Customer Reviews

How Maps Work: Representation, Visualization, and Design

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an exceptionally thorough guide to map representation both in design and function. If you love maps or use them a lot in your work, this is a truly great book to own. It covers both functional and lexical mapping techniques from both visual perception/cognition and semiotic design perspectives. Pose any question about mapping and this book can probably help you find the answer to it. This book will especially please information designers/architects.

A book of such depth and with so much information packed into such little space deserves no less than five stars-unless the presentation is so poor that reading becomes a chore!

Make no mistake: this is a superb textbook. You get exactly what the title says: a comprehensive guide to principles of psychology, perception, semiotics, design, visualization-you name it. If there is an issue in the world that concerns map design, chances are excellent that you will find it in this book. The author is an expert in the field and it shows. If you think you can get beyond the usability problems, by all means buy this book and it will keep you thinking for a very long time.

Yet, for a book that has 'design' in its sub-title, clearly the design of the book itself was done with little consideration for the reader. The type is small, needs a better font and is cluttered with references, (text in parentheses) and "quoted phrases". It doesn't help that the text is poorly justified resulting in a ridiculous amount of hyphenation. You don't have to really read the whole book to see what I mean-just look at the table of contents. Does that look like a book designed by someone who cares about psychology, design, perception and visual presentation? There isn't even any space to take notes.

If you are used to reading scientific papers, you won't have much trouble because their presentation is usually far worse. Otherwise, be prepared for a rough ride.

Information visualization, or "infoviz" has come into its own in recent years. While it has many pundits and scholars, there's nothing in the literature that approaches the breadth and quality of this book. MacEachren wisely states that the book is geared more towards cartographic concerns, rather than more generic information visualization applications. However, the vast majority of this enormous book is relevant for any information visualization application.

That said, the relative quality and importance of this book is higher for individuals making more complex visualizations. If you're just beginning, there are better options available.

My copy of this book is now chock full of scribbles in the margin - not doodles, mind you, but ideas and questions for research in cartographic design. There are a few doodles, too, but they're doodles of maps. The book asks as many questions as it answers, and as such makes a great text for researchers, students, and folks who want to look at what the future of cartography could be...