25 replies to this topic

[David Medeiros]

Everything you could need has been included in that file...

Everything except a reason to ever do it. The finished products just make me cringe.

Using GIS for this purpose is like a dog's walking on his hinder legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.

I guess if you don't have graphic software you need to make due with what you've got. But I generally agree with you... this is easier to do, and to greater effect, in software like Illustrator.

I find it interesting that GIS so often distinguishes itself from cartography through phrases like “pretty maps” yet seems to strive continually to emulate artisitc cartographic style and effect.

[Charles Syrett]

I find it interesting that GIS so often distinguishes itself from cartography through phrases like “pretty maps” yet seems to strive continually to emulate artisitc cartographic style and effect.

I was trained in cartography before GIS existed, and no-one -- no teachers, professors, or textbooks -- ever advocated trying to make maps look "pretty". The guiding principle was always "form follows function". And there was a kind of unspoken understanding that, if you followed sound cartographic principles and methods, the result probably would look good! But not because of some contrived purpose to make it "pretty".

Charles Syrett
Map Graphics
http://www.mapgraphics.com

[François Goulet]

Everything you could need has been included in that file...

Everything except a reason to ever do it. The finished products just make me cringe.

Using GIS for this purpose is like a dog's walking on his hinder legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.

loll! It's not that bad. There's interesting techniques and even though I wouldn't do an historical map entirely within Arc it's good to know what it is possible to do. I'm a medieval historian (or I was...) so I wouldn't reject anything like that at all...

[Jean-Louis]

I think the first question to ask is:
Do you want to do a modern map of a historical period
or an antique style map of a given area and period

[batence1986]

I want to do a modern animated and interactive map of a historical period. I'd like to make this map with Adobe Illustrator and Avenza MAPublisher, using GIS databases and exporting the map to Flash.

[frax]

batence - I am still not sure exactly what you are asking for? What input are you soliciting from us?

Side note - wouldn't it be fun to do an antique-style map with a modern subject: latest election, oil usage in 2007 or the location of nuclear power plants.

[batence1986]

Thanks for all suggestions you've sent to me!

[Jean-Louis]

Thanks for all suggestions you've sent to me!

I look forward to see your project on Map Gallery when you get started on it

[natcase]

The thing to remember when looking to achieve historic look and feel, is that every look and feel is cin some way constrained or directed by the technology used. Engraved maps look they way they do because of the technology of burin on copper plate, which produces a very distinctive mark. Same for wood cut, for wax-engraved, even for scribe-coat. To really make a good digital imitation, you need to learn the production and printing technologies, and how they affected the look and feel of the final product.

[Jean-Louis]

The thing to remember when looking to achieve historic look and feel, is that every look and feel is cin some way constrained or directed by the technology used. Engraved maps look they way they do because of the technology of burin on copper plate, which produces a very distinctive mark. Same for wood cut, for wax-engraved, even for scribe-coat. To really make a good digital imitation, you need to learn the production and printing technologies, and how they affected the look and feel of the final product.

That is a very good point Nate. Then I guess it is important to also ask: Does one want to do an authentic-looking historic map imitation or is one aiming at a kind of faux-antique modern map design which can also be very nice.

[natcase]

The thing to remember when looking to achieve historic look and feel, is that every look and feel is cin some way constrained or directed by the technology used. Engraved maps look they way they do because of the technology of burin on copper plate, which produces a very distinctive mark. Same for wood cut, for wax-engraved, even for scribe-coat. To really make a good digital imitation, you need to learn the production and printing technologies, and how they affected the look and feel of the final product.

That is a very good point Nate. Then I guess it is important to also ask: Does one want to do an authentic-looking historic map imitation or is one aiming at a kind of faux-antique modern map design which can also be very nice.

And the thing most creators of either forget is that anything they create will have something anachronistic about it. You look at faux historical maps of the 1940's or 1950's or 1980's, and they are so clearly of those eras... Because so much of the look of historic maps is based on the technologies used to create and reprouce them, and because so many of the rules used to create those maps are now generations obsolete—and we think the rules of cartography are some sort of eternal canon!—it is easy, if not inevitable, that we will miss something. Like how in stone litho maps almost all the detail is in the black plate. Anyway, yes, you are right as well.