15 replies to this topic

[Bryan Krouse]

Hi all,
I am trying to label some office locations and was wondering what you thought of the way I have done (see attached map) it or if someone had a better approach.

Thanks,
Bryan

Attached Files

•  Office_Locations.jpg   75.45K   58 downloads

[mbrickmaps]

Hi all,
I am trying to label some office locations and was wondering what you thought of the way I have done (see attached map) it or if someone had a better approach.

Thanks,
Bryan

I would suggest numbering the stars with either a letter or number within each symbol. Instead of labeling on the map I would just add each symbol to the legend and label it.

[DaveB]

I'm confused - this makes it look like Long Beach is in the San Gabriel Mountains.

[Bryan Krouse]

Hi all,
I am trying to label some office locations and was wondering what you thought of the way I have done (see attached map) it or if someone had a better approach.

Thanks,
Bryan

I would suggest numbering the stars with either a letter or number within each symbol. Instead of labeling on the map I would just add each symbol to the legend and label it.

I like your idea.

[Bryan Krouse]

I'm confused - this makes it look like Long Beach is in the San Gabriel Mountains.

The problem is how to put two symbols right where Long Beach is.

[Hans van der Maarel]

How about having the text go across the circle and then knocking out the circle?

Like this:
 Screen_shot_2011_01_24_at_16.26.01.png   12.8K   17 downloads

I don't like the arrow solution and as Dave mentions, the text becomes too far seperated from the actual location.

[DaveB]

I'm confused - this makes it look like Long Beach is in the San Gabriel Mountains.

The problem is how to put two symbols right where Long Beach is.

The green circle looks like it's closer to downtown LA than Long Beach. Could you combine the symbols? Maybe put the star inside the circle? And center the symbol on Long Beach. Either symbol on its own is rather large, making it difficult to pinpoint the location at this map scale, but it could be located a bit better. Of course, having 2 symbols makes it even more difficult to pinpoint. There's probably something 50 miles between the centers of the 2 symbols.
Then, as Hans says, the separation between symbol(s) and labels creates an additional separation between the real world location and the name. To me leader lines should be more of a last resort if you can't get labels close enough to their features (maybe that's just personal preference, but I don't think so).

[Bryan Krouse]

All great ideas. I will experiment with a few and see...

[Dennis McClendon]

Carry your symbolization with the names, rather than on the city dot:



In fact, even using symbols at all may be one abstraction too far. Perhaps what the map really means to say is:

[Bryan Krouse]

I have attached a revised map shot. I have numbered the regional office locations and created a "new" symbol for the head office. The circle dots (green, red, green/red) represent productions sites, so they need to be well represented on the map. Of course the map has a legend describing this, I just did not include it here.

I greatly appreciate all your comments and time.
Bryan

Attached Files

•  Map.jpg   55.86K   27 downloads

[Dennis McClendon]

The question I always ask—both myself and my clients—is "why send the reader to a legend when the information could be right there on the map?" In my philosophy of design, a legend is an admission of defeat, and a symbol that's only used once is really hard to justify.

[Charles Syrett]

I agree with Dennis. His solution is elegant and effective. There are situations in which icons are appropriate (for example, airports use them because people of many different languages need to understand where things are, at a glance), but often on maps we can simply use text. A few reasons to use icons on maps:

1. The map is extremely dense.

2. A client insists on the use of icons.

3. The map needs to match other graphics stylistically, using the same icons.

4. Some thematic information needs to "pop out" visually.


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

[David Medeiros]

Carry your symbolization with the names, rather than on the city dot:



In fact, even using symbols at all may be one abstraction too far. Perhaps what the map really means to say is:

On the nose. Dennis' second example here is the way to do it. This is what Tufte might call 'Instructions at the point of need'. Make the label do the work for you. If you were mapping a much larger number of these locations and you might want to symbolize so the reader could more easily distinguish the distribution patters of each type of facility. But for general locations, a label on the feature is usually best.

As an additional critique (that I know you didn't ask for, sorry), take a look at your shore line vectors. You have a lot of sharp corners where they should be smooth. Change your line join setting from "miter" to "round" to get rid of these and consider both thinning and simplifying the line. If it won't cover the relief shore correctly then you may have to redraw the line by hand. I would also consider re sampling the terrain to simplify, that's a lot of detail for a small locator. Nice use of oblique shaded relief though!

[Bryan Krouse]

Carry your symbolization with the names, rather than on the city dot:



In fact, even using symbols at all may be one abstraction too far. Perhaps what the map really means to say is:

On the nose. Dennis' second example here is the way to do it. This is what Tufte might call 'Instructions at the point of need'. Make the label do the work for you. If you were mapping a much larger number of these locations and you might want to symbolize so the reader could more easily distinguish the distribution patters of each type of facility. But for general locations, a label on the feature is usually best.

As an additional critique (that I know you didn't ask for, sorry), take a look at your shore line vectors. You have a lot of sharp corners where they should be smooth. Change your line join setting from "miter" to "round" to get rid of these and consider both thinning and simplifying the line. If it won't cover the relief shore correctly then you may have to redraw the line by hand. I would also consider re sampling the terrain to simplify, that's a lot of detail for a small locator. Nice use of oblique shaded relief though!

Some good points. I should point out that this map is for the contiguous US and not just this small area. I simple cut out a small are as an example. There are several areas across the US that have similar areas that I have posted here.

Bryan

[David Medeiros]

Some good points. I should point out that this map is for the contiguous US and not just this small area. I simple cut out a small are as an example. There are several areas across the US that have similar areas that I have posted here.

Bryan

In that case you may want to symbolize. But you could also try color coding the office labels directly. You would get both direct labeling of your features and a color sequence that allows for a broad perspective of office distribution by type. This may or may not work depending on label density and number of types/colors needed. If you have a manageable file post the full map so we can see what the context is.