• 1. Design for Screen Maps
  • 1.1. General Rules
    • 1.1.1. Map Size
    • 1.1.2. Simplification
    • 1.1.3. Minimum Dimensions
    • 1.1.4. Fonts
    • 1.1.5. Colours
    • 1.1.6. Scale
    • 1.1.7. Examples
    • 1.1.8. Self Assessment
    • 1.1.9. Unit-Summary
  • 1.2. Interactive Web Maps
  • 1.3. Rules for Topographic Maps
  • 1.4. Rules for Thematic Maps
  • 1.5. Summary
  • 1.6. Glossary
  • 1.7. Bibliography
  • 1.8. Metadata

1.1.9. Unit-Summary

Simply scanning a paper map does not lead to a quality screen map. A paper map can be used as template for the creation of a screen map, but it has to undergo major adjustments. Distances between map elements and minimum sizes should be chosen larger for screen maps than for paper maps and the information density should be adapted according to the enlargement of the symbolization. (Räber et al. 2003)

Minimum Dimensions

When producing a screen map, a few rules for small objects or distances have to be applied. There exist a couple of minimum sizes:

Minimum distance between two surfaces: 1 Pixel Minimum distance between lines: 1.5 pixel (for very thin lines: 2 pixels) Minimum aerial dimension of point signatures: 4-5 pixels

Font

Fonts which are suitable for display on screen are:

• Verdana
• Lucida Grande
• Frutiger
• Stone Sans ITC
• Cisalpin
• Myriad

Colours

The appearance of a colour on a screen depends on the following components:

• Monitor
• Platform
• Browser software
• Plug-in

Scale

Since the actual size of a screen map depends on the resolution of the monitor, one should avoid indicating the scale in numbers and use a scale bar or a Cartesian grid instead.

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Update: 26.1.2012 (eLML) - Contact - Print (PDF) - © CartouCHe 2004-2007 (Creative Commons) - layout based on YAML