Wish I still had my class notes...

January 26, 2009 4:01 PM

Looking for a specific article on text placement on a map.

I am trying to find a specific article (it may have been a book chapter) about text placement on maps. It was required reading in a cartography class c. 2004-2005, but referred to as THE authority on the subject. It could easily have been fifty years old. It had helpful little illustrations.

Any ideas?

posted by bellbellbell to media & arts (7 comments total)

If it's canonical, maybe it's referenced in other articles? eg?
posted by carsonb at 4:31 PM on January 26

I seem to recall something about that in one of Edward Tufte's books; if I'm correct on that point, it was most likely Envisioning Information.
posted by Commander Rachek at 4:37 PM on January 26

There are a few pages on this in Envisioning Information. But it's certainly not canonical -- Tufte is a statistician and (graphic) design professor, not a cartographer by any stretch of the imagination.
posted by zpousman at 6:04 PM on January 26

Looking back at what I used in my intro classes, could it have been from Thematic Cartography and Geovisualization? Lots of helpful little illustrations!
posted by avocet at 6:09 PM on January 26

You're right carsonb, it was referenced in that article: it was Imhof, E. Positioning names on maps. The American Cartographer 2, 2 (Oct. 1975), 128-144.

avocet, I wish I could find Thematic Cartography and Geoviz in a library close to me... is it worth the $100CDN?

Thanks for your suggestions all!
posted by bellbellbell at 11:48 AM on January 27

I don't know where you're at, but there's a fairly decent spread of copies of this - just put in your zip code to find the nearest copy.
posted by cashman at 2:00 PM on January 27

Hooray! Glad you found it. Don't forget your 'resolved' tag.
posted by carsonb at 7:31 PM on January 27