It’s a matter of style: The choice
     solves mapmaking challenges

Every map is a challenge for the book cartographer. In almost every case, he has to decide which of his bag of tricks he dips into to help communicate the author’s story to the reader.

The style of map he chooses, and the artistic techniques he uses, help him in the challenge to communicate with the reader.

Some mapmakers stick to one style, and it becomes their signature. The “3-D technique” used by Frank Peters in the St. Petersburg Times comes to mind. That decision brought fame to him and his newspaper in the 1960s and ‘70s.

Others – and I am among this group – like to choose from among whichever style they think will best communicate with the reader. That’s not to belittle a signature style.

The maps below illustrate some of the tricks of the trade.

This is important: They are not examples of maps that would suit your book. They are ILLUSTRATIVE of what a map can do: Illustrate the story. Your book will surely require a map showing a different place for a different reason.

THE CHALLENGE: My editor brought me a piece of paper listing 18 steps on the road to the Vietnam War. “Make a graphic out of this,” he said. “Out of thin air?” I asked. So I made a graphic out of thin air, using a very simple map of Vietnam and two smaller illustrations that represented military action. The text? Considering the deadline, I saw no other option than to put it in 18 boxes.

THE CHALLENGE: Provide an overall view of the Arab-Israeli conflict to illustrate a story asking a question. I spiced it up with a few war-like illustrations. And did you notice that I used Peters’ 3-D technique in this map and the one above?

THE CHALLENGE: Show the location of the National Key Deer Refuge, whose land is not contiguous and is spread over several islands. Contrast was the technique I used in this case, choosing stark black for the refuge, white for the land and gray for the water.

THE CHALLENGE: Show the parts of a river added to the Wild and Scenic Rivers System, plus the area around them. To do so, I used a variation of the 3-D technique to highlight not one but all three main elements of the map. To add interest, I dipped into my bag of tricks and came up with a geometric element (a trick I use frequently) to supplement the overall 3-D effect.

THE CHALLENGE: Create an interesting locator map for a fairly mundane subject. Again, the “pop-up” 3-D effect helps me communicate with the reader.

THE CHALLENGE: Show the isolation of Chokoloskee, FL, in the middle of Chokoloskee Bay, in relation to Everglades City. When I looked at the map, I thought to myself: “There’s nothing but water.” And then, “Oh, there’s the land.”

Immediately I knew the challenge was to differentiate between the two. So, again, I used contrast as my tool: Stark black for the water; stark white for the land. No detail was necessary to communicate the main point to the reader.

THE CHALLENGE: To show the various fingers of Lake Talquin, near Tallahassee, FL, to illustrate a story detailing why the lake has been a favorite of fishermen for more than half a century. Again, I used contrast to show the difference between land and water.

THE CHALLENGE: To show how Florida’s longest river meanders through many counties. The river is so long that I found it difficult to show it flowing such a great distance. Given the small scale of the map --  the river wasn’t very wide in most spots --  the reader would have trouble determining its location in any specific area. Once again, I used contrast to communicate to the reader.

THE CHALLENGE: And once more, what better way to show the island cities of Marathon and Islamorada in the Florida Keys? Note that those two cities are in stark black, but land areas outside their city boundaries are white. Use of gray for water would have made this map better – but more costly.

THE CHALLENGE: Similar to that posed by the St. Johns River map, the Indian River Lagoon map challenged me to show the water area that is the lagoon – stretching over five Florida counties. Again, the st stark black and stark white helped me to communicate with the reader. I didn’t use gray for other water areas, such as the ocean, because the story’s layout had type in that area – and gray would have interfered with that type.