map, the zones will probably be too small in the inset map for the viewer
to distinguish between them, and furthermore, they are probably not even
necessary. The inset map for a development map might just show a simple
box or single polygon that outlines the extent of the development zones
with relation to nearby regional boundaries (which should themselves be
generalized).
Those exceptions aside, the main point of keeping the complexity in your
map is to empower your map reader. Let’s say your boss asks you to create a
customized map to be handed out to employees showing how to get from the
offie to the company picnic site. A typical dumbed-down approach would
be to show the offie, the picnic spot, and only the roads between that the
driver will take to get there. What if the driver takes a wrong turn? In that
case, the driver is out of luck and needs to get a detailed road map to get
back on track. If you want to avoid disempowering the map reader but preserve the quick readability that comes from the original approach you could,
instead, use a detailed roadmap as the main map and use a smaller inset
showing the simplifid map. Since the product would now resemble an oldfashioned roadmap, you could even fold it into 20 sections and hold a contest
to see if anyone can refold it.
Many digital interactive maps made in the last decade contain a layer
picker similar to a GIS software user interface. However, most users are only
interested in using these maps for a single bit of information. To aid the user,
then, it is much more reasonable to provide each thematic layer in its own
web map, accessed via an overview page with thumbnails illustrating the
web maps and their layer name.10
The last two principles to keep in mind as you start to add elements to
the page are the design of the margin, if any, and the overall balance of the
elements.