Custom
Cartography Update—New Maps and Awards
July 9, 2008
Custom cartography
is one of the most visible
services provided by the King County GIS
Center because the resulting map products
are often published and distributed in large
quantities to a broad and diverse audience.
Here is a review of noteworthy custom map
projects that KCGIS Center Client Services
has completed or received awards for during
the first half of 2008.
Burien-SeaTac-Tukwila-Renton
Parks & Trails: Award
for Excellence
 In
April the Washington Recreation and Park
Association awarded this map guide its annual
Spotlight Media Award of Excellence for Best
Park/Trail Printed Map. The guide, which
was published in August of 2007, is the result
of a collaborative effort between the four
cities named in the title and King County
Parks & Recreation,
with support from Public Health Seattle & King
County. KCGIS Center Client Services supplied
project coordination, design, and cartography.
The map guide was
conceived as a convenient, attractive, and
useful product that would profile and promote
numerous opportunities for physical activity,
and encourage participation in parks and
recreation programs, all in a unified manner
for the neighboring jurisdictions represented
in the guide. The four cities and King County
Parks & Recreation provided
information regarding their key trails,
parks, and recreational facilities
for inclusion on the map. The cities also
supplied narrative content that describes
the many special cultural qualities and recreational
assets that are waiting to be discovered
and enjoyed in each city by residents and
visitors alike. The end product is an excellent
example of what can be accomplished through
collaboration between several jurisdictions
with the assistance of specialized support
from King County.
(See
"Burien-SeaTac-Tukwila-Renton Parks & Trails"
in the Virtual Map Counter)
Community
Transit Bus Route Maps: New Product
 In February of
this year, Community Transit of Snohomish
County unveiled a completely new set of
individual maps for all of the routes in
its system. The maps, which are integrated
with Community Transit's online route schedules,
as well as being available in print in their
"Bus Plus" rider guides, were designed and
created by KCGIS Center Client Services in
consultation with Community Transit staff.
The creation of
more than 60 brand new maps presented numerous
design and production challenges, especially
since Community Transit envisioned a level
of detail and geographic accuracy that
is not always present in bus route maps,
but which has proven to be of great value
to riders. System users can now plan trips
on individual route maps that show timepoints,
transit and parking facilities, and connecting
routes, all against an accurately scaled
basemap that includes major streets and landmarks
for orientation and destination-finding.
(See
Community Transit bus route maps online—external
link)
Regional
Transit Map Book: New Edition and
Awards
 The "Regional
Transit Map Book," which
was first published in June of 2006, is
now in its second edition, published in
February of this year with extensively updated
transit route and facility information. This
28-page booklet was conceived and developed
by Sound Transit with cartographic and booklet
design, layout, and production contracted
to the King County GIS Center and executed
by KCGIS Center Client Services. The KCGIS
Center also performed the 2008 revisions,
in consultation with Sound Transit, using
information shared by the major regional
transit agencies.
The original and
revised editions of the map book have received
three awards in the last year. In August
of 2007, Avenza Systems, Inc., bestowed a
Notable Entry award in the Transportation
category of its annual Map Awards competition.
In October of 2007, the booklet won a group
award, First Place: Map, in the American
Public Transportation Association's AdWheel
marketing and communications awards program.
And a large regional map mosaic from the
2008 edition of the booklet was on display
in May in the annual Washington GIS Conference's
map and poster competition, where it was
selected Best Professional Map.
(See
the "Regional Transit Map Book" in the Virtual
Map Counter)
Regional
Trails in King County: New Edition
 King
County Parks and Recreation published the
2008 edition of this popular map guide at
the end of June. It displays
the routes of regionally significant off-road,
multi-purpose trails within King County,
and a generous amount of related information
of value to trail users. New with the 2008
edition of the map, the reverse side of the
sheet includes a colorful description in
text and photographs of the special characteristics
of each of the primary regional trails. Additional
text about trail system use, plus sources
for more information, are provided to enhance
users' access to and enjoyment of the wealth
of recreational opportunities provided by
King County's Regional Trails System.
The map was developed,
produced, and published by the King County
Parks and Recreation Division with cartography
by Parks & Recreation Division
GIS and cartography, design, and production
by King County GIS Center Client Services.
(See
"Regional Trails in King County" in the
Virtual Map Counter)
Custom
Cartography for You
As diverse as these
four projects are, they represent just
a small sample of range of map products and
custom cartographic techniques that KCGIS
Center Client Services can bring to your
project. By combining full-featured
GIS and graphic arts tools with decades
of experience designing and creating map
products of all kinds, and with the support
of King County's enterprise GIS, the King
County GIS Center can tackle any custom mapping
project, from simple locator maps, to richly-designed
topographic maps, to complex map books. For
more information, or to arrange for King
County GIS Center participation in your mapping
project, contact Client Services Manager
Dennis Higgins by phone: 206-263-4523, or
e-mail:  . |
The King County GIS Center and the Department of Transportation - Roads Services are pleased to announce the addition of 1936 aerial photos to iMAP. These black and white aerial photos cover almost all of western King County within the Urban Growth Boundary, including Mercer Island and Vashon Island.