Improved Areal Symbols for Computer Line-Printed Maps

Computer line-printer maps produced with programs such as CMAP, CORMAP, GRIDS, GEOSYS, and SYMAP are often published in books, journals, atlases, and reports. For the most part, the areal symbolization used on these maps is not consistent with fundamentals of good cartographic design. Research findings illustrate that the SYMAP manual's advice on areal symbolization for quantitative maps can be improved and that line-printed maps with more than four classes may be difficult for the map reader to interpret. Suggestions for alternative symbolization are provided.