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Cartographers will often exaggerate the natural scale of a mapped feature to help it communicate something of its nature. Some examples are vertical exaggeration of terrain or the very existence of point symbols (cities aren’t actually that big). We embellish for effect. Making a river a bit wider at its mouth, where it meets the …
over a year ago

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More from Adventures In Mapping

Make a cross stitch style map in ArcGIS Pro

Yes, yes, maps are spatial communication devices and we can obsess over precision and clarity. But it all depends on your map’s purpose. Maps are also designed objects so they can carry within them the power of sentiment. Memory, joy, nostalgia. Or just plain old wonder and curiosity. Here’s how you can create a charming …

a month ago 17 votes
van Gogh style wind map

Here’s how to use compositing to tint flowing wind patterns by underlying terrain colors. Why? Because rather than a basemap providing some context around a layer that inherently blocks your view of it, you can leverage the amazing compositing blend modes of the ArcGIS Online Map Viewer to make the phenomenon reveal context rather than …

2 months ago 16 votes
Hack some bokeh into your ArcGIS Online map

You know how you can crank up the sense of drama and studio photography professionalism by switching over to portrait mode on your phone’s camera? It just looks…cool. The subject is in focus and the peripheral background content is blurry. It’s actually how our eyes and brains work, so it’s pleasing to see in photography. …

3 months ago 38 votes
Inner Glow Effect for Polygons in ArcGIS Online

Sure, there’s a glorious drop shadow effect in the ever-more-capable ArcGIS Online Map Viewer to give features a sweet glow, BUT there’s no inner glow effect. How do we cast that beautiful glow inward? I’ll admit that I’ve been stumped by this one for longer than I care to admit, but then it just hit …

3 months ago 42 votes
Make a seafloor map in the spirit of Marie Tharp & Heinrich Berann

Here’s how you can make a map inspired by the glorious collaboration of geologist Marie Tharp and landscape painter Heinrich Berann. We’ll use ArcGIS Pro (injected with a special terrain toolbox provided by cartographer, author, and public figure Ken Field), its amazing raster functions and blend modes, and luscious bathymetry data from GEBCO. Let’s dive in! 0:00 a brief …

3 months ago 38 votes

More in cartography

Ontario, Day 4 (Penetanguishene and Beyond)

I had absolutely no idea how to pronounce Penetanguishene, and I still don’t. Typing it isn’t any easier. I had to cut-and-paste the name to make sure I got it right. Nonetheless, that’s where we pointed the car on our fourth day in Ontario, about an hour northeast of Collingwood. Notice that I mentioned road […] The post Ontario, Day 4 (Penetanguishene and Beyond) appeared first on Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places.

16 hours ago 2 votes
The Map of the Internet
5 hours ago 1 votes
Quick Project: Queensland Rail Network Diagram

Okay, as promised in the previous post, here’s my version of the Queensland passenger rail network as a diagram. As is usual for these redesigns, I’ve only spent a few hours on this – just to show that better design doesn’t necessarily need to take a lot of time. Everything is meant to be simple […]

2 days ago 3 votes
The Doomsday Glacier
2 days ago 3 votes
Submission – Official Map: Queensland Rail Network

Submitted by Bushland Maps, who says: I have noticed that no one has submitted the Queensland Rail network map, so here it is! Sort of… I have attached the link to the web page rather than the image because the legend isn’t on the map, its actually below it on the webpage… That will be […]

2 days ago 6 votes