Cartography
Resources including tutorials on cartographic design and mapping techniques. Learn about how to make a cartogram, different ways to represent features on a map, and basics of cartography.
Understanding Scale
Scale is the relationship that the depicted feature on map has to its actual size in the real word. All maps are modeled representations of the real world and therefore the features are reduced in size when mapped. In other words, scale is the measurement of the amount of reduction a mapped feature has to [...]
Elements of a Map
Maps are the primary tools by which spatial relationships are visualized. Maps therefore become important documents. There are several key elements that should be included each time a map is created in order to aid the viewer in understanding the communications of that map and to document the source of the geographic information used. Numbered [...]
What is it like to be a cartographer?
The British Cartographic Society highlights series of posts and videos on the field of cartography. If you want an idea of what cartography was like in the 1950s, check out the video “A Cartographer’s Way in the 1950s“. To see how cartography has evolved, the Ordnance Survey blog takes a look at Cartography – from [...]
Making Maps
The Chicago Tribune has a five-part series on making maps using PostGIS, TileMill, Mapnik and Google Maps. Each part reviews one aspect of pulling together a complete online map with Google Maps as the base. The series covers: Less Interactivity Prepare your data with ogr2ogr and PostGIS Make it pretty with TileMill Render with Mapnik Overlay [...]
Enhancing Shorelines with Vector-Based Coastal Vignettes
The demarkation between land and a body of water can be enhanced cartographically through the use of coastal vignettes. From a cartographic perspective, a coastal vignette is a way of displaying water so that areas closest to the shoreline are displayed with a white color. The water is then color ramped so that the color [...]