The difference between utility and utility plus beauty is the difference between telephone wires and the spider web.
-Edwin Way Teale
Somewhere I saved a copy of the KM North Arrow with the butt kicking and the dunce hat but I just can't find it. That's my favorite.
> The difference between utility and utility plus beauty is the difference between telephone wires and the spider web.
I think that makes my point. The most elaborate spider webs, such as those spun by orb spiders, are constructed to dazzle the victim and cause it to lose orientation to the world. :> If the purpose of the North arrow is to distract the viewer of the map to the point that he or she forgets their name, then, yes, definitely add more decoration to the arrow. It's probably worth pointing out that virtually none of the decorative North arrows even serve the basic function very well. They are more of a Draftsman's Holiday exercise.
I assume that the folks who are of the Rube Goldberg North Arrow School also add lots of decorative features to their scale bars, you know, survey party stretching chain in silhouette with horses standing around or possibly GPS receivers set at different graduations with the satellites flying all around the scale, radio emissions striking the scale.
Picture me grinning at you good-naturedly, which is what I am doing, and saying "No Kent, that doesn't make your point, it totally refutes your point, you sly fellow."
The game is up. There's a purpose, no, a need for artistry in all we do.
Don
> Picture me grinning at you good-naturedly, which is what I am doing, and saying "No Kent, that doesn't make your point, it totally refutes your point, you sly fellow."
Not really. The point was that the decoration in a spider's web is strictly utilitarian. The design in an orb spider's web is to lure some winged insect to mistake it for a flower or other place to land.
So, using the spider's web analogy, the wildly decorative North arrow is to attract the viewer's eye so that he or she won't look at the map? That's the strictly non-utilitarian effect of needless decoration, isn't it?
From a utilitarian standpoint, the sole purpose of a map is to convey information to the user as clearly and as lucidly as possible. The decoration of maps belongs to another tradition completely, the scribe with time to waste drawing deer and dragons in the margins, producing a pretty manuscript for an illiterate age.
> this is from a deed exhibit from 1953 in Lake County, MT
That wouldn't phase an Aussie draftsman.
"So, using the spider's web analogy, the wildly decorative North arrow is to attract the viewer's eye so that he or she won't look at the map? That's the strictly non-utilitarian effect of needless decoration, isn't it?"
Not at all, Kent.
You do say "effect" in your final sentence, but you seem to imply "purpose" in the preceding.
I can accept the effect, perhaps, but not the purpose.
I don't object to decoration. In most circumstances, I welcome it, although it's only pleasant, not important.
Don
> I don't object to decoration. In most circumstances, I welcome it, although it's only pleasant, not important.
Well, in my experience, the decorative maps tend to be complete POS products and the obvious purpose of the decoration was to somehow hope that no one would notice. The most extreme example was a map drawn back in the 1950's of some land grants along the Rio Grande patented upon a resurvey made in the 1880's that was very difficult to retrace, but which could still be. The 1950's surveyor had roamed around on the ground tying in various benchmarks (!) and US Boundary Commission (!) monuments he found along roads but had actually found exactly zero evidence of the original survey. He drew a fantastic border with white tail deer, mountain lions, javelinas, and so forth all begging the viewer of the map to look anywhere on the sheet but at the actual information presented.
The boundaries shown on the map were utterly, completely, irrefutably wrong by more than hundreds of feet and the map was a decorative wonder.
Oddly enough, the surveyors who spend their time actually getting the right answer seem not to be so motivated to distract the attention of the viewer of the map. That is the dark side of CAD: a surveyor can produce a highly plausible-looking map with all sorts of curlicues and dingles, and only another surveyor will know what it all really amounts to.
Come on Don!
You have to go more than two rounds with Kent!
So Which End Actually Points North ?
^? or v?
Paul in PA
Free to a good home- DIY North arrow kit
think of all the toner / ink you'll save with this baby!!!
(ok I couldn't stand it anymore...;-) )
So Which End Actually Points North ?
top points to the N the bottom is a plumb bob... I think. Not sure what the C is about...
Free to a good home- DIY North arrow kit
> think of all the toner / ink you'll save with this baby!!!
>
>
Actually, you do need to spell out "North", "I Guess North", "True North", or "Grid North", whichever applies. It's up to you whether you add "South", "East" and "West arrows also. You will know your clientele better than anyone else. :>
:good:
Free to a good home- DIY North arrow kit
Primitive cave dwelling surveyors used the simple no-frippery method on their stone plats; It is a custom that should be perpetuated. 😉
Free to a good home- DIY North arrow kit
[sarcasm]actually Kent, I think that in your previous dissertations on the subject you were taking the stance that the lower case "n" detracted FAR less from the actual survey data than an upper case "N", or the word "North"....[/sarcasm]
Free to a good home- DIY North arrow kit
> actually Kent, I think that in your previous dissertations on the subject you were taking the stance that the lower case "n" detracted FAR less from the actual survey data than an upper case "N", or the word "North"....
No. Many map users don't actually immediately connect the letter "N" with "North". It's something a surveyor takes for granted, but it isn't as well recognized a cartographic convention as spelling out "North". This is the same reason why I probably wouldn't criticize a surveyor who added "S", "E", and "W" arrows as long as they didn't have alligators, buffaloes, or Xmas lights hanging off them.
Free to a good home- DIY North arrow kit
>
> No. Many map users don't actually immediately connect the letter "N" with "North". It's something a surveyor takes for granted, but it isn't as well recognized a cartographic convention as spelling out "North". This is the same reason why I probably wouldn't criticize a surveyor who added "S", "E", and "W" arrows as long as they didn't have alligators, buffaloes, or Xmas lights hanging off them.
Well you know your clientle better than I do....:whistle:
Beauty enhances Beauty
Don't you think a pretty women is a lot prettier with; let's say, a pearl necklace? You wouldn't go throwing some old zircon walmart trinket on her would you?
Douglas
Free to a good home- DIY North arrow kit
> >
> > No. Many map users don't actually immediately connect the letter "N" with "North". It's something a surveyor takes for granted, but it isn't as well recognized a cartographic convention as spelling out "North". This is the same reason why I probably wouldn't criticize a surveyor who added "S", "E", and "W" arrows as long as they didn't have alligators, buffaloes, or Xmas lights hanging off them.
>
>
> Well you know your clientle better than I do....:whistle:
I actually make a practice of going over the maps with as many clients as possible, so I get a pretty good idea of how well people of above-average intelligence and income understand the sorts of conventions surveyors have traditionally used. One of the brightest of them actually asked which way was "East" after having the "North" arrow pointed out. By "bright", I mean an extremely intelligent and successful fellow. The point is that you can't go wrong by simplifying and you can do your clients a tremendous disservice by just adding jazzy ruffles that don't mean anything.