Smart Cartographic Background Symbolization for Map Mashups in Geoportals: A Proof of Concept by Example of Landuse Representation

ABSTRACT

Geospatial data are now widely available to the general public thanks to geoportals and online mapping platforms. However, creating a map involves more than just combining data layers. Thus we develop cartographic functions for geoportals to support better visual hierarchy in user map mashups. This includes a couple of preparatory steps followed by a smart cartographic background symbolization derived from the original layer style. We evaluate different approaches to background symbolization: greyscale, desaturation, and smart background. The different background symbolization methods are analysed with two concrete map examples and evaluated with a survey. The smart background symbolization developed in this work improves the visual hierarchy of the map mashup by reducing the visual importance of the background layers.

KEYWORDS:

• geoportal
• web cartography
• smart symbolization
• user map
• map mashup
• map design

Notes on Contributor

Nadia H. Panchaud holds an MSc in Geomatics and Planning. She is a doctoral student at the Institute of Cartography and Geoinformation (IKG) at the ETH Zurich, Switzerland. Her current research interests cover web cartography, smart symbology, geoportal technologies, and open data.

ORCID

Nadia H. Panchaud http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5690-6827

Lorenz Hurni http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0453-8743

Notes

1 The Géoportail France from IGN (http://www.geoportail.gouv.fr, accessed on 28 July 2016) and the Map GeoAdmin from swisstopo (https://map.geo.admin.ch, accessed on 28 July 2016).

2 Such as MapBox and its Mapbox Light style (https://www.mapbox.com/maps/light-dark/, accessed on 28 July 2016) and the Google Map style from Snazzy Maps (https://snazzymaps.com/style/15/subtle-greyscale, accessed on 28 July 2016).