6 replies to this topic

[razornole]

Hello All,

It has been a while since I have posted. Always better to have an extra set of eyes. Another one of my trail maps. Size is 14x8.5, and it will be handed out to paid campers of Hayes Canyon Campground. It is a combo of FS data and private data.

A locator map would be very helpful, but per request of client there is not one on there. To help you out this is in Pope County in southern Illinios, just north of the Ohio River.

kru

Attached Files

•  HayesCanyon2_14x8_5_40k__UG_Clip_.jpg   712.81K   154 downloads

[Dennis McClendon]

Looks pretty nice to me. I think I'd like to see a subtle symbol of some kind for campgrounds and caves, even if it's just a cross or circle. The creeks could taper down near their sources. And the combo trails/roads are awfully chattery to me, with too many different categories to read in the legend. I might do some sort of brown road with no casing, so you could still have a subtle trail, or just let it go unspecified that you can also hike along forest roads.

[razornole]

Looks pretty nice to me. I think I'd like to see a subtle symbol of some kind for campgrounds and caves, even if it's just a cross or circle. The creeks could taper down near their sources. And the combo trails/roads are awfully chattery to me, with too many different categories to read in the legend. I might do some sort of brown road with no casing, so you could still have a subtle trail, or just let it go unspecified that you can also hike along forest roads.

Thanks for the comments.

I agree, I don't like Hayes Creek headwaters starting at a .75 lineweight, but there were no tributaries to taper it down. I was told to emphasize it and Lusk Creek b/c they are the only two perennial streams in the area and a very important source of water for the horses.

I'm not crazy about the road/trail combos and may just get rid of the trial symbol all together. I'm noticing the b/w doesn't print well either.

I did try the lexicon route, but it got too busy real quick. In a conundrum with the campgrounds, emphasize client but not competitors, however I need to include them b/c they're important for way finding.

thanks again,
kru

[Jacques Gélinas]

IMO Overall this is a nice map.

As Dennis mentioned I would add symbols on POI etc..
If you use 'leader' lines I would consider adding an arrow.
I would also revisit the hierarchy of the trail and road network. e.g. when trails meet roads (trail should be 'under'). See Indian Kitchen Trail head.
Maybe a verbal scale.
Not sure what FS means.
If this goes to print, you will be using a 'bleed' as your trimming method? I would look into maybe using a border.

Cheers,

[razornole]

IMO Overall this is a nice map.

As Dennis mentioned I would add symbols on POI etc..
If you use 'leader' lines I would consider adding an arrow.
I would also revisit the hierarchy of the trail and road network. e.g. when trails meet roads (trail should be 'under'). See Indian Kitchen Trail head.
Maybe a verbal scale.
Not sure what FS means.
If this goes to print, you will be using a 'bleed' as your trimming method? I would look into maybe using a border.

Cheers,

Thanks for the comments Jacques,

Good catch, I'm going to put my trail layer under the roads. I had them on top when I was working and forgot to change them back.

No bleeds, I've got a 1/4" margin all around which in my opinion is one hell of a border. This will be printed in a home-office environment and inkjets can't/won't print full bleeds. If I don't have that white border the printer will automatically scale the image down, which I don't want.

FS is Forest Service. I know that Inever said that and I thought that it could slide, but apparently not. I'll get that fixed.

Thanks,
kru
Thanks again

[Charles Syrett]

Looks good! A few little things:

I find the first 3 trail categories (in the legend) to be a little too similar to be easily distinguishable. You'll lose a lot of older viewers (yes, we use trails too!) or anyone looking at it in poor lighting. A little tweaking of these trail designs could go a long way.

The sun angle on the relief is NE, which is non-standard and also counter-intuitive to some viewers. It also conflicts with the drop shadows, which do use the more standard NW illumination.

I would make the water names a darker blue. I've found that text colours often appear lighter than the same colours used in lines and areas. For example, rivers shown in cyan 100 can be named in cyan 100 / magenta 40, and the colours will appear to match visually.

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

[razornole]

Looks good! A few little things:

I find the first 3 trail categories (in the legend) to be a little too similar to be easily distinguishable. You'll lose a lot of older viewers (yes, we use trails too!) or anyone looking at it in poor lighting. A little tweaking of these trail designs could go a long way.

The sun angle on the relief is NE, which is non-standard and also counter-intuitive to some viewers. It also conflicts with the drop shadows, which do use the more standard NW illumination.

I would make the water names a darker blue. I've found that text colours often appear lighter than the same colours used in lines and areas. For example, rivers shown in cyan 100 can be named in cyan 100 / magenta 40, and the colours will appear to match visually.

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

My target audience is older viewers. I have gotten rid of the road/trail combo. That leaves me with a white, puple, and red trail. I understand the low-light dilemma, and when your in the backcountry it is almost always low light. I try to use as much contrast as possible to remedy this, i.e. a dark purple on a light gray and a white on a dark green.

With my hillshade I have use a combo of NW and NE. Trying to make the canyons pop as much as possible. However, my main goal was to cast a shadow on the Double Branch Hole canyon immediately adjacent to the west of my client's campground. It is a superior that they have over their competitors, and I want to emphasize it.

I was requested to remove all the water feature names on an early draft. In this version I have dropped them in the visual hierarchy, with the hopes of salvaging at least a few.

Thanks for the comments, I'll keep them in mind on the next version.

kru