crossing a road are easily perceivable objects. It is also 
important to distinguish roads of different classes from each 
other even when the map is read in bad light or very urgently. 
The scale of this guide map was a given constraint, 1:50 000. 
The scale places certain restrictions on the map design. One 
problem is the density of the buildings. Texts and symbols 
must be presented as small as possible so that all the objects 
fit on the map. 
The basic idea in the map design was to reflect the real 
atmosphere of the landscape in the graphical presentation. 
This means the visual connection between the general 
appearance of the map and general appearance of the terrain. 
Imhof (Imhof, 1982) says: "Topographical maps of medium and 
small scale appear most naturalistic when their color design 
most closely approximates the colors seen from ground level at 
corresponding viewing distances’. Therefore, it was decided to 
be use green as the main color in our Guide Map. 
3.2 Elevation zones 
In the original land use interpretation there are 55 classes. 
After generalization there are three classes left in the guide 
map: waters, fields, and uncultivated areas. At a scale of 1:50 
000, more than three classes would lead to a fragmented 
appearance. On the other hand, field as an open agricultural 
land area is the most important land use class for one who is 
travelling by car. 
Color design 
Imhof (Imhof, 1982) presents three different methods of utilizing 
area tinting in terrain and topographic cartography: 
1. To represent different land use classes by color tints. 
2. To express the elevation zones of the earth's surface by 
color tints. 
3. To combine these two methods. 
In our research, method 3 has been used. Land use and 
elevation information are combined to produce elevation zones. 
For each of these three objectives, there are three differing 
possibilities or approaches for color representation (Imhof, 
1982): 
A. "Stress on the closest imitation that can be made of natural 
colors." 
B. "Conventional symbolic colors can be used for the 
hypsometric layers as well as for bringing out other elements.” 
C. "Attempts can be made to combine these two principles 
named above - naturalism and symbolism. Strictly speaking, 
most cartographic solutions are such combinations or 
compromises.” 
In our Guide Map for rural areas, method C is used. Yellow is 
168 
used for the fields and green for uncultivated areas. 
The most difficult part of hypsometric tinting is always the 
selection of colors for the elevation layers. Many color scales 
based on different principles can be used in choosing elevation 
zone colors. We chose the principle ‘the higher, the darker’. 
The aim in this principle is to keep the low-lying zones, which 
are thickly populated with built-up areas, lines of 
communication, etc., as light as possible. Because of the 
relatively low relief of Finnish landscape, ‘the higher, the 
darker’ method gives the most natural appearance for Finnish 
rural areas (Figure 1). 
Heights of hypsometric steps 
The number of suitable, relatively light, and easily 
distinguishable color tones is only six to ten. According to 
Imhof, there are six solutions to the problem of defining the 
elevation steps (Imhof, 1982): 
1. Equidistant steps. 
2. Two sequences of equally vertical interval steps in 
combination. 
3. Steps of equal area. 
4. Irregularly changing step heights. 
5. Steps based on an arithmetical progression or additive 
steps. 
6. Steps based on a geometric progression. 
Imhof states that method 6, ‘geometric progression’, fits well 
both low-lying areas and high mountains. Anyway, method 1, 
‘equidistant steps’, is used in the Guide Map for Rural Areas. 
This is because terrain in Finland is slightly hilly and quite 
homogeneous. There are population and built-up areas both in 
low and high areas. 
3.3 Finishing the layout of the map 
Intergraph's MGE Map Finisher (MGFN) is a software module 
that gives possibilities to finish the map presentation. Grids, 
legends, and indexes can be generated. MGFN also provides 
feature selection, resymbolization, and complexing. We used 
MGFN in creating reference grids of a 5 km square with index 
letters on the sides and numbers at the top and bottom. A text 
index in alphabetical order was generated showing the location 
of text within a reference grid. MGFN includes symbol libraries 
for map symbols. For example, church symbol, and north arrow 
are ready-made standard symbols from these libraries. When a 
database is used with graphics, area thematic classification can 
be made automatically. 
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