17 replies to this topic

[Pete]

nothing turns my crank like a well-designed "abstraction of reality"!

I agree with what people have said in relation to the building outlines - they do come as a bit of a poke in the eye with the contrast between the green of the vegetation and the strong orange of the buildings. Buildings in real life don't have outlines (does anything actually have an outline in real life ..?) but a "representation" of a buidling could if it was appropriate. I think you're buildings might get lost a little without the outline so maybe may it a little less strong. Looking at the map from a distance it is the buildings that stand out the most - if the purpose of the map is to emphasise buildings over features such as vegetation then go for it! Is there any way you could surpress the vegetation around the buidlings to get around the problem of trying to show trees and buidlings in the same area? Same thing for the streams and rivers I guess: if you map is about waterways then don't obscure them with vegetation even though that is what you would expect to see in reality

It's really impressive work all the same - it's always interesting to see how people interpret making a real-looking map. I like the subtle green colours: they're very fresh.

I've taken some liberties with information in some of my work - it may not precisely represent what is on the ground in real life but as long as it looks plausible and accurate then it shouldn't draw the eye.

[Matthew Hampton]

My thoughts are in line with this, because abstraction is (one of) the essence of cartography - clearing away all the noise and distilling the elements down to a cogent diagram.

I was wondering if, after the abstraction, you add a little sprinkle of reality (airphoto) to create an image that's hyper-real. I would argue that it's a (static) form of 'augmented' reality or would that be augmented abstraction?

I think there's something pretty interesting about constructing an image that uses detailed abstractions (LiDAR-shading), in addition to subtle landcover tinting. It doesn't make for a clean road map style of map, but I think it's really effective at communicating something else. It's more contextual and (I think) makes it easier to read the landscape.

Maybe it can be classified as "hyperreal cartography."

[alanb]

The beginnings of a beautiful map! What a remarkable place Rakitna seems to be. Nestled in a small plateau basin, 500m above the Ljubljana Plain. Protected on 3 sides by steep hills, with an open view of the hills to the south east. It may not be your intention with this map, but it seems to me it would be a shame to not have a greater impression of what must be spectacular landscape. I guess scale is the issue, you would need to come out a fair bit, and use some swiss/and/or MDOW shading techniques. It looks truely wonderful.

P.S. Thank Google Earth for my fiegned geographic knowledge of the area
Alan