CARTOGRAPHYA tale of green and grey

• MasterMap• Greyscale Background Mapping• MasterMap (schema 9)

It’s a bit GARISH!

MasterMap

• Original Ordnance Survey published MasterMap style• Only change was to building text colour (red instead of

black)• It’s been in Digimap for 10 years (drawn by three different

GIS systems)

Design Brief

• Can you make it more consistent and a ‘better’ map?

• Has to make annotations stand out more and not contrast as much.

• Would like some synergy with OS VML Raster.

What were the problems with the style/implementation?

• Colour consistency/choice– Clashing colours– Non-consistent colours

• Symbolisation issues– Vegetation symbols/size

• Not exposing the richness of the data– Several features grouped together

• Text– Limited styling differentiation and size

Yellow and blank space (white)

The greys

Too much grey?

Improved text clarity and size consistency

Vegetation – Background colour & text size

Symbol spacing and background colours

Vegetation background (cont) and road/track differentiation

Vegetation without symbols and foreshore

Vegetation – not so apparent regular pattern and ‘rocky’ backdrop

Greyscale Backdrop

• Style had to work across a large scale range• Had to use only OS Open products

– Open Map Local, Vector Map District and Strategi• Had to have consistent style across products• Wanted it to provide a ‘backdrop context’ rather than full on

mapping• Look nice

Map vs Backdrop

The 3 OS Open Products: Strategi, VMD and OML

Consistent Styling

MasterMap Schema 9 Areas

• Agricultural Land• Structures:

– Aqueducts, Bridges, Chimneys, Cranes, Cross, Electricity Sub Stations, Fords, Gas Governor, Locks (and gates), Masts, Reservoirs, Sloping Masonry, Tanks, Wells

• Natural features:– Static Water, Waterfalls, Marsh, Reeds and Saltmarsh,

Springs

• Surfaces:– Mud, Shingle, Sand– Landfill, Mineral Workings, Slag and Spoil Heaps

Mastermap Schema 9 Lines

• General features– Cattle Grid, Conveyor, Cranes, Line of Posts, Lock Gates,

Slipways, Sloping Masonry

• Water features– Drains, Collects, Conduits, Fords, Leats, Weirs

MasterMap Schema 9 Points

• Structures– Capstans, Chimneys, Cranes, Crosses, Flagstaffs, Fords,

Fountains, Gas Governors, Letter Box, Masts, Mooring Posts, Poles, Posts, Public Conveniences, Public Telephones, Signals (Rail), Tanks, Weirs, Wells, Wind Turbines

• Landforms/Natural– Caves, Collects, Fords, Issues, Sinks, Springs, Static Water,

Waterfalls (vertical)

Why is schema important for cartographic representation

• Differentiate between agricultural and natural land.

• Some of the intelligence in the data is migrating from text features to attribution (e.g. sand).

• Fewer black lines.• Fewer generic black dots.