-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Any map digitization guidelines/spectifications (2)
Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2013 19:06:11 -0800 (GMT-08:00)
From: Jon Jablonski <[log in to unmask]>
To: Air Photo Maps, GIS Forum - Map Librarianship <[log in to unmask]>


What Virginia describes so well is the fact that these pdf maps are
actually vector graphics.  They're born this way--each letter is
described mathematically as part of a font set.

Most of you realize this, but it's always worth a reminder.  No matter
how large a resolution you scan at, you could never get this by scanning
a paper map.  Eventually you would just start seeing the texture of the
paper.

Jon Jablonski
Map & Imagery Laboratory
UC Santa Barbara

----- "Angie Cope, American Geographical Society Library, UW Milwaukee"
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Any map digitization guidelines/spectifications (2)
> Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2013 07:11:25 -0700
> From: Virginia R Hetrick PhD <[log in to unmask]>
> To: Maps, Air Photo, GIS Forum - Map Librarianship
> <[log in to unmask]>
>
>
> Hi, folks -
>
> I'm not a librarian by trade these days; but, as an industrial
> strength map user and sometime cartographer, I'd like to make a
> couple
> of suggestions about scanned cartographic products.  These are NOT
> standards.  But they are things that I've run into using scanned
> materials and I think would be helpful to y'all.
>
> First, please go to the following page which contains a list of US
> National Park System maps at:
>
> http://www.nps.gov/hfc/cfm/carto-detail.cfm?Alpha=nps
>
> and download the first item under National Park System Brochure Map,
> the .pdf file which came out towards the end of last month.  DO NOT
> CLOSE THIS PAGE because I'm going to write about it farther on down
> in
> this email.
>
> Once you have that map downloaded, slide down to the bottom of the
> page and download the .pdf file of the Wall Map and download this
> link
> as well:
>
> http://hfc.nps.gov/carto/PDF/NPSmap1.pdf
>
> After you've downloaded the .pdf files, load map2 into whatever you
> normally use to read .pdf files; it makes no difference whether you
> use Acrobat Reader, Standard, or Professional.
>
> What I really like about the way these folks do things is that
> they've
> worked out how to make their maps so that the text (place names,
> etc.)
> content doesn't become pixelated even though the shaded relief is.
> Just out of curiosity, I've filled in the the pane on Acrobat's Zoom
> toolbar with numbers starting at 35% and finishing at 6400%.
>
> Why anybody'd want to do that in real life, I have some doubts, but
> it's extremely valuable to users who want to look at the detail in a
> state or region to be able to blow things up that have this
> particular
> property.  It is possible to PRINT this particular map on a single
> 8.5x11 page (though the text gets kind of mushed together).  But, by
> using the tiling feature in the Print dialogue available in Acrobat
> Standard or Pro, you can also print it on letter-size sheets that are
> printed so that you can tape them together and I've printed it so
> that
> I have a 2-sheet version in one of my reference notebooks and an
> 8-sheet version (two rows of 4 sheets each) on the wall in my kitchen
> (hey, sooner or later, a map nut runs out of wall-space in the
> "normal" home!).
>
> Looking at the other  products available for this particular map, I
> suspect it has to do with thoughtful planning in creation of the map
> because it's a property of nearly all their maps that have been made
> in the last 8-10 years.
>
> So, I have no clue whether this can be done with documents that are
> scanned.  But, being able to blow things up is HUGELY useful for
> those
> of us who are often trying to match objects and scales.  I'd
> encourage
> anybody scanning maps and other non-text materials to do so at a DPI
> density to allow non-destructive uses that users need.
>
> Thanks for listening.
>
> virginia
> -------------------------------------------------
> Virginia R. Hetrick, here in sunny California
> Email:  [log in to unmask]
> "There is always hope."
> My fave:  http://www.washington.edu/cambots/camera1_l.jpg
> There's no place like:  34N 8' 25.40", 117W 58' 5.36"
> if you can't be at:  48N 7' 4.54" 122W 45' 50.95"
> ------------------------------------------------