This map of Swiss landscapes was make to be reminiscent of the mid-century pen-and-ink landform maps of Erwin Raisz. The background is a repeating poster-print texture applied to a big polygon that covers the whole world. I started with water polygons and gave them a hatched fill with an alternating texture to get a bit … Continue reading Condensed How-To: Raisz-Inspired Landscapes of Switzerland
Here is a map of Switzerland done in an Eduard Imhof-inspired style. The topography uses an impressionistic palette of greens and ochers for the terrain lighting and shading, and has an atmospheric perspective shift to muted green tones in lower elevations. Similar to a previous version, but with an updated style resource and additional features. … Continue reading Condensed How-To: Updated Imhof-Style Map of Switzerland
Here is a map of Germany’s forests and cities, in a watercolor style. Here’s how to make it! Landcover data comes from the Corine Land Cover Program, SRTM digital elevation model images, water and borders are available from the Living Atlas. The styling comes from the Watercolor style for ArcGIS Pro. I ran a query … Continue reading Condensed How-To: Watercolor Map of Germany
Here is the map of Germany I shared earlier, rendered as topographic stacks of construction paper. For a detailed how-to, if you’d prefer, find all the steps and context here. In the meantime, here’s a punch list of how it went down… SRTM getting… Merging and blurring… Contouring… Applying a Paper Cut style and painting … Continue reading Condensed How-To: Germany Paper Cut Map
I’m very honored and insatiably excited to have been invited to do some talking/sharing/showing/mappy stuff in Germany and Switzerland this March. Part of this trip involves making map posters to give away at the Esri Konferenz 2020 in Bonn, hosted by Esri Germany and Esri Switzerland. I’m making two posters of each country. Here they … Continue reading Some Maps of Germany & Switzerland
Here is an election cartogram. Here is a two-part series of how (and why) to make it… Part 1 Part 2 Continue reading Steampunk Election Cartogram
And if you are feeling especially festive, you can ply your cutting and pasting fingers at this more complex ornament from last year. Continue reading Dymaxion Globe Christmas Ornament Thing
Dear Fellow Map Nerds, I have been painting GIS pixels with a watercolor brush for a while now but I’ve never shown you how easy it is. Here is a couple-minute video showing it from start to finish. I’ve spared you my nasally Midwestern narration and just dropped in some charming little folksy bluegrass riffs. … Continue reading Mega Easy Watercolor Painting in ArcGIS Pro
Of course you know I love vignettes at the edges of maps. They help draw our eyeballs in to the focus area. So naturally I’d also love a vignette effect for area of interest polygons—not just around the perimeter of a layout, but a nice soft edge to a specific geographic shape. So, here is … Continue reading Soft-Edged Areas of Interest
You may or may not have attended the presentation Sarah Bell and I gave at Adobe MAX, called “Map Making for Designers: It’s Easier than You Think.” Either way, please indulge in the nitty gritty related to each and every thing I may have shown or mentioned. Prepare for a link-blast… How to create a … Continue reading Adobe MAX 2019
