In a message dated 5/14/99 11:50:26 AM, [log in to unmask] writes:

>make the map myself, or customize an
>existing map.  However, my drawing skills are minimal, and needless to
>say, I'd like this to look as professional

Mike,

Maps still have to be done mostly by hand at the beginning stages. You can
find an artist or graphic artist to draw it. I would hope you could find a
volunteer or student to make it for free--good luck.

I had to make a map for a show last year. I called my higher-tech friend who
had made maps for Harvard Peabody Museum when we worked there. He said there
is no software that will do what I wanted--in that case, to make a hachure
map from a contour map. He, for his maps of Mexico and Central America, and
then I for my project (Paul Revere's Ride), enlarged existing maps and traced
what we wanted, then scanned them into an illustration program, Freehand for
example, and added other information and signs in it.

When I took desktop publishing courses long ago, we scanned small maps, then
traced them on a different "layers." Problem with that is, the computer has
only so much memory and you are restricted in the number of straight-line
segments you can use, resulting in a loss of accuracy.

However, once you have something in the computer, you can select areas for
different colors, textures, etc. Then find a good service bureau or photo
finisher or repro- or print shop--I'm not sure what to call the places where
they print out those big vinyls they plaster onto buses. At any rate, there
are a number of processes that will give you a nice glossy finish: Lambda
prints and Scotchprints, generated elecetronically from files. If you have
access to a stat camera, you can prepare silkscreens in the good old museum
way. If you don't mind black and white, you can mount the stat on board.

Good luck!

David Formanek
Cyrus E. Dallin Art Museum
USS Constitution Museum

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