C. Brewer, NationalMapping.us

Systematic color categories for symbols

Rd

YG

Pu Cy

Bu

Or

Yl

Gntransportationbuilt-up areas

wooded areasforest reservesparks

hydrography

points:emergencyhospitalsschools

Gy

boundaries

Br

Human themes: Natural themes:admin reserveshillshade

C. Brewer, NationalMapping.us

Systematic color categories for symbols

Rd

YG

Pu Cy

Bu

Or

Yl

Gntransportationbuilt-up areas

wooded areasforest reservesparks

hydrography

points:emergencyhospitalsschools

Gy

boundaries

Br

Human themes: Natural themes:admin reserveshillshade

C. Brewer, NationalMapping.us

Color contrasts

• Red roads vs brown contours hard to distinguish – use gray contours

• All colors lighter than black labels – few halos• This is not a road map – do not use whole contrast

range on road categories• Leave contrast available for update

and overlay of operational information– magenta could be used for additions if no magenta symbols

• Contrasting outlines on point symbols separate from each other and background

90K

24K

Multiscale durability:good point overlaps

Halos and casings

- Dull greenish brown halo on contour labels

- Slightly blue halo on hydro labels

- Slightly beige casing on local roads

- Slightly gray fill in road shields

- Slightly gray drop shadow on populated place names

Other labels dark enough to read over content

C. Brewer, NationalMapping.us

Geoprocessing for map design

• Contour cracking for faster drawing• Polygon-to-line for dashed lines• Dissolve on attribute to join small segments (e.g., roads)• Pair layers with version not symbolized for labels with

different classes (e.g., flowlines, admin areas, populated places)

• Flowline upstream drainage area (UDA) calculated for stream tapering

• Smooth DEM first to create generalized contours and hillshade for terrain

C. Brewer, NationalMapping.us

HydrographyMO 1:50K

Tapered by symbolizing upstream drainage area (stream order or length not useful)

Intermittent and perennial symbolized

C. Brewer, NationalMapping.us

Stream tapering

Width

(pts) RGB

lighter

0.38100,180,200

0.75100,180,200

med blue

1.13 50,165,200

1.50 50,165,200

darker

1.88 0,150,200

2.25 0,150,200

Viet Nam

Brazil Botswana

Japan

Examples of international topo maps using stream tapering

C. Brewer, NationalMapping.us

HydrographyMO 1:50K

Tapered by symbolizing upstream drainage area (stream order or length not useful)

Intermittent and perennial symbolized

C. Brewer, NationalMapping.us

Stream tapering details

Perennial Flowlines

UDA class breaks Line weights in points

Dry Humid Blues24K - 50KHigh Res

NHD

50K - 215K 50~200K

LoD**

215K - 320K Need new

LoD?320K - 500K

Need new LoD?500K - 1M

Need new LoD?

min-20 min-2 pale 0.38 0.38 0.38 No symbol No symbol

50 5 light 0.75 0.75 0.75 No symbol No symbol

100 10 light 1.13 1.13 1.13 No symbol No symbol

300 30 med 1.50 1.50 *1.13 0.63 0.50

3000 300 med 1.88 1.88 1.50 0.88 0.63

max max dark 2.25 2.25 1.88 1.13 0.75

notes** ’ difs’

removed at 100K

* Color change only

WV 1MArcMap capture

Flowlines

Perrenial Flowlines

Intermittent Flowlines

Flowline Labels

24K…

Waterbodies

Inundation Area

Wash

Sand/Mud Flat

Swamp/Marsh

Lake/Pond

Reservoir

Intermittent Lake

24K…

C. Brewer, NationalMapping.us

Terrain

Multicolor hillshade with transparency

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