mapmaking patterns

Crisp lines connote an edge or path on the landscape, something that people will be able to see on the land. Broken lines (dotted, dashed) suggest that the map reader should not take the lines literally – that they shouldn’t look for these lines on the landscape itself. Discontinuous lines suggest the limits of knowledge.

Use crisp lines to mark well-established roads, building footprints, river banks and other linear features of the landscape that people will be able to recognize when visiting the area you map. Use dotted or dashed lines to mark features that are imaginary or ephemeral. When using texture patterns for qualitative and quantitative representations, use solid lines to make textures for hard-scaped features of the landscape, like density of urban development. Use broken lines to make textures for soft-scaped features, like agricultural fields. Use discontinuous lines to represent the extent of surveyed data and uncertainty.