Designing Better Maps: A Guide for GIS Users

By Cynthia A. Brewer

Designing Better Maps: A Guide for GIS Users, second edition, is a comprehensive guide to creating maps that communicate effectively. In Designing Better Maps, renowned cartographer Cynthia A. Brewer guides readers through the basics of good cartography, including layout design, scales, projections, color selection, font choices, and symbol placement. Designing Better Maps also describes the author's ColorBrewer application, an online color selection tool. The second edition includes a new chapter on map publishing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Esri Press
• Release date: Mar 28, 2016
• ISBN: 9781589484375

Cynthia A. Brewer

Cynthia A. Brewer is a professor and chair of the Department of Geography at Pennsylvania State University. She teaches introductory cartography and map design courses and advises graduate students working in cartography. She has worked as a map and atlas design consultant for the US Census Bureau, National Cancer Institute, National Center for Health Statistics, and National Park Service. She is the author of Designed Maps: A Sourcebook for GIS Users (Esri Press 2008).

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Preface to the second edition

It has been ten years since I wrote the first edition of Designing Better Maps, so it has been a curious adventure to revisit the content in detail. Each fall, I rework much of this content when I teach introductory cartography at The Pennsylvania State University, so a good proportion of it remains familiar and useful for explaining how to design maps using geographic information system (GIS) software. My experiences over the past decade have changed the proportions in my teaching emphases.

I teach less on color now. That is surprising because it was the primary emphasis in my research for many years. ColorBrewer has become so well established in GIS use that it is now built into Esri’s ArcGIS Pro application. Open-source programmers have built the color schemes into their own tools, such as R (a spreadsheet of RGB [red, green, and blue] color schemes is online to ease this adoption).

I teach more on topographic mapping, partly because I have learned more about this challenge after years of working on research grants with the US Geological Survey (USGS) and participating in a 2007 National Research Council committee to envision the USGS Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Science (CEGIS). Through these projects, I have learned the importance of automating labeling and symbol design settings for mapping an entire city, watershed, or even the entire country in all its variety from one set of related decisions implemented with GIS tools. I teach less now on how to handcraft the single map display or atlas map series, though the map design principles are the same.

Through the research with USGS-CEGIS, I have also learned about how GIS data can be better structured to support automated cartographic design. The research groups I have been part of have been working on topographic mapping through scale, and we are all now used to online tools that offer views at a series of scale levels. One key for mapping through scale is to have an importance attribute for features. This importance attribute should provide sufficient levels to produce a hierarchy of representations. Importance levels allow size and lightness ranges among symbols for a feature class. Importance levels also allow variation in label size, style, and color. Most importantly, the importance attribute allows map designers to systematically and selectively remove content for smaller-scale views.

Because mapmakers often do not have datasets on each theme repeatedly compiled at multiple scales, the challenge of multiscale mapping is to pull together data from multiple sources, with varied levels of detail and precision. Thus, I have included a new chapter in this edition that organizes many feature types for reference mapping and basemaps.

I also improved the resolution and quality of the map examples in this edition. The first edition of this book came out the same year that Google Maps did. Since that time, the look of online maps has been a major driver in competition for map users, with increasingly sophisticated integration of base information and clear visual hierarchies. Esri’s map services offer varied high-quality base layers and thematic topics, and the design and usability of consumer navigation services have been getting increasingly better. In the first edition, I captured images from the ArcGIS display that provided guidance in a style relevant to what GIS users were seeing with their desktop tools. Ten years later, our laptops and mobile devices have increasingly high-resolution displays, obviating the need to assume designers are working in a coarse-resolution environment.

I write to you from the perspective of a teacher and cartographic researcher with thirty years of experience. I am now a full professor and head of the Department of Geography at The Pennsylvania State University. I enjoy the challenges of organizing and leading this large department, which includes a substantial geographic information science faculty. When I started my position as head, I joked with the faculty and graduate students that they should expect to be color-coded. In fact, color-coding is used in most of our decision making, whether it is moving offices, sorting out graduate assistantships, partitioning budgets, or highlighting areas of excellence. Who knew you could run an academic program as a thematic mapping effort!

Acknowledgments for the second edition

The book’s revision process occurred in a different context than the first version. I now have funds to pay graduate and undergraduate students to assist me through the E. Willard Miller and Ruby S. Miller Professor of Geography endowment, which I hold for three years. Likewise, I have a good space and equipment for working with the students in the Peter R. Gould Center in the department, which I directed for a portion of the revision period.

Elaine Guidero assisted on the typography and labeling chapters. She also organized permissions for images and data use. Bill Pongpichaya Limpisathian reworked and updated the census data examples throughout the book with newer data. He also prepared most of the graphics in the new basemap chapter and repaired graphics throughout the book. Paulo Raposo selected the sites we emphasize for new basemap examples and assisted with data collection for them. He also improved the projections section. Aaron Dennis prepared numerous new thematic maps, working carefully to choose bivariate maps for new sections. He then pulled these apart into their single-variable parts to provide new illustrations for topics in earlier sections that carry over from the first edition. Aaron was also the main researcher for the new section on intellectual property.

Charlie Frye, chief cartographer at Esri, worked with us early on to plan new topics and rearrange sections. I always enjoy bouncing ideas off Charlie. Over the past ten years, he has begun teaching university courses, so he has a broad range of experiences and opinions about what new GIS mapmakers need to know. These experiences and opinions helped me refine this second edition.

Lynn Usery, director of CEGIS, has been a primary force behind my new knowledge on topographic mapping through a series of research grants. I have collaborated with Barbara Buttenfield and Larry Stanislawski through the past decade, learning about national hydrographic data, terrain, road networks, and many other topics. There are many others at USGS who have encouraged and improved my work over the past decade, and I would like to particularly thank Bob Davis, Mike Cooley, Kristin Fishburn, Helmut Lestinsky, Eric Constance, Kari Craun, and Mark DeMulder for their interest and guidance.

At Esri Press, Kathleen Morgan, acquisitions supervisor, was quick to respond to my interest in revising the book. She put together external reviews for a draft prospectus and brought a serious portion of the energy behind getting this edition completed. She and Riley Peake did the hard and weekly job of keeping me on task despite all the new distractions of being a department head. I worked with Kathleen on permissions years ago and knew how both exacting and kind she is. She is a treat to work with on a big project. I would also like to thank Peter Adams, former Esri Press manager, for his enthusiasm for the second edition. I continue to be completely impressed with the quality and care that Esri Press brings to book production.

Cindy Brewer

State College, Pennsylvania

June 2015

Preface to the first edition

I have been teaching map design for twenty years as a graduate student and professor. The guidance I have organized for this book combines what I have learned from my professors, supervisors, and students over those years. I have also learned map design by doing research on map reading and by making maps professionally. My research and consulting work with people making maps at varied federal agencies taught me that GIS and statistical experts who do not have cartographic training are seeking practical advice on how to design their maps. This book is intended as a basic guide for people who want to improve the maps they make.

Map design principles have been fairly stable over time, but the tools of cartography are always changing and often borrow from other technologies. When I began learning cartography at the University of Guelph, Environment Canada, and Michigan State University (MSU) in the 1980s, we drafted in ink on paper and Mylar sheets and used Leroy lettering templates. We used Letraset rub-on symbols when I taught at the University of California at Santa Barbara. We scribed in negative with jewel nibs, opened areas on peelcoat film to define color fills, and applied tiny labels cut from typeset film at MSU and the National Geographic Society. We started to intermix a bit of CAD drawing to automate line work at MSU and then made the jump to Macromedia FreeHand software on Macintosh computers. I began teaching at San Diego State University in 1991 with a full Macintosh lab. The platforms and software have continued to change since I began teaching map design at The Pennsylvania State University ten years ago. In 2001, I switched from teaching map design on PCs using Adobe Illustrator to using the GIS software ArcGIS 8.

I built my practical knowledge of the cartographic design capabilities of GIS software through a sequence of experiences that include both mapmaking and teaching. During my sabbatical year at the Census Bureau during 2000 and 2001, I learned how to use many of the design tools available in ArcGIS 8 as I produced an atlas of Census 2000 redistricting data (you will see examples from the atlas referenced in figures in this book). The text and figures for this design book began as material for an online course that I prepared in 2001 and 2002, offered jointly through Esri Virtual Campus and Penn State’s World Campus, titled Penn State Editions: Cartographic Design. I then reworked the introductory cartography course I teach to resident students at Penn State, so they are also learning with GIS tools.

This book describes a subset of the basic knowledge taught in introductory cartography courses. I currently use Terry Slocum’s text in my introductory courses and taught for years from Borden Dent’s text. Many of us were weaned on Robinson’s Elements of Cartography, though the sixth, and perhaps final, edition of that seminal text is dated now. To encourage you to follow this book on design with wider reading, I have included a further readings list of textbooks and other cartographic references at the end of the book. If you would like to follow up on some of my research that I describe, research papers are listed on my web page at http://www.personal.psu.edu/cab38.

The core tools for good map design are now implemented in GIS software. I encourage you to push the software to make maps more readable and beautiful. I hope this book helps you toward that goal.

Selected acknowledgments from the first edition

A collaborative course development effort between Penn State and Esri lured me into development of an online map design course in 2001. Suzanne Boden was my first editor for the course material, Penn State Editions: Cartographic Design, which became the first edition of this book. She pushed me past my academic writing style to more straightforward language and separated principles from software-specific information.

Jim Fitzsimmons and Trudy Suchan from the Census Bureau hired me to produce the Mapping Census 2000 atlas. That project gave me the chance to step back from day-to-day teaching responsibilities and put GIS software to the test for map design and production. Trudy coauthored the atlas and was also a terrific project manager; we got the atlas to press in just six months after the 2000 data was released. Pétra Noble helped us with production, and her questions about type placement, layout, and color helped me understand the sorts of advice GIS analysts want for their own mapmaking.

Linda Pickle at the National Cancer Institute is a pioneer in epidemiological mapping. Our research collaborations and her mapping questions illuminated what statisticians want to know about cartography. Alan MacEachren at Penn State encouraged my work on color and collaborated on research, helping me to see the theoretical underpinnings of my contributions. My ColorBrewer work grew from collaboration with Alan, Linda, and Trudy on an NSF Digital Government grant, and it was assisted by Mark Harrower and Geoff Hatchard.

Judy Olson was my advisor throughout my graduate school days at MSU and is my mentor and friend. She taught me the practice of map design and production and how to make forward-looking use of the ever-changing tools we have. She also taught me how to research mapping and how to change the discipline. Leo and Alfie Zebarth taught me high-end mapmaking during my internship with National Geographic magazine. Stuart Allan (Allan Cartography and Raven Maps) taught me about large-format map production back when it was amazingly unwieldy while we produced a map of Santa Barbara with Bill Hunt (Map Link). Bill kept me grounded in what is really going on in mapmaking as an industry through his international and wholesaling expertise.

This book is shaped by my students at Michigan State University, University of California at Santa Barbara, San Diego State University, and The Pennsylvania State University. If they get a chance to read this book, they will recognize graphics and advice I first prepared for them. As they ask me questions and I grade their tests and projects, I see how my explanations need to be improved. This book benefits from both their creative ideas and their great mistakes.

The people at Esri and Esri Press have been wonderful to work with. It is a treat to create a book on mapping with people who know mapping, graphics, and color, and demand excellent quality throughout. Charlie Frye at Esri has been working on improving GIS map design for years. He and I talked about design first at North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS) meetings, then as we tested ArcMap software with the Census 2000 atlas, and later as a collaborator in both teaching and consulting. He knows the software’s capabilities and potential, and his questions are always good ones. I also learn a lot about mapping each time I go to a NACIS meeting. We have a wonderful mix of academics with commercial and government mapmakers. I invite you to join us.

January 2005

1

Planning maps

COMMUNICATION SKILLS ARE CRUCIAL TO EVERY professional’s work. Verbal skills are not enough to effectively present geographic information—you also need graphic skills. This book helps you develop the graphic skills needed for mapmaking. Cartographic expertise allows you to communicate geographic information clearly with maps. Amateur-looking maps can undermine your audience’s ability to understand important information and weaken the presentation of a professional data investigation.

Designing better maps means thinking carefully about each aspect of the map-design process. When creating a page layout, you should size each map element relative to its importance for the map’s purpose. The positions and sizes of empty spaces between elements are as important to layout as the elements themselves. This chapter presents map-design essentials that will help you produce clear, meaningful maps that invite reading.

Choosing a map projection is also a design decision that depends on the purpose of the map. Projecting the round earth onto the flat page creates unavoidable distortions in the geography of your map. By choosing an appropriate map projection, you can manage the distortion so that it has minimal effect on the message and purpose of your map. The choice of projection partly determines the shape of the map as well as its layout.

Here are the essentials of planning better maps:

linking layout to the map’s purpose and using visual hierarchy

planning a layout, balancing empty spaces, refining alignments in layout, and valuing experimentation and critique

selecting map projections to suit the map’s purpose

Designing for map purpose

The impetus to design better maps comes from a desire to make maps that are clear and convincing. A successful design begins with knowing why the map is being made. Cartographers begin planning maps by asking themselves and their clients several questions:

What information is being mapped?

Who will be reading the map?

Is the map content coordinated with written text or other graphics?

What size and medium will be used to display the map?

What are the time and budget constraints on map production?

The topic and intended audience will dictate many of a map’s characteristics. It may be necessary to refer to related research or to other maps in the same field to gauge the amount of detail and relevant symbol conventions for the project. Researchers who make their own maps have the advantage of familiarity with their data and how it is typically portrayed. They will still benefit by asking themselves the same set of questions before they begin design work.

The purpose of your map will determine what parts of it are most important. Which elements of your map do you want people to notice first and remember after they finish reading the map? This ordering of importance—or visual hierarchy—is created by designing some parts of the map to appear as background information and others to take prominence in the foreground. You should design map elements that supply supporting information by decreasing visual importance, echoing their role in understanding the mapped information.

Audience

If you are laboring over map design, you are probably making a map for people beyond your immediate workgroup. Who are these map readers? If the audience is new to the information mapped, they may require a simpler presentation. Likewise, if they are people who are too busy to spend much time reading, they will also need a simple map that summarizes the information. Maps that have a simple purpose, such as a navigation display you check while driving, demand a simple design. Maps for nonexperts or busy people will have a similar look. They should have a single message that focuses the attention of the reader. In contrast, maps for people who already know about the topic can be more complex. If they are experts on the data that is mapped, they will expect a rich and multilayered presentation of information that adds to their knowledge or thoroughly supports your (the mapmaker’s) contention. The more knowledge and time the map reader brings to the task of reading your map, the more information you will be able to include. More complex maps will motivate advanced map readers to spend more time examining a map on a topic of interest. Detailed information on the map will support their map reading rather than distract from it.

When designing a map, you should also consider your audience’s physical ability to read. If the map will be used by older people and others likely to have reduced vision, keep the map text large enough to be legible. If the map will be read in dim or otherwise difficult viewing conditions, use exaggerated lightness contrasts. You may even choose to design your maps to accommodate color-blind readers, who comprise 4 percent of the population. A map can be tailored to the knowledge level of its audience by reducing the number of categories of data shown. Figure 1.1 shows two municipal water maps made for different purposes. The map in figure 1.1A shows water mains along with hydrants, meters, fittings, valves, laterals, road centerlines and edges, and sewage mains. This level of detail is suitable for a knowledgeable map reader. The map in figure 1.1B uses portions of the same dataset, but the map has been simplified to show just the water mains and hydrants. This map would be suitable for a lay audience or a busy city mayor.

The same set of data can be used to make two maps with different purposes by emphasizing different categories of features. The two maps in figure 1.2 are derived from the Placitas quadrangle geologic map in New Mexico. The map in figure 1.2A emphasizes the road to a recreation site, nearby mines, and the network of faults in the area. This map would be suitable as a location map for a group who wanted to plan a field trip to the area to examine these mines. The map in figure 1.2B would be suitable for a more expert group who is familiar with geologic mapping conventions, the names and ages of geologic formations, and information on strike and dip.

Maps for different purposes may also have similar levels of detail. The two maps in figure 1.3 are designed from the same data, but they have different purposes, and so they should have different emphases. They show the same set of lines from a map of Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California symbolized two different ways. In figure 1.3A, the emphasis is on physical features near Joshua Tree: the San Andreas Fault (dashed), the transition zone between the Mojave and Colorado Deserts (brown), and sea level (blue). The map in figure 1.3B emphasizes cultural features near the park: roads (thin red), the interstate highway (thick red), and populated places (yellow).

Visual hierarchy in layout

A map’s purpose determines which of its elements are the most important and should be displayed most prominently in the visual hierarchy. The title and key features on the main map are highest in the visual hierarchy. Base or background geography is lower in the visual hierarchy. Chapter 2 introduces basemap themes common for supporting the main map content. Supporting information, such as source notes, should be lowest in the hierarchy. These are often along the margins of the display and called marginal elements. Chapter 3 elaborates on the design of marginal elements, such as text wording, legends, scale bars, and direction indicators. But first, you need to understand map layout overall.

Figure 1.1 Two maps of city water mains.