This book is primarily aimed at early career professionals — they have an under‑
standing of GIS processes and procedures but generally lack a firm foundation in
map design. Students of GIS, who might lack both GIS knowledge and cartography
skills, will find it particularly helpful to use this book in conjunction with other
texts. Alternatively, students can reserve this text for studying after a course or two
in GIS has been completed. Mid‑ to late‑career professionals will obviously have
plenty of GIS analytical and procedural concepts under their belts as well as some
level of sophistication in map design, but there is a lot of material in this text that can
be of use for this group, especially when it comes to displaying unfamiliar data or
gaining inspiration for new map design techniques.