---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1998 23:17:39 -0600
From: Dennis McClendon <[log in to unmask]>
To: Maps and Air Photo Systems Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Cartographic standards (fwd)
 
>Is there an accepted cartographic standard or convention on how to label
>a road running north and south?
 
Looks like USGS, Natl Geographic, and Rand McNally all do it south to
north, so I guess that determines a standard, at least for the US.  So do
Michelin, ACSC, CSAA, National AAA, and so did Gousha.  Hallwag seems to
follow suit, but I can't find anything perfectly vertical on the Ordnance
Survey sheets at hand to determine what rule it follows.
 
It's frustrating that such a basic question is nowhere discussed in
Robinson's _The Look of Maps_ or _Elements of Cartography_.  The latter
does give a reference I don't have available:
        --Imhof, Eduard.  "Positioning Names on Maps," The American
Cartographer 2, no 2 (1975): 128.
 
In a larger sense, I continue to be frustrated by the lack of attention
given practical cartographic design issues--and street maps seem to be the
least discussed of all.  Alex Tait and I are both giving little talks on
street maps at the upcoming NACIS conference, but why are the 90 percent of
maps that the general public uses so overlooked while yet another study
examines eye-movement in  choropleth maps or yet another review of the
literature on automated generalization in GIS?
 
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Dennis McClendon, Chicago CartoGraphics      [log in to unmask]