Vectors for Custom Map(s) of Portland (Maine)

The other day I started working on a cartography project that I have been thinking about for some time: A Personalized Map of Portland, Maine. I've only spent a couple hours digitizing off of aerial imagery from MEGIS. Originally, I wanted to use 3-inch resolution imagery, but it just was too much data, so I reduced the 3-in mosaic to a 12-in resolution mosaic. The 12-in image was better, but the image dimensions exceeded Illustrator's size limits on placed images, so I proportionally reduced it in Photoshop, so it's now about 14-in resolution imagery. In any case, I started digitizing I have two draft results:


Next I wanted to experiment with some more detail, so I started working on a map of the University of Southern Maine's Portland Campus, I have roughed out green spaces and buildings in about two hours. The draft results look a little too cartoonish, which might work in the school paper for orientation week, but is just not the look I was going for, so I need to spend some more time tidying up and generalizing; — it also needs labels.

Physical Color Space

While working on the GIS project I described in this post, I had a presentation conundrum: how do I communicate my mapping of RGB (Red, Green, Blue (additive)) color space to ideology symbology to an audience that may or may not have only a passing acquaintance with the physics of color and how it relates to our current computer technology. To solve this issue, I decided I could physically model RGB space as a cube.

The cube allows one to examine the outer surface of the RGB space; as well as illustrating the relationship between additive and subtractive spaces. In terms of my ideological representation issue, I was able to communicate that the 3-axes used to represent Red, Green, and Blue values could be relabeled to represent the percent of the vote supporting Conservative, Alternative, and Liberal ideologies.

Now I’m sharing, so you can make your own. You’ll need:

• a color printer or access to one.
• some poster board or other heavy (but flexible) art board
• an Xacto knife or other cutting implement.
• a ruler
• a pencil
• glue-stick, or other paper adhesive.

After printing, cut out and trace on to the art board one of the following PDFs (remember to add tabs if using the original PDF):

• Here’s the original PDF; 
• and if you want to hide the edges, here’s one with tabs.

Next, you’ll cut out and fold the art board into a cube being sure to tuck the tabs in, so you have a more-or-less smooth external surface. 

Then you’ll want to do the same with the color print-out, only this time gluing it to the art board cube you’ve assembled. (Again, remember to tuck any tabs underneath.)

Optionally, you may attempt to cover your creation with a protective covering (this usually doesn’t go as well as one would like — I wrapped mine in packing tape, but it got blisters and a tiny patch of color torn, etc.)

Cube size is approx. 2.75"^3
Licensed under Creative Commons: BY-NC-SA