How to illustrate a map

Lord Daz

Lord Daz

New Member
Hi

I have to Illustrate a map of a city in Switzerland. The final print will be 50x70cm (about 19x27in). First of all, I would like to draw a clean map with the streets only. The map should not only be nice to see but also a useful tool for tourists.
How can I illustrate something like this?



If I scan a map and I try to redraw all the streets with Illustrator is a LOT of work. Do you have any suggestion how I can simplify the work?

I'm open for any advice or help!
Thanks a lot!
L.D.
 
Personally I'd be looking at one of the below
  • Trace over a map with pen and paper, then digitise as suggested
  • Find a digital map you can convert and adapt (plenty of 'open source' maps out there such as openstreetmap)
 
Thanks a lot for replying!

Levi said:
Personally I'd be looking at one of the below
  • Trace over a map with pen and paper, then digitise as suggested
  • Find a digital map you can convert and adapt (plenty of 'open source' maps out there such as openstreetmap)
Click to expand...

This is just what I'm doing, but work like this for the all city is just crazy work...

A digital Open Source Map does not allow you to save the whole city but only small parts. That means, that I have first to download/save, convert parts of the city, then do a "collage" in PS or Ai. Print the map and finally trace it with pen. After that, I have to digitalize again the map and trace it with PS or Ai.

It seams there is no other way to do that!

Thanks anyway a lot for the help!
L.D.
 
Have a look at openstreetmap.org. Look at their ts&cs. From what I remember you just need to credit them. They are open source and can be exported into an illustrator friendlyish format. Took a fair bit of fiddling, selecting same colours / lines, etc, putting on separate layers to become properly and easily editable, but a lot less time than drawing from scratch. Hope this helps.
 
Lord Daz said:
This is just what I'm doing, but work like this for the all city is just crazy work...
Click to expand...

There's no quick fix for this kind of thing my friend, you can't expect something for nothing. Whether you do it in Ai or do it by hand, you'll need to put in the hours I'm afraid. Been there, done that!
 
Wardy said:
There's no quick fix for this kind of thing my friend, you can't expect something for nothing. Whether you do it in Ai or do it by hand, you'll need to put in the hours I'm afraid. Been there, done that!
Click to expand...

As Wardy says.
I've done quite a few isometric maps/cityscapes and I haven't found a cheat yet although I'd like to hear it if anyone knows one.

Best tip I have is to just keep going and when the voices start, try to ignore them and don't do as they say or it usually leads to trouble. :(


CBRE-City.jpg
 
Scotty, what you did is just great! I cannot imagine how many hours you spent on this project...

I'm starting now a few possibilities to illustrate the city map. I hope, the client will be happy!

Thanks a lot
L.D.
 
As you know the image quailty is low. So you can not trace or draw this map . I will prefer to ask client or take help from google map to draw it accordingly,
 
ilyasgohar said:
As you know the image quailty is low. So you can not trace or draw this map .
Click to expand...
That was just an example. It was certainly good enough to trace.
ilyasgohar said:
...or take help from google map to draw it accordingly,
Click to expand...
Under the Google Maps T&C you can't legally do this:
...you may not (or allow those acting on your behalf to):
  1. redistribute or sell any part of Google Maps/Google Earth or create a new product or service based on Google Maps/Google Earth
Click to expand...
 
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