quote:Originally posted by Bob Thurston:
I totally missed this exchange when it was going on. Just confused by the link in Lyman's last post, I can't find a Thurston map on there (what am I missing?).
My late 2 cents: I agree with David, these are meant to be working documents. Neither electronic or hand-drawn maps offer any guarantee that critical info will be on there, it depends on the map itself.
One thing about hand-drawn that is often overlooked is how easy it is to intentionally distort the scale to make sure we show critical details where needed. I reckon it can be done electronically too but I'm not sure how much that happens, except for things like road width and elevation profiles. (?)
Sorry, Bob. Google changed Picasa for the Web and I did not keep up with the new way to link. I re-posted your map and updated the URL above. This is it: Marathon map by Bob Thurston . You are right about scale distortion. Some of your maps are very clever at condensing the area so that the map fits and is readable. Electronically, I tend to use a to-scale tracing of an on line map and then just widen the roads. This can map for a larger than necessary map that must be reduced in size to an unreadable version. Color helps, but it is only one tool.
I guess my newest challenge to master in my electronic map creation will be to mimic your super not-to-scale hand-drawn maps.