Friday, 7 December 2018

legend - Platforms for repetitive automated mapping?



I could give a lot of examples, but imagine you have to do, for example, a study in 10 different locations and have to generate a lot of maps with the same layout, legend.



Maps can contain vector and raster data.


It should be scriptable, because a large number of maps have to be made/remade in the future.


Which platforms can do this?



Answer



I had the same problem last year : a few dozen of maps to produce within three days, same legend, but different locations.


I used this setup :



  • vector data in PostGIS

  • raster data in GeoTiff (shaded relief)

  • cartographic engine : MapServer, with PDF vector output


  • batch processing : PHP to automate MapServer, with MapScript PHP

  • finalization with Adobe illustrator and a specialized style palette.


It takes a little time to produce and fine-tune the mapfiles, but the gain in time is tremendous. I produced 45 print-quality maps within 3 days.


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