Comments on: Custom maps for reports

Question: Custom maps for reports

TrashyRambo — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 14:19:25 -0800

What's the best way to make maps like this and this for use in a report. The images generated by Google, etc are all a bit rubbish looking. Bonus points for free/cheapware or webapps.

By: b1tr0t

b1tr0t — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 14:37:37 -0800

The PDF maps in the CIA World Factbook have all the elements grouped into layers. I edit them with Adobe Illustrator, but there must be a GNU app for editing PDFs.

By: one_bean

one_bean — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 18:07:48 -0800

Freegis.org. Google etc. are all basic Geographic Information Systems. The professional tools cost upwards of $10,000. I don't know much about the free ones, but GIS is how professionals make maps. Shapefiles of countries and whatnot are generally publicly available. You can also buy an extension for Illustrator that allows you to import GIS shapefiles.

There's also a lot of on-line apps that have GIS software as their back-end. The Geospatial One Stop would be one place to start. It really depends what kind of map you're wanting to make... some things (conservation) lend themselves to being publicly available than others (oil companies' geology studies...sorry, no link).

By: one_bean

one_bean — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 18:09:29 -0800

Sorry, that should've been extension for Illustrator.

By: Operation Afterglow

Operation Afterglow — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 20:19:53 -0800

If you don't mind getting your hands dirty:

Use Google Earth, take a screenshot, and add the markers yourself in Photoshop.

I just verified that GE doesn't disable screenshots... use the print screen key to copy what's on your monitor to the clipboard, then paste that into Photoshop.

By: Rhomboid

Rhomboid — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 03:50:55 -0800

I suspect that the pros use something like this which costs about $7,500 but there might be a trial version available (haven't looked.) Or you could *cough* acquire a copy in less than legal ways, but that would not be ethical.