Gretchen Peterson

Cartography

• Akerman, J.R., Karrow, R.W., McCarter, J. Maps: Finding Our Place in the World. University of Chicago Press, 2007
• Brewer, Cynthia. Designed Maps: A Sourcebook for GIS Users. ESRI Press, 2008
• Gordon, Avery, et al. An Atlas of Radical Cartography. Journal of Aesthetics and Protest Press, 2008
• Imhof, Eduard. Cartographic Relief Presentation. ESRI Press, 2007
• Monmonier, Mark. How to Lie with Maps (2nd Edition). University of Chicago Press, 1996
• Peterson, Gretchen N. Cartographer's Toolkit: Colors, Typography, Patterns. PetersonGIS Press, 2012
• Peterson, Gretchen N. GIS Cartography: A Guide to Effective Map Design. CRC Press, 2009
• Zineddin, Z., P. M. Garvey, R. A. Carlson, and M. T. Pietrucha. "Effects of Practice on Font Legibility," Perception and Performance 4, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting Proceedings (2007): 1717–1720.
• 3Cs: counter-cartographies collective is a neo-cartography group that has posted many of its projects and articles online.
• Cartotalk, a public forum for cartography and design, is a great resource.
• Hand Drawn Map Association, an ongoing archive of user submitted maps.
• The Guide To Maps And Mapping is a site that contains many links to map collections and cartography resources.
• The Map Room is a blog about maps, mapping, and technology by Jonathan Crowe.
• The National Geologic Map Database is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey and contains information on mapping techniques and guidelines.
• Professional Geographer is a blog highlighting interesting, colorful, and creative maps that may be helpful in choosing a map layout and design.
• The Soil Geographic Data Standard, developed by the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC), describes the standards for mapping soils in the United States with specific regard to the soil data created by the National Cooperative Soil Survey.
• The Utilities Data Content Standard, created by the Federal Geographic Data Committee, is a good resource for looking up the standard attributes of many utility features.

Fonts

• Freeman, H. "Automated Cartographic Text Placement," Pattern Recognition Letters 26, no. 3 (2005): 287–297. Automated Label Placement with GIS. Article available for purchase.
• dafont.com is user community site that allows free downloads of unique fonts.
• Font List allows you to see font samples from a clickable list of fonts.
• Fonts in Cyberspace is an international font look-up site.
• FontStruct is a user community site that allows you to build your own font and download other user's fonts.
• Linotype is a site that contains original, proprietary fonts for purchase.
• TypeBrewer is a free map design tool for selecting typography.
• WhatTheFont identifies a font from a user-uploaded screenshot of the desired font.

Colors

• Anderson, J. R., Hardy, E. E., Roach, J. T. and Witmer, R. E. "Land Use and Land Cover Classification System for Use with Remote Sensor Data" (114 KB PDF). Geological Survey Professional Paper 964 (1976). A revision of the land use classification system as presented in U.S. Geological Survey Circular 671.
• Comber A., Fisher, P. and Wadsworth, R. "What Is Land Cover?" Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 32, 2005: 199–209. Article available for purchase.
• Few, Stephen. "Practical Rules for Using Color in Charts" (460 KB PDF). Perceptual Edge Visual Business Intelligence Newsletter, 2008.
• Kennelly, P. J. "NOT Mapping Our World." ArcUser, July–September 2007.
• Lindsay, Janice. All About Colour. McClelland & Stewart, 2008.
• Meihoefer, H. "The Utility of the Circle as an Effective Cartographic Symbol." Cartographica: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization 6, no. 2 (1969): 105–117. Article available for purchase.
• Mossman, J. "More Techniques for Effective Mapping." ArcUser, July–September, 2001.
• Nighbert, Jeffery S., Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. "Characterizing Landscape for Visualization Through 'Bump Mapping' and Spatial Analysis" (2 MB PDF) is a good run-down of the technique "bump mapping," using the example of shaded relief for particular modeled forest stands. Bump mapping is an advanced visualization technique related to hillshading, borrowed from the broader world of computer graphics. Essentially it is a way of providing additional realism by shading individual pixels or groups of pixels to represent the elevation of a part of an object or whole objects instead of the typical GIS map bare-ground elevation.
• Ovenden, Mike and Ashworth, Mike. Transit Maps of the World. Penguin, 2007. Transit Maps of the World is a comprehensive collection of transit maps that is a great resource for color, especially if your map is as complex as some of the ones shown in the book. The book also sports good design in its own right and can thus give you ideas for how to incorporate your maps into a layout, report, or book.
• Patterson, T. and Kelso, N. V. "Hal Shelton Revisited: Designing and Producing Natural-Color Maps with Satellite Land Cover Data." Cartographic Perspectives, Journal of the North American Cartographic Information Society 47, Winter 2004.
• Street, Rita, and Street, Robert. Creative Newsletters and Annual Reports: Designing Information. Rockport Publishers, 2001. This is a good book to just flip through and maybe get an idea or two to spruce up your next report design.
• Tufte, Edward. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd edition. Graphics Press, 1992. This classic book on how to display data graphics with examples from scientific studies and cartography shows how things ought not to be done as well as presents ways to design correctly. The Web site is a source of information for more specific questions and in-depth topics.
• Uren R. F. and Coates, A. "Mapping the Human Body." Government Technology, 1997.
• The American Standard Geologic Age Color Scheme (5.2 MB PDF), developed by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Association of American State Geologists, is shown in a reference diagram on this site.
• A Tapestry of Time and Terrain shows the American Standard geologic rock age color scheme with hillshading underneath.
• Color Brewer developed by Cynthia Brewer, professor and associate head of the Department of Geography, Pennsylvania University is a web tool used for selecting map color schemes.
• Color Oracle is a colorblindness simulator that applies a full screen color filter to what you are designing – independently of the software in use.
• Color Scheme Designer is an online tool that allows you to interactively choose a color palette using a clickable color wheel. Analagous, complementary, and polychrome palettes are created based on a single color choice by the user.
• Color Wheel Pro is a software package that helps you create color schemes and then allows you to visualize them on sample websites, logos and product packages before downloading.
• COLOURlovers is an online community where members post colors (individual or in palettes) and patterns, paired with a ranking system and critical feedback from other members. Informative articles and trend-spotting features are also on there. This is a great place to look during the stage when you are picking out colors and need specific RGB triplets to go with whatever you find. Also see their article titled "Common Color Names for Easy Reference" found here.
• GenoPal is a software package with some online toolsets that use a technology to create palettes based on how your mind perceives color. They focus on using photographs to inspire and create color palettes.
• Interactive Color Wheel is another online tool for picking colors. It gives you a range of colors on a color wheel to choose from, and once one is chosen you can modify its properties and output an HSB value for the color you create.
• kuler, by Adobe, is another community color site that allows you to browse user's color palettes and view critical feedback.
• MollyMaps are hand-drawn maps for a variety of purposes which offer inspiration on color, design and layout.
• Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection provides many maps that can aid in color-picking and inspiration.
• Strange Maps is a widely read blog with a variety of maps and corresponding critiques. These maps are useful to glean ideas on novel approaches and color schemes.
• TiGERcolor is a software package where the user selects the main color and the color wheel will display a selection of matching colors. You can then adjust the color harmonies, shades and tints.
• Vischeck is a website where you can upload a map and have it transform into a graphic that shows you what your map would look like to a color-deficient person.
• Web Colors Explained presents articles explaining the RGB, CMYK, HSB and hex color models.
• U.S. Geological Survey. Rocks of Ages: An explanation of the legend. A Tapestry of Time and Terrain: The Union of Two Maps — Geology and Topography
• Pattern Chart (5 MB PDF). In FGDC DigitalCartographic Standard for Geologic Map Symbolization Federal Geographic Data Committee Document Number FGDC_STD_013_2006 (Federal Geographic Data Committee, 2006), p. 290.
• Munsell Software Conversion Program (Version 10)

Web Mapping

• Mitchell, Tyler. Web Mapping Illustrated: Using Open Source GIS Toolkits. O'Reilly Media, Inc., 2005. A full color book that delves into the techonolgical aspects of creating Web maps using open source tools.
• Wilson, Chris. "When Did Your County's Jobs Disappear." Slate, Dec. 2009
• Green Map is an initiative that has engaged communities worldwide in mapping green living, nature, and cultural resources since 1995. It is participatory mapping at its best. An example of a Greenmap is here.
• Obesity Explored is an interactive map of potential obesity correlates created by Gretchen N. Peterson for Urban Mapping.
• The Los Angeles Times has created a Web map detailing homicides in LA County.
• The New York Times Web site is continuously creating interesting, well designed interactive Web maps. A few examples are here and here.
• Tracking the Recovery Act is an interactive Web map produced by the State of Oregon for the Governor's Web site. The map, which accounts for each stimulus dollar spent in the state, also allows citizens to see how the Recovery Act is impacting their community and how state agencies are meeting the needs of Oregonians.

Design

• Bertin, Jacques. Semiology of Graphics: Diagrams, Networks, Maps. Redlands: ESRI Press, 2010.
• Brewer, Cynthia A. Designing Better Maps: A Guide for GIS Users. Redlands: ESRI Press, 2005.
• Edwards, Betty. The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: A Course in Enhancing Creativity and Artistic Confidence. Tarcher, 2002 (published first in 1979 as Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain).
• Few, Stephen. "Save the Pies for Dessert" (600 KB PDF). Perceptual Edge Visual Business Intelligence Newsletter, 2007.
• Few, Stephen. Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data. Sebastopol: O'Reilly Media, Inc., 2006.
• Hess, George, Tosney, Kathryn, and Liegel, Leon. Creating Effective Poster Presentations: An Effective Poster is a Web site that includes tips on poster making and a references page. Though the site may be a little outdated it still has many valid recommendations for this genre of printing medium.
• McCandless, David. The Visual Miscellaneum: A Colorful Guide to the World's Most Consequential Trivia, (Collins Design, 2009), is a creative look at modern data using graphs, charts, graphics, and maps.
• Razeghi, Andrew. The Riddle: Where Ideas Come From and How to Have Better Ones. Jossey Bass, 2008.
• Robbins, Naomi. Creating More Effective Graphs. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2005.
• Segaran, Toby. Beautiful Data: The Stories Behind Elegant Data Solutions. O'Reilly Media, 2009.
• Squatriglia, Chuck. "Mapmakers' Sleight of Hand: Cartographers Put 'Bunnies' on the Map, Tricking Copycats, Sometimes Tourists." San Francisco Chronicle, 12 August, 2001.
• Tufte, Edward. Beautiful Evidence. Graphics Press, 2006.
• Tufte, Edward. Envisioning Information. Graphics Press, 1990.
• Tufte, Edward. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd edition. Graphics Press, 2001.
• Turner, Andrew and Brady, Forrest. Beautiful Mapping: Leading Thinkers Demonstrate Geospatial Capabilities. O'Reilly Press, 2010.
• Ware, Colin. Visual Thinking: for Design (Morgan Kaufmann Series in Interactive Technologies). Morgan Kaufmann, 2008. In Visual Thinking for Design, the way we perceive is used to give tips that visual designers can apply.
• Information Is Beautiful investigates how creatively designing ways to communicate data to an audience can be integral to the audience's understanding. Useful blog with many creative images.
• Presentation Zen is a blog about professional presentation design. With PowerPoint how-tos, a wealth of design related commentary, and an active commenting community, this is a good place to check out next time you want to see what's new in presentation design.
• Worldmapper: The world as you've never seen it before.
• The Work of Edward Tufte and Graphics Press: see the link at the top that says ET Notebooks as this is where a lot of design-related discussion happens.

Creativity

• Byttebier, Igor and Ramon Vullings. Creativity Today. BIS Publishers, 2009.
• Dweck, Carol. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Random House, 2006.
• Harmon, Katharine. The Map as Art: Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography.
• Harmon, Katharine. You Are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination.
• Lessig, Lawrence (Professor of Law, Stanford University). Blog and presentations.
• Reynolds, Garr. Creativity, Nature, & Getting Off the Grid.
• Runco, M. A., Nemiro, J. and Walberg, H. "Personal Explicit Theories of Creativity ." Journal of Creative Behavior 31 (1997): 43–59.
• Silberbauer, M. J. "DWAF Presentation Standards for GIS Users Adapted for the Institute for Water Quality Studies." Institute for Water Quality Studies Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, 1996. Based on the document by F. Jonck, W. Wolfer, R. Potgieter.
• David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
• The Getty
• Gibbes Museum
• Louvre
• The Museum of Modern Art
• National Gallery of Art
• Seed Magazine aims to provide readers with the most relevant, insightful, and entertaining original science content on the web."
• Smithsonian American Art Museum
• This American Life: 110 Mapping discusses five ways of mapping the world. One story about people who make maps the traditional way — by drawing things we can see. And other stories about people who map the world using smell, sound, touch, and taste. The world redrawn by the five senses.

Special thanks to for compiling this list.