CONVENTIONS

Typography
 Typography is the art of Name Placement in Map.
 When names are put on the map, they become an important
component of the visual display.
 They catch our attention, and obscure (dominate over) other
symbols.
 As a matter of fact, the graphic quality of the map depends
heavily on the design and placement of the names.
Lettering the Map
 The phrase “Lettering the map” means deciding where type should
go and placing it on the map sheet.
 The process of selecting a type face design, preparing the names,
and placing them in position is collectively called “Lettering the
Map”
 When there are considerable number or variety of names, it is
among the more complex and time-consuming parts of the
cartographic process.
 Computers have brought new efficiency to preparing and placing
type. But these computer methods still require some intervention
by the map maker.
 Map lettering evolved from Freehand Lettering to Stick-up or
Press-on type to mechanical lettering.
Map symbols
 Features of symbols
 •Symbols must be simple, clear and as small as possible
 •Symbols must be self explanatory so that it is necessary to
look onto the legend
 •Symbols must be related to real features
 •Symbols must be such that it should be easy to draw and
scribe
Map symbols
On the basis of dimensional characteristics

 Point
 Line
 Area
 Points
 •To display the location, identity or characteristic of small area or detail
point symbol is used
 •Extent of point symbol to be displayed depend on the scale. For
example: in a small scale map say 1:10,00,000 a city have to be shown as
a point but in a large scale map of 1:1000, same city is shown in a whole
map face.
 •But there are some point symbol which cannot be changed in size and
shape with respect to the scale like bench marks, trig points, taps,
monuments
 Line
 •Line symbol is used to show linear features like roads, rivers,
railway, transmission line and boundaries of aerial features like
boundaries of political division, sea coast, lines.
 •It is dependent on scale of map that in a small scale map say
topographical map road of some extent is shown as a line whereas
in small scale map say cadastral map it is shown as area.

 Area
 •Feature with the considerable extent of area are shown with area
symbol. Shape and size of the aerial symbol depend upon extent of
feature of the map scale and terrain
 •Aerial feature is surrounded by a boundary and filled with certain
colour, texture etc.
 •examples: land units, land use zones, districts, countries etc
 On the basis of shape

 Pictorial or discriptive
Symbol that are self explanatory and need no legend
 Geometric of abstract
Regular geometric shape like circle, triangle, rectangle
 Letter symbols
Use of letter to show detail like H for Hopital, P for post pffice
 Functions of Lettering
 Recognizing the feature to which a name applies, finding the
name, and reading it are all important to the functionality of
a general reference map.
 Functions:
 Literal Symbol
 Locative Symbol
 Nominal Symbol
 Ordinal Symbol
Functions of Lettering…
 Literal Symbol
 The individual letters of the alphabet, when arrayed, encode
sounds that are the names of the features shown on the map.
 This is the most important role of the lettering in the
communication system that is the map.
 Locative Symbol
 It helps to indicate the location of points, such as cities, villages.
 Its spacing may show linear or areal extent, as of mountains and
national parks.
 By its arrangement with respect to the graticule, it can clearly
indicate orientation.
Functions of Lettering….
 Nominal Symbol
 By systematically using design attributes such as upright/slant,
standard/italic, serif/sans serif, and color(hue), cartographers
can arrange type to show nominal classes to which the features
belong.
 For example, all the hydrographic features are shown in blue,
forest in green, cultivable land in yellow, and so on.
 Ordinal Symbol
 By variations of size, upper/lower, tone, and boldness, showing
hierarchy among the geographical phenomena
 Such as; KATHMANDU is bigger in size and extended to a
greater extent in map than New Baneshwor.
Positioning Guidelines
 Map reading is greatly affected by the positioning of names.
When properly placed, the lettering clearly identifies the
phenomenon to which it refers, without ambiguity.
 The positioning of type has as much effect on a map’s graphic
quality as does the selection of type styles, forms and sizes.
 Lettering can be done in three ways:
 By referring to point locations; such as cities
 By indicating orientation and length of the linear features such
as mountain ranges.
 By designating the form and extent of areas, such as regions, or
cities, national parks.
Positioning Guidelines….
 Positioning Guidelines can be pin-pointed as follows:
1) Names should be either entirely on the land or on water.
2) Lettering should be oriented to match the orientation
structure of the map. Names are parallel to the upper and
lower edges of the map in large scale mapping whereas
they are parallel to the parallels(lines of equal latitude) in
small scale maps.
3) Type should not be curved unless it is necessary to do so.
4) Disoriented lettering should never be set in a straight line
but should always have a slight curve.
Positioning Guidelines..
5) Names should be letter-spaced as little as possible.
6) Where the continuity of names and other map data, such as
lines and tones, conflicts with the lettering, the data, not the
names, should be interrupted.
7) Lettering should never be upside down.

Note: Conflicts among these guidelines frequently occur

because of opposing requirements. There are no hard-and-
fast- rules. Cartographers make a decision in light of all
special factors.
Place Features
 Naming convention for place features

5 1
2

4 3
6

7 9

8 10
Linear Features
 Letters should always be placed alongside and parallel to the
river, boundary, road, or other linear features to which it
refers.
 Names are better placed above, not below, the linear features
because there are fewer descenders than ascenders in
lowercase lettering.
 The lettering should never be separated from the linear
features by another symbol.
 Names along the rivers should be repeated occasionally.
 If linear features are curved, the lettering should correspond.
Area Features
 Letterings should be limited to the extent of area features.
 The names should be letter-spaced to extend across the area,
but the letters should not be so far that they do not look like
the part of the name.
 Letters should not crowd against boundaries.
 If tilting is necessary, use clearly noticable curvatures so that
the name will not look like a printed label simply cut out and
pasted on the map. Curvatures should be simple and
constant.
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