One Minute Map Hacks: 16-20

Can it be? 20 one-minute-map-hacks already in the can?? Yes. For posterity, here are the previous hacks, conveniently packaged in 5-hack packs.

Hacks 1-5
Hacks 6-10
Hacks 11-15

And here are hacks 16-20…

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We cartographers sometimes take little note of the edges of our maps. But if we aren’t careful, explorers could just sail right off the abrupt end of them. It’s sometimes best to have a nice little vignette to create a smooth transition from map to not-map at the periphery. And it helps the eye track in towards the visual focus of the layout. Just a pleasant little touch for you to consider in your own cartographic adventures. And it’s mega easy. There are lots of ways to make them; this one uses a thick gradient stroke around a global rectangle layer.

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Shoot, sometimes our data knows nothing but the tabular world of spreadsheets. But it’s a bit of magic, and a thrill, to take a table and breathe geographic life into it. Here is an origin-destination table in a humble little spreadsheet. Check out how easy it is to break down the grid walls and reveal its sweet sweet geographic nature.

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Did someone say Lego? No? Pretty sure I heard someone say Lego. Anyway, here’s how easy it is to make a map in ArcGIS Pro look plausibly Lego-ified. Here’s the Lego (branded “Land” to be cute, and somewhat safe) stud overlay image. Or just download this style for Pro and crank out Lego map after Lego map.

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Here’s a really simple way to burn in a cool area-of-interest dropshadow/glow sort of thing. Low effort, big reward. Just my sort of ratio.

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Ever making a map with an imagery background and darn it, there’s a cloud in the way? Or maybe it just doesn’t look so hot? Well maybe in a previous version of the Wold Imagery basemap it looked better. If you are cool with using imagery that isn’t necessarily new, then you can browse previous versions of the World Imagery Basemap where you might find a dusty old image that looks awesome. Here’s how.

Happy Mapping! John