging needs of designers.

Thanks again!

[MostlyHarmless]

This is a pretty good book, I used it in my GIS class. It's more of a cartography book relating to GIS rather than a GIS-specific book. It does not cover Illustrator
http://gis.esri.com/...mp;websiteID=95

[MapMedia]

I think we Cartotalkers should be Cartowriters and collaboratively write an ebook on GIS and Illustrator Map Design & Production.
While its easy to say 'read the threads', I feel there are a lot of folks who would very much appreciate a synthesis of the process and tricks/tips - something useful and manageable, 30-40 pgs to start fpr 1st edition.

Anyone want to collaborate on this with me?

[MostlyHarmless]

Sounds like an ambitious project, but definitely doable.

[saffrongraphics]

This is a pretty good book, I used it in my GIS class. It's more of a cartography book relating to GIS rather than a GIS-specific book. It does not cover Illustrator
http://gis.esri.com/...mp;websiteID=95

Thanks for that. I spotted it on Amazon and was considering for departmental purchase next year as I'm moving into helping provide GIS support for our students.

[Gretchen Peterson]

This is definitely a gap in the literature. I was researching a section for my book ("GIS Cartography: A Guide to Effective Map Design" called Export Considerations that touches on how to export to graphic design software from GIS and found a guy named Nonie Castro who authored a document on transferring to illustrator. He created it for his internal team but I urged him to publish it or at least get it out on the web.

[saffrongraphics]

This is definitely a gap in the literature. I was researching a section for my book ("GIS Cartography: A Guide to Effective Map Design" called Export Considerations that touches on how to export to graphic design software from GIS and found a guy named Nonie Castro who authored a document on transferring to illustrator. He created it for his internal team but I urged him to publish it or at least get it out on the web.

Thank you for letting me know, Gretchen.

[Do Minh Phuong]

Hi Tracy,

Please find what you're looking for from my page:

http://p-gis.blogspot.com

Regards,
Phuong

[DrJill]

I have also found Steven Gordon's three article series "From GIS to the Desktop" to be a nice introduction to the topic. I've referred my cartography students to it, as well as having some inspiring some thoughts on Ortelius software.
http://www.direction...p?author_id=269

While not Illustrator, I am collecting/writing a series of How-to articles for making maps in Ortelius - as a graphics program many of the concepts are shared and I'd be happy to contribute.

[Richard Nie]

"Modeling our world",a GIS book published by ESRI.

[David Medeiros]

I think what this breaks down to is that cartographic techniques are basically platform or software independent. There's really no trick to getting info from a GIS (Arc for instance) into Illustrator. Whats important is what info you choose to bring over and how you represent it. It would be nice to see the literature that's available reference the basic act of exporting or saving for use in Illustrator as well as some of the minor considerations that involves (I'm writing a PDF document on this very topic). Beyond that what you do once the information's been transferred is just plain old cartography.

[angel.spatial]

It's certainly important to learn your software-based technical skills - Illustrator (Mapublisher), GIS, Photoshop... etc.

But that will only get you so far... I recommend strong cartographic theory to fortify your technical skills.

I would start here: http://www.amazon.co...t/dp/0697384950

I really appreciated this book and learned under one of his students. Very rewarding and a great start for theory.

$.02