

A critical mapmaker, will be able to predict distracting questions, or predictable mis-interpretations, and will adjust tne map as necessarry to focus the discussion on pertinent details and labels. It will stimulate the right sort of questions about the subject. An effective map will be interpreted in a predictable way by most users. The job of the map-maker is to introduce the place and to portray data to stimulate an intelligent conversation. Thematic maps should always include a reference overlay that reveals the essential topographic framework of the place and its context. Thematic Maps are designed to communicate more abstract quantitative or qualitative observations of things and conditionsĪnd their relationships with eachother and their context. To support a discussion of the essential physical and cultural components of a place and their relationships with eachother.

Use Intuitively Engaging Graphical Conventions.This page covers some of the essential properties of maps that communicate effectively: Success in this endeavor is best served by understanding and controlling the ways that maps are translated to ideas in the mind of the map reader. The work of maps is to cause people to think differently about a place. A well-made map is an instrument that frames a discussion of a place around the ideas that you feel are important.ĭespite the complicated data and analysis that may underly it, the best map is one that communicates its specific message to the viewer with a minimum of effort from the viewer. Maps are a vehicle that may transfer your ideas about a place into Effective Cartography Elements of Cartographic Style
