I just finished reading a new book by Gretchen Peterson called GIS Cartography: A Guide to Effective Map Design and I really enjoyed it. Gretchen wrote this book independent of any GIS tools so that you can apply it anywhere, from ESRI and Autodesk to PowerPoint and Web Mapping. So much of computer books include sections on preferences, installation and best practices, that it takes away from actually learning key concepts. Cartography is critical to visualization of spatial data and with so many different ways to visualize that information these days, you need these key concepts to ensure that you are getting your message out.
Gretchen’s writing style was enjoyable and she was able to cover detailed concepts without losing my interest. I’m guessing because we come from similar GIS backgrounds, I really was able to follow her though process and better understand how I should look at GIS cartography. Another think I really liked was the ability pick the book up and find a section to review so I can see this being a great reference book as well.
The chapter on fonts was particularly enjoyable. So often I believe this is an area overlooked by GIS cartographers and can greatly affect the ability of readers to understand your maps. Color is another area that Gretchen covers and in great detail. The world is much more complicated than just polygons so she goes much deeper than most websites and GIS books have into how color affects your output.
GIS books aren’t cheap because they never do the volumes that general computing books do, but when you can apply them across multiple software packages and disciplines, you get much more value out of them. Gretchen’s book is something that you can use almost anywhere with any medium and won’t get out of date. That is a great value that most technical computing books overlook. GIS Cartography is a great resource to have and one that I’m glad that I have in my technical library. I’m guessing though that it will spend more time next to my computer than on the bookshelf. Flip through the pages at Google Books and see how valuable this book is. Great job Gretchen!
12 Comments
She should have self published the book, and use outlets like this to get the word out. That way, she could have kept the price much lower, and actually had more of a profit.
i usually purchase these books but omg the price is high.
Many books on GIS are outdated by the time they first hit the bookstores. However, this one won’t go out of date anytime soon. So, in my mind, that makes the price more reasonable. I ordered mine thru Amazon at $77…no s/h costs.
Yes the price is high, but lets be honest. At our billing rates, even the lowest paid GIS tech should be able to gain value out of this. I completely understand how difficult it is to buy an expensive book, but this one is different because it is about concepts and not tied to any one version of software on any platform.
That is value.
yep.. it is great to have these “beginner” books. However, I would like to mention more advanced cartography books (partly in text book style) for the interested: - Mark Monmonier: How to lie with maps (1996) … also very enjoyable to read as it shows how maps have been (mis-)used in politics and wars - Alan MacEachren : How Maps Work: Representation, Visualization, and Design (2004) - Alan MacEachren : Some truth with maps: a primer on symbolization & design (1994) - Arthur Robinson et al.: Elements of Cartography (1995) … a standard teaching text book in universities I think - Borden D. Dent: Cartography: Thematic Map Design (1999, 5th ed – there is also a newer edition from 2008) ..and in those books GIS Software isn’t a topic either, but especially the latter explains everything from printing to projections (though it has it’s price too and focuses on thematic maps – i.e. not topographic/reference maps, but if would need to teach a course I would chose the latter
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oh.. and not to forget Edward R Tufte’s books on presenting data with graphics, e.g.: The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (2001)
I would appreciate if some body suggest me a list of recommended books for a GIS Department in local Government. we presently use ESRI technologies. I here that, ESRI Press have good books.
Could some body please help us to get best books in GIS & GPS technologies.
Thanks in advance.
Hi, The British Cartographic Society recently published a little handbook at a reasonable £4.99plus postage, which does the same job. It’s called Cartography…an introduction, and looks at the concepts of design and gives examples too. Its small (A6) but perfectly formed 64 pages give advice on all aspects of mapping and has a useful section for commercial mapmakers on how to improve you map in 5, 15 or 30mins! http://www.cartography.org.uk/booklet
Clare BCS Webmaster
Just got my copy of the BCS handbook and very pleased with it. Only problem is, it’s so handy I keep leaving it in my jacket pocket then having to hunt around for it…
Many more GIS professionals should understand cartography, map scales, projections, etc…. I still see many that lack basic math understanding in creating maps. I wish that more would take basic drafting and understand scales and accuracy verse not to scale maps. I spend alot of time explaining this to folks in our industry.
Does anyone know any book or paper discuss about map cartography on mobile device such as PDA. I am having lot of problems with sunlight and screen brightness especially using it outdoor. Thanks.
I haven’t yet had the opportunity to read this book, it’s on my short list but the price is a bit steep for me right now. The one comment I’d like to make is that as more and more of these “Cartography for GIS” books come on the market I think it’s important to point out that a lot of what’s being said in them is not GIS specific but plain old Cartographic best practices (albeit mostly related to digital creation and output). That’s great, cartographic skills seem to be the one area of GIS use that has not progressed at the same pace as the rest of the industry. There’s a sense among many traditional cartographers that GIS are being run by a bunch of geo-neophytes who often have no cartographic training and little to no geography background. While paradoxically GIS is at its heart a geographic analytical tool that’s primary output is a map (versus a database management system as many users seem to view it). I’m glad to see more and more educational tools on the market for GIS practitioners who want to step up their output quality. A lot of it would be unnecessary if the GIS market placed a higher value on the skills of current digital cartographers and pushed the job training in the other direction… teaching them GIS software and best practices.
UPDATE FOR US CITIZENS ESRI are now selling ‘Cartography: an introduction’ via their ESRI STORE for a mere $9.95 http://store.esri.com/esri/showdetl.cfm?SID=2&Product_ID=1202&Category_ID=38#
A useful pocket guide to the main principles of Better Mapping from the British Cartographic Society