Esri ArcMap: Map colors for shape files

[Nathaniel]

@JP: Adding a default symbology to Natural Earth is a popular request. Unfortunately, the industry standard shapefile format the project uses for distribution does not allow styling, only the raw geometry and attributes. There are, however, complementary solutions (like distributing an MXD, Layer file, or Cascadenik CSS) but we don’t offer one at present.

At first blush, adding styling to Natural Earth seems like a simple task. Rivers and lakes should be blue, land creamy brown, and so on. But sometimes rivers shouldn’t be blue, I’ve seen white and purple be just as effective. It’s dependent on the type and complexity of the map one is designing to communicate a specific message. That’s what drives “custom” cartography versus simply overlaying markers on a generic basemap (mashing up over Google, Bing, OSM, MQ, etc).

When Tom and I initiated the project, we envisioned Natural Earth as a source for quality raw map ingredients to facilitate custom (bespoke) cartography; a gourmet restaurant supply wholesaler, if you will. The thumbnails you see with each Natural Earth theme are akin to the tempting photos that glossy cookbooks run along side their recipes. But like at any good restaurant, sated mappers what to know the secret of a good recipe so they can try it at home and share them with friends (or customers). High quality ingredients alone aren’t always enough.

I’d like to include a few, kitchen-tested recipes recommendations with Natural Earth. If you’d like to help beta test one, please let me know. I hear the kitchen timer buzzing now

_Nathaniel

[hoangvietanh]

+1. A default symbology set in the form of mxd will add a lot of value for the casual mappers. There are many people who are fairly advanced GIS users but working more on the analytical side would benefit from the default styling. I would say for an average “analytical GIS” user, styling such a large dataset as Natural Earth is a big hurdle.

[Author]

Posts