ESRI’s products are primarily known as GIS tools and for cartographers it has, at times throughout its development, required some real effort to produce high quality cartographic products similar to what was produced before the advent of GIS. ESRI and other software vendors of GIS have made it relatively easy for anyone to produce maps. Even trained cartographers have the choice of producing an adequate map in GIS or spending much more effort on it to produce something of high quality. When faced with tight timelines and budgets, the latter often falls by the wayside.

This is not to say that to produce an artistic or high quality map product is impossible in ESRI’s software (or in any other GIS for that matter). It only takes a little more time and a little knowledge. SecretPlans.org, a relatively new blog that mixes some personal items (puppies, children) with professional map making issues, has posted 3 ArcGIS tips for getting a map to look like an older, early 20th century product. The ideas are relatively simple and worth keeping in mind (but would still need a little playing around with to be truly effective).

By way of cartotalk