15 May 2007

Desktop Cartographer

I loved to draw maps as a kid. I would scrawl out maps of imaginary lands and fantastical cities. As some of you may know, I haven't entirely grown out of the habit.

I've found a romance and excitement in maps, and briefly I entertained the idea of going into cartography. My life took me in other directions, however, although in the last couple years I've been given the opportunity to produce maps using the amazing and powerful ESRI ArcGIS software. Although sitting at a computer hitting commands isn't what I had in mind when I envisioned cartography, I've found the end products to be just as rewarding. I spent the last two days preparing an informational map on West Valley City for our economic development staff. It's a rough draft still, but here it is. Enjoy. I hope all is well with you.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Nice job! I love making maps too, but I'm not as familiar with ArcGIS as I should be. I normally make my maps in Freehand/Illustrator. They're much less dynamic and adaptable than a GIS map, although perfect for one-off purposes. I plan to do some Esri courses over the summer though - should be fun!