Cartographic Design Using ArcView^® GIS
by Ed Madej

The book is divided into eleven chapters. Each chapter has a corresponding web page on this site with extra information.

References point the way to other web resources with additional information disccussed in a chapter.

Free or low cost ArcView extensions mentioned in the book can be found on many web pages linked for each chapter, including ESRI's Arcscripts page. Consult the book or ArcView Help for loading an extension file.

ArcView Avenue scripts mentioned in the book are indicated by this graphic. Load Avenue code through the ArcView Script document.

Several chapters have downloadable exercises with additional text and shapefile data. You will need Winzip to unzip these files for the exercises. 

For those new to the art and science of cartography, the first two chapters deal with the basics of cartographic communication. The rest of the chapters follow in roughly the order you would follow in making a map with ArcView.

Chapters 3, and 4 explore using the powerful Legend Editor to symbolize and classify geographic data. Chapter 5 examines the use of the six palettes included in the Symbol Window to set marker and line symbols, as well as the use of patterns and colors for area fills. Chapter 6 introduces the art of digital typography and examines the difficult task of labeling features on a map.

The complicated subject of map projections is addressed in Chapter 7. Projection and scale are usually addressed at the start of the map making process, but are left for later in this book in order for those less experienced with ArcView GIS to get comfortable with the software’s windows and tools before tackling this subject.

Map composition with the ArcView layout is presented in Chapter 8, while advanced design tips are examined in Chapter 9. Adding raster data, such as images, to the map is discussed briefly with Chapter 10.

Cartographers have never had so many means of output for their map products as they do today, and Chapter 11 examines the full range of options. Laser printers, inkjets, plotters, web maps and portable digital file formats all have different advantages and this chapter will give the ArcView user a lot to think about.

The sixteen plates of the color insert go beyond grayscale maps and show the full the power of cartographic communication with ArcView’s tools for presenting color. Plates 1-3 provide a quick reference to predefined color ramps, families and palettes found in the ArcView Legend Editor. Plates 5-10 display maps produced with different legend types. Plates 11 and 12 compare the visual effects of using digital raster graphics and digital aerial photos as map backgrounds, while plates 13-16 show advanced techniques with several of the optional ArcView extensions. In all the color plates should give you a wealth of ideas for producing your own high quality color maps.

Throughout the book, many free or low cost ArcView extensions are mentioned, along with techniques on how to implement them in the map production process. You can explore this techniques further by going to companion web page for Cartographic Design with ArcView GIS on the Internet at http://www.onwordpress.com/olcs/index.html.

Here you will find downloadable files containing exercises based on many of the chapters in the book, plus links to all the valuable extensions mentioned in each chapter.

ArcView GIS has truly expanded the field of cartographic communication and we hope that this book will expand your skills in producing great maps.

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