NACIS 2017

Getting crafty with vector tiles | Pavés vectoriels - 15 minutes
Jo Hanbyul
I have been making tools for digital fabrications (3d prints, pen plots, laser cuts) with map vector tiles. I want to show what kind of fabrication is possible and the tools that people can use for their own crafts.

Mapshaper Mini-Workshop | Mini-atelier sur Mapshaper - 20 minutes
Matthew Bloch, The New York Times
Since its NACIS debut in 2005, Mapshaper has evolved from an academic research project into a versatile toolkit for editing vector datasets. At the New York Times, Mapshaper has proven to be more useful than GIS software for many cartographic tasks. This session will use practical examples taken from my work at the Times to demonstrate some of Mapshaper's most useful features. There will be an online tutorial for participants who want to work through the examples during or after the presentation.

Back to the Desktop | Le retour à l’ordinateur de bureau - 10 minutes
Nathaniel Vaughn Kelso, Mapzen
Vector maps have enabled a new generation of map rendering and dynamic styling for the web and mobile applications. But how can you get at those vectors and use them in desktop map projects? I'll demonstrate a direct to Illustrator workflow and another using QGIS and Mapzen's vector tile data.

The Journey from Raster to Vector Basemaps with ArcGIS | Le chemin des fonds de carte matriciels aux fonds de carte vectoriels avec ArcGIS - 20 minutes
Kate Leroux, City of Seattle
Esri customers are watching companies like Mapbox dazzle the cartographic world with vector tile mapping and wondering when the benefits of vector tiles will be within reach. Now they are! In late 2016, Esri removed the "beta" label from their vector tiles, and vector tiles can now be authored by anyone with ArcGIS Pro and published to ArcGIS Online. Vector tiles offer enormous promise: high-resolution graphics, client-side rendering, significantly smaller storage and bandwidth needs, and the ability to apply multiple styles to a single tileset. With all these benefits, what do you need to know before taking steps to leave your raster basemaps behind? I recently developed a vector tile basemap for the City of Seattle, and I'll share what I learned, good and bad. Topics include: paradigm shifts in basemap organization; technical details; best practices; workflow; advice on working efficiently; and lots of tips, tricks, bugs, and stumbling blocks.

Thematic Cartography with Carto-Builder | Cartographie thématique avec Carto-Builder - 15 minutes
Mamata Akella, CARTO
CARTO Builder is a tool that can be used by anyone to analyze and visualize geospatial data on the web in real time. Behind the scenes is a set of rule-based methods that are designed to support dynamic analysis and in turn, responsive cartography. During this session, I will demonstrate how Builder enables you to explore and visualize the multi-dimensional nature of thematic data in totally new and exciting ways.

Make great symbols in ArcGIS Pro | Créer ses propres symboles dans ArcGIS Pro - 15 minutes
Edie Punt, Craig Williams ESRI
Learn how to make and manage your own symbols in ArcGIS Pro. You'll see how to find and modify existing symbols, including representation rules. We'll cover simple steps to create custom symbols from existing artwork ”no artistic skill required." You'll get tips for working with color, color schemes, and transparency. Finally, you'll learn how to leverage styles to organize symbols and streamline your map authoring workflows.

A Tale of Two Maps: Basemap Design at USGS | Le conte de deux cartes : la conception des fonds de carte à l’USGS - 15 minutes
Elaine Guidero, US Geological Survey; Adam Yarnell, Kristin Fishburn, and Rob Dollison, US Geological Survey
The need to update data for The National Map cached basemaps provided an opportunity to refresh the somewhat dated and problematic designs. Within the constraints of color palette and data availability, I created new basemaps to replace the old ones. One version was designed to function as both a reference map and a true basemap, while maintaining the traditional look of US topographic maps. The other version revamped the imagery basemap, which combines satellite and aerial imagery with select features and labels. Each map was designed from web caching scales 1 (1:591M) through 16 (1:9K). Design challenges encountered during the process, and my resolutions, will be discussed.

Flow Mapping with JavaScript | La cartographie des flux avec JavaScript - 15 minutes
Sarah Bell, Esri; Jacob Wasilkowski, Esri
Flow mapping is a cartographic necessity, yet still lacks empirical design rules (Jenny, et al. 2016). Common solutions for dynamic flow mapping currently include using straight lines and geodesic lines to show the flow of phenomenon over space, both of which have immediate visual limitations. By using Bézier curves, we have created a flow mapping method that overcomes these visual limitations and provides visual cues on flow direction, while also improving the flow map's aesthetics. In this presentation, we will demonstrate how to utilize the ArcGIS API for JavaScript to map data onto the HTML canvas with a new layer we created called the Canvas Flowmap Layer. We will show how cartographers can use this layer to interactively visualize their own datasets.

Charting the Heavens with ArcGIS Pro | Cartographier les cieux avec ArcGIS Pro - 15 minutes
Heather Smith, Esri
Learn how to create a printed star chart! With a focus on symbology, labelling, and custom layouts, this presentation will show you a wealth of tips and tricks in ArcGIS Pro for creating your own star chart. You’ll learn about symbology, labeling, annotation, transparency, grids, and circular layouts.

Designing for Mobility | La conception cartographique au service de la mobilité - 15 minutes
Kate Chanba
The future of transportation offers a myriad of travel options for cities of all sizes. Maps and journey planners are vital to facilitating new services and describing unique trip benefits. Given this, we will discuss how the cartographic design of the following can influence travel behavior: descriptive iconography, destination-driven networks, and legible infrastructure details in transportation maps. These design considerations improve the users' experience, taking them from where they are to where they want to go, while also giving quick results.

We will look at recently developed multi-modal maps I created for the City of Key West and routing tools I've worked on with Conveyal for TriMet Transportation and Arlington County Commuter Services.

post lunch raffle! prizes!  -  ~10 minutes

Intricate (Fake) Wooden Elevation Maps | Les complexes (fausses) cartes altimétriques en bois - 10 minutes
John Nelson, Esri
It can be great fun to make realistic, but fake, versions of maps that are real, but look fake. What? By using image textures and lighting effects in your cartography toolset, you can make digital versions of those super cool wooden bathymetry maps that adorn all lakeside cottages. This whirlwind example will walk through the hows and whys of creating reasonably convincing maps with tactile-ish surfaces.

The cartographic palette is loaded with muted colors of natural surfaces. So let's turn that up to eleven by throwing some shade (wink) on material (wink) design.

Enhance productivity in Illustrator with scripts and shortcuts | Optimiser la productivité dans Illustrator grâce à des scripts et des raccourcis - 15 minutes
Jamie Robertson, Adventure Cycling Association
Print Production cartographers using Adobe Illustrator typically use a tiny subset of the available tools, but the tools and functions that are used can be used countless times a day. This presentation will demonstrate two programs (for both Mac and Windows), and how the cartographers at the Adventure Cycling Association save precious time by skipping the menus for common tasks with keyboard shortcuts and extending Illustrator functionality with a highly curated set of custom scripts which have proven invaluable for our repetitive cartographic tasks. A live demonstration, public script repository, pre-made shortcut files, and a printable/customizable cheatsheet will get attendees on the path to productivity right away!

From Raster to Vector- Patterns! Icons! Art! | Du raster au vecteur : les motifs! Des icônes! De l’art! - 10 minutes
Dylan Moriarty
Most slippy maps don't bother with detailed textures or artworks. This is a shame, as both can add an extra level of detail and flavor to the map. Through this presentation I'll show you a few quick techniques for taking raster artwork & patterns (think textures, flowing water) and converting them to repeatable vector pieces.

Methods of a hand-drawn map | Les méthodes de tracé cartographique à main levée - 20 minutes
Anton Thomas, Anton Thomas Art
Hand-drawn maps are less common than they once were, but their aesthetic qualities are as evocative as ever. Even for those who do not feel they excel at drawing, picking up a pencil is a great way to further connect with a visual task. This presentation will explore and demonstrate a range of techniques I have developed over the years drawing pictorial maps. With particular focus on pencil (color and lead) and fineliner pens, we will look at sketching, layering colors, linework, materials and tools, projections, maintaining geographic accuracy and more. I will also include some practical ideas on connecting further with the region you are mapping, whether through music, film, activities or otherwise — especially useful when travelling to the region is not possible. To feel more absorbed in the character of a place assists the creative process and has many positive spinoffs.

Sharing Knowledge in Small Bites | Partager les connaissances par petites bouchées - 15 minutes
Daniel P. Huffman, somethingaboutmaps
Our community has a rich tradition of sharing practical mapping advice, from workshops to video tutorials to presentations at Practical Cartography Day. But not everything we offer need be as thorough as a lengthy coding exercise or a deep dive into complex terrain representation techniques. I'll talk about my experiences with a couple of efforts to foster the informal sharing of small, simple cartographic tricks, and what they have taught me about the value of offering knowledge not only in banquet portions, but in snack sizes, too.

Changes to National Park Maps | Changements apportés aux cartes des parcs nationaux - 20 minutes
Tom Patterson, US National Park Service
I will report on the current status of brochure maps prepared by the US National Park Service, Harpers Ferry Center. Now that we have rebuilt most park maps from geospatial data, we are taking things to the next level by transforming them to the Web Mercator projection. It takes three to four hours to transform a typical park map from the UTM to the Web Mercator projection, a procedure that works well even for "high-latitude Alaskan parks,” really. Web Mercator advantages include simpler map updates, efficient data transfer between Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop (everything is rectangular), and exporting to web tiles. In other developments, we now publish park maps as geospatial PDFs on the Avenza map store and have greatly expanded the NPS Symbol library. I will also discuss recent accessibility efforts. We are converting park visitor maps to Braille and have developed tactile terrain maps.

Adapting Print Maps for Mobile Use | L’adaptation des cartes imprimées en vue de leur utilisation mobile - 15 minutes
Riley Champine, National Geographic Magazine
Every map printed in National Geographic Magazine is revamped for digital consumption. But how do you take a map designed to fill a glossy 14"-wide spread and rework it to fit a screen that's only 4" across? Is it even worth it trying? When analytics indicate that more than half of the natgeo.com audience is browsing on a mobile device, the answer has to be "yes." For the past year and a half, I've worked as a Junior Graphics Editor for the Magazine tackling this problem. I'll talk about my experiences on the frontline of the battle for mobile implementation and share some of our strategies for making print maps work on mobile a little less painful.

Tips for Making Web Maps Responsive | Conseils pour la création de cartes Web réactives - 15 minutes
Stephanie Mongon, CARTO
Over 70% of our time online in the U.S. is spent on mobile devices. Creating a map that's useful on multiple screen sizes has two design challenges: interface design and cartography. Part of both is managing data driving the map. This talk will show optimization techniques for responsive web map design, learned while building maps for CARTO clients. It will include code snippets for importing data, cleaning it, and controlling how it renders in your map. It will also include techniques that solve a range of design problems, from accidental map zoom on mobile page scroll to making small image markers look good at screen resolution.

GL mapping tips and tricks | Trucs et astuces pour la cartographie GL - 15 minutes
Molly Lloyd, Mapbox
Web mapping with a GL framework like Mapbox GL has significant differences to raster frameworks like Leaflet. The concept of a basemap vs. overlays is no longer, and you can no longer manipulate map elements with traditional CSS styling and JS interaction methods. This workshop will include a quick overview of why these differences exist, tips on how to use the newest features of Mapbox GL, and tricks for implementing common map use cases like animations, transitions, and user interactions with GL maps.

Sharing Spatial: A Case Study in Teaching Spatial Thinking and GIS in the Red Cross | Le partage du spatial : étude de cas de l’enseignement de la pensée spatiale et des SIG à la Croix rouge- 10 minutes 
Matthew Gibb, American Red Cross
"Hey, can you teach me how to do GIS?" Training staff and volunteers comes with similar challenges, including condensing years of academic and professional experience into a week-long workshop or, even worse, an hour-long brown bag lunch. The American Red Cross collaborates with numerous National Societies throughout the global Red Cross network, building capacity with information management, mobile data collection, and Geographic Information Systems. This session will use contextual training experiences in our own office and with partner organizations to discuss teaching spatial thinking and awareness in organizations with no prior GIS capacity, reviewing lessons learned and growing pains. Instead of scoffing and saying "it can't" be done, leave mapping to the professionals, and let us review some tools we use and believe can assist your efforts to spread the love of all things spatial.

Cartography as an interface to explore displaced peoples' life stories | La cartographie en tant qu’interface des histoires de vie des personnes déplacées - 10 minutes
Rodolphe Gonzales, Concordia University; Sébastien Caquard and Steven High, Concordia University
While story-telling often involves organizing information along a temporal dimension, space also has a fundamental role to play in communicating a story. In the case of the life stories of displaced people, the explicit display of places, distances, or tortuousness of the paths individuals had to take, is more than the mere backdrop to a series of personal events: it contributes to providing both a clearer and more tangible understanding of their experience. Here, we present a web-based application using dynamic cartography to explore, study and transmit the life stories of 33 survivors of the Rwanda genocide now living in Canada. We detail how we are making use of several methods and tools developed separately by oral historians and geographers, with a particular focus on how we spatially visualize oral life stories, while at the same time providing a cartographic way of entry into a rich oral database.


Virtual Interns Supporting Real Issues | Des stagiaires virtuels au service de problèmes réels - 10 minutes
Brooke Harding, USAID
For the second year in a row, USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) and the State Department's Humanitarian Information Unit (HIU) have teamed up to leverage the State Department's remote Virtual Student Foreign Service Internship (VSFS) program. The interns not only updated community level OpenStreetMap data in areas of USG foreign policy importance, but promoted the use of OSM across multiple university disciplines and increased awareness of the platform in support of issues in their own communities. Learn about our workflow and lessons learned teaching students in multiple time zones as well as some of the specific projects that came out of the two semester program. PSA: Although many government acronyms may be used during this presentation, NACIS community members should not feel pressured to remember said acronyms, as they will not be tested on their retention of these words at any point during the conference.

Designing a map kiosk - a practical guide to interactivity - 15 minutes
Matthew Hampton, Oregon Metro
The expansion of the Oregon Zoo's Educational Center provides an opportunity to develop an interactive "find a park" application allowing visitors to engage with Greater Portland's parks and open spaces on a 55"" touch screen. With a focus on engaging a variety of ages, races and experiences - learn some tips/tricks of designing an interactive map kiosk from a cartographer working on a project team with other designers.