Lines

Cartographic design is all about drawing. Before I begin something new, I always start by reflecting on the essentials. I like to dissect and think about the most basic elements. What’s in my toolbox? What are my ingredients? Let’s think about lines. What can lines describe?

 

 

A line can describe a route - from point A to point B

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A line can describe a shape or a form, such as a coastline

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open the map, and take a look at the code that makes it work

 

 

A line can describe a ground feature such as these airport runways at SFO

In this case it’s a drawing but, now also a symbol, like a signature or calligraphic writing. Fascinating!

map | code

 

 

With contour lines we can give forms dimension

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image from Thematic Mapping - link

 

 

Here’s a drawing technique I learned at NACIS, called Illuminated or Shadowed Contours, or otherwise called “Tanaka Contours”

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James Eynard gave a detailed talk about this drawing technique in Minneapolis at NACIS this year, Evaluating the Effectiveness of Illuminated and Shadowed Contour Lines - link. This technique was developed by Tanaka Kitiro in 1950 - link.

 

 

Here are a variety of railroad lines by cartographer Erwin Raisz

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Lines can also describe a structure such as a grid

Check out these grids!

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Lines can form into polygons such as these building footprints

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Forbidden City, Beijing

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Apply a grid to a building facade and it becomes a surface

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Columbus Circle, Manhattan

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Repetition! The tool I love most! Repeat a line and we have stripes!

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Brasília

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Change the rhythm and we have a gradient

Lower Manhattan

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Stripes can become texture when applied to lines, such as these diagonal stripes on a coastline

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Stockholm Coastline Area

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Or apply these repeated wave lines to an area and you can create a water texture

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Southeast Asia

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I use some of these drawing techniques in one of our featured styles called Refill. Refill is a continuation of the Toner style I started at Stamen. Think of Refill as a more detailed Toner, an elaboration with the GL capabilities of Tangram. With Tangram I’m able to explore more detailed line work, patterns and building extrusions. Below are some highlights of line-work from the Refill Style along with some isolated examples of drawing techniques I talked about above.

San Francisco in Refill

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YYJ Victoria, British Columbia

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HND Tokyo in Refill

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Airport Runways Looking Like Symbols around London

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Shinjuku West

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Stockholm Coastline Views in Refill

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Rome in Stripes!

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Building extrusions in Singapore

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I’ll conclude this with some gorgeous examples of beautiful line-work for your inspiration.

 

Jorinde Voigt screen-reader accessible "alternate text" for image

 

Massimo Vignelli screen-reader accessible "alternate text" for image

 

Daniel Libeskind screen-reader accessible "alternate text" for image

 

Julie Mehretu screen-reader accessible "alternate text" for image

Go and explore what you can do with lines!

Read the Tangram Documentation for more details. Let us know if you have any questions!