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Designing Better Maps: A Guide for GIS Users (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Every professional knows that communication skills are crucial to their work..." (more)
Key Phrases: designing better maps, diverging schemes, visual variables, United States, Adobe Illustrator, Letter Gothic (more...)

3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

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Designed Maps: A Sourcebook for GIS Users by Cynthia A. Brewer
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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Describing how to build balanced map layouts suited to varied mapping goals, this guide focuses on export options that suit different media and can be edited in other applications. The wide range of text characteristics needed for expert map design as well as how to improve map readability with type effects such as character spacing, leading, callouts, shadows, and halos is detailed. Tips are included for using font tools in the Windows operating system, such as creating special characters in map text, as is information on using text characteristics to indicate feature locations, categories, and hierarchies on maps. How cartographic conventions guide placement of labels for point, line, and area features are also explained.

About the Author

Cynthia A. Brewer is map and atlas design consultant for the U.S. Census Bureau, the National Cancer Institute, the National Center for Health Statistics, and National Park Service. She is an associate professor of geography and applied cartography at Pennsylvania State University and the designer and editor of ColorBrewer, a web tool for selecting map color schemes. She lives in State College, Pennsylvania.

Product Details

Paperback: 220 pages
Publisher: Esri Press (July 1, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1589480899
ISBN-13: 978-1589480896
Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 0.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #147,900 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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#12 in	Books > Science > Earth Sciences > Geography > Information Systems
#17 in	Books > Science > Earth Sciences > Cartography
#90 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Graphic Design > Website Architecture & Usability

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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
Every professional knows that communication skills are crucial to their work. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
designing better maps, diverging schemes, visual variables, hue circle, visual hierarchy, dynamic labeling, qualitative schemes, same point size, label placement, legend title, area symbols, raster files, feature labels, map purpose

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Adobe Illustrator, Letter Gothic, Gill Sans, Percent Hispanic, Prince George's County, Democratic Republic of Congo, Joshua Tree National Park, Latino Figure, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Hispanic Hispanic, Portion of the Joshua Tree, African American

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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	77% buy the item featured on this page: Designing Better Maps: A Guide for GIS Users 3.8 out of 5 stars (10) $27.26
	8% buy Designed Maps: A Sourcebook for GIS Users 4.3 out of 5 stars (3) $26.37
	6% buy How to Lie with Maps (2nd Edition) 4.0 out of 5 stars (11) $11.56
	5% buy GIS Cartography: A Guide to Effective Map Design 5.0 out of 5 stars (6) $77.60

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Customer Reviews

10 Reviews

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
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Average Customer Review

3.8 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars ESRI Puts out another vague book..., August 28, 2005

By	D. Lanier (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I don't know how many of the people that will be reading this review have ever bought a book from ESRI. Let it be said that their books are usually for the beginning and lower-intermediate class of GIS users. I purchased this book before it was even published in the hopes that it would break that norm and offer something like the description states. From everything that their marketing wizards say about the book, one would expect a quality map design product that would really highlite layout, composition, etc. Wrong.

Advanced users, or anyone who even thinks they have the slightest notion on map design, do not buy this book! Chances are if you think to yourself, "I make pretty decent maps", then you will gain nothing from this book. This book should only be purchased by beginning users or people who have been told that their maps look like absolute crap. If you make north arrows that take up 1/4 of your map, you need this book. If you are a little wary about your ability to choose color, do not buy this book. Instead, focus on buying books in the Art section that will help you improve your color understanding and picking abilities.

There is very little information of use in here for advanced users, that is why I am rating this so low. This is an acceptable book for beginners, though not the best I have seen. Again, my gripe with ESRI is that they pull together just enough vague information to publish a book on a subject without really telling you anything that you couldn't figure out on your own.

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book to improve your map designs, October 10, 2005

By	K. Kurland (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews

This is a comprehensive book that covers all aspects of good map design. It is especially useful for those without a cartography or graphic design background. Unlike other map design books that cover way too much irrelevant material; it's easy to follow and gives enough information to help new and experienced GIS users create maps that are focused and easy to read. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to design better maps.

Cindy Brewer is one of the nation's experts on cartographic design and color usage and everyone should learn from her. Check out her other book on Mapping the Census 2000 for beautiful and informative map examples.

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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For anyone working with GIS software who has little prior training or experience in mapmaking, November 12, 2005

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Designing Better Maps: A Guide for GIS Users is a guide to cartography, written in response to advances in digital mapping and geographic information system (GIS) software and illustrated throughout with map samples in color. With such increasingly widespread tools, more analysts, researchers, planners, graphic designers, and lay people lacking basic cartography training have been creating maps that appear slick on the surface but contain internal flaws due to common beginner mistakes. Designing Better Maps seeks to rectify such errors by offering a basic cartographic education for non-cartographers. Chapters cover the basics in type, color and color decisions, customizing symbols, properly designed marginal elements, and more. An easy-to-follow resource and a "must-have" for anyone working with GIS software who has little prior training or experience in mapmaking.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Map visualization 101
This book addresses all major topics needed when considering what color to assign to a group of layers, which symbols and scales to use, how to annotate maps and how to complement... Read more

Published on October 25, 2007 by Sergio Oscar Sperat

4.0 out of 5 stars Designing Better Maps
An excellent book, but a bit tedious. Gives the GIS user an excellent review of what makes a map visually useful. Read more

Published on August 9, 2007 by W. B. Edwards

2.0 out of 5 stars Descent for beginners
This book reviews the very basics of map design and hardly touches on cartographic representations. It is probably a good starting point for first timers to GIS and mapping, but... Read more

Published on May 10, 2007 by K. Stanfield

5.0 out of 5 stars Designing Better Maps
Since I am relatively new to the world of GIS Mapping, this book was an invaluable aid to designing more attractive maps. Read more

Published on November 4, 2006 by Linda Pierce

4.0 out of 5 stars Call it training
If you analyze data and make maps, this is well worth the money.
It helps if you use ArcGIS too....

Published on March 14, 2006 by Andrew J. Little

5.0 out of 5 stars Great overview of map design using ArcMap
This book is the first one I would recommend to the typical GIS user wanting to make better maps. Some other reviewers have commented that many of the suggestions are basic;... Read more

Published on December 5, 2005 by GeoVizer

2.0 out of 5 stars there are much better books
There are much better books than this. See Tufte's "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information". Several of his examples deal with maps. Read more

Published on September 5, 2005 by W Boudville

› See all 10 customer reviews...

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