I would guess I am probably the only Corel Draw user out here. Corel gives you the option of saving to PDF in several file sizes. All of these options create a map that looks good on screen and that prints clearly.
Corel also gives you the option of exporting your map to a PNG file at 300 dpi, 2550 x 3300 pixels, 8 1/2" x 11", at less than 500Kb - in color. To my amazement, a color map so created prints almost as well as a large PDF of the same map.
Knowing that Illustrator and Corel Draw are comparable programs, I am wondering how the latest version of Illustrator does not have a similar capacity.
I have now submitted 3 color course maps in PNG and I believe they have been accepted as is for posting. I just submitted another one yesterday.
Open Office Draw PNGs are too large, but they can be reduced to less than 500KB by adjusting the compression. However, O.O. Draw does this by reducing the pixels too much. As far as I can tell, there is no way around this in the current version of Open Office.