I’ve converted these selected point features into linear features and retained all of the attributes. Mountain ranges are the obvious example, but other feature types including valleys, canyons, plains, and gulches are included as well.
I’ve downloaded the GNIS point dataset and isolated the feature types that I think would benefit from being represented as a linear feature instead of a point feature.
Mapublisher scale problems license#
It carries an open source license and will be available in the public domain for all to use. Together we can all work on a particular part of the country and then combine our efforts into a single dataset of linear feature labels. This project aims to tap into the skills, time, and expertise of the cartographic community to build a rich, multi-scale dataset of these linear features. SO! What are we as enterprising cartographers to do to resurrect these great labels and use them for our modern cartographic work? Well, that’s what this project is all about. Long mountain ranges rendered on a bézier curve multiple times to accurately depict the feature (left) versus a single point text label to label the whole range (right).
Railroad Canyon label from the original quad map versus US topo on the right. For smaller features this isn’t quite as much of an issue, but for larger features like mountain ranges, a single point label on a particular quad is poor at best and quite misleading in my opinion. I know that there are funding issues, usability issues, etc., but nevertheless, I hate to see this art fade away. One of the things that I love about the original USGS topo 1:24k maps and I lament about the new US Topo products is the lack of feature labels on bézier curves that are now printed as straight block labels instead. All of the features in the GNIS dataset are point features even if they represent features that are distinctly linear.
It is a fantastic dataset and despite the fact that there seems to be no reasonable way to get errors fixed–namely grossly misplaced peaks and elevation values–it has proven to be a valuable resource for cartographers. The GNIS (Geographic Names Information System) is the authoritative* source of information for place names in the United States.
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