Create print and publication worthy GIS maps

Map making is an art, this is evident from how many of us have grown to see maps hung on walls in our homes. Or from the impression that maps have on our imagination. However, with the advent of GIS, cartography has become a part of almost every aspect of sciences and art. The traditional tools and cartographers are no more as commonly making maps for people, but people now make their own maps. But since it has grown, the makers of maps have brought in interesting dimensions to map making.

According to Edson, 1979

Cartography is the totality of scientific/technical and artistic activities aiming at the production of maps and related presentations on the basis of data (field measurements, aerial photographs, satellite imagery, statistical material, etc.) collected by other disciplines. Furthermore, cartography includes the study of maps as scientific documents as well as their use. In this sense, cartography is limited to ‘Cartography proper’, i.e., to data presentation up to the reproduction and printing of maps and charts: it will be understood that in the practical application of this definition, the gathering of primary data, field surveying and photogrammetry are excluded as are surveys carried out by other disciplines such as geology, statistics, demography, etc. (Edson, 1979: 165).

Our today's exercise is in part an illustration of the above. We do not create any data as such but are making maps, from data acquired online. The data that we use is hosted at this #Google Drive link.

The data contains GIS files for

1. Rivers/streams of Northern Pakistan
2. Provincial boundaries of Pakistan
3. South East Asian NSIDC dataset
4. Glaciers of northern Pakistan
5. District boundary of the country

You can use QGIS to open these files and explore each dataset.

To prepare your map you will be needing the following software.

1. Quantum GIS - For GIS related task
2. Inkscape - for vector graphics
3. GIMP for cropping images if required or basic editing

And you can then follow along the following video tutorial for the steps you need to take to make your map. You do not need to follow this exactly. You can additionally use, #colorbrewer2 for good colour combinations and choices.

Happy mapping!

References:

Edson, D. (1979) The International Cartographic Association – An overview. In Proceedings of the International Symposium on Cartography and Computing: Applications in Health and Environment, Reston, Virginia, pp. 164–167.