Modern Maps: Air Routes Within Canada

[DEWLine]

I'm not sure if this is the right section of the Forum for this, but here goes.

Thanks to a recent job interview for a graphic design job, inspiration from grade school hit me. Why not try to update an old favourite from my grade school atlas about domestic air travel within Canada? This is part of a map I've been designing with help from assets from Maptorian. I was specifically inspired by a map in the old Dent's Canadian School Atlas devoted to Canadian airline connections across the country, as well as by the above-mentioned job interview.

I'm making this with Adobe Illustrator CS4, in case you're wondering. It still needs some work on knitting together missing connections that I know to exist.

A specific goal is to show as many "short-hop" connection options as possible. Cross-country runs such as Vancouver-Toronto, Calgary-Toronto, Montréal-Vancouver, etc. are being deliberately omitted. Also, I am pointedly ignoring the question of which airlines are handling which connections.


Airline Map of Canada - In Progress - 22 Aug 2022 by Dwight Williams, on Flickr

#wip #Canada #airlines #maps #cartography #airtravel #modernmaps

[Falconius]

Pretty neat idea.

The only thing that I see that might be an issue is provinces/territories of the same colour. Like Quebec and Nunavut look almost the same to me. Same with Nova Scotia and BC. PEI looks like it's the same colour as the US. Or maybe they are different but it's not saturated or dark enough to really tell.

[Caenwyr]

Pretty neat idea.

The only thing that I see that might be an issue is provinces/territories of the same colour. Like Quebec and Nunavut look almost the same to me. Same with Nova Scotia and BC. PEI looks like it's the same colour as the US. Or maybe they are different but it's not saturated or dark enough to really tell.

I don't think it really matters that two regions share the same colour as long as they're clearly separated from one another by at least one other region. No one is going to think that Nova Scotia is part of British Colombia. The border between Québec and Nuavut however is less distinct. I assume it's somewhere near the northern entrance to Hudson Bay, but which islands exactly belong to which is not clear.

I think this comes down to the old four color theorem, which states that no more than four colors are required to color the regions of any map so that no two adjacent regions have the same color. There are way more than four here (which might give the viewer the false impression that each region is supposed to have its own colour). I think if DEWline went for the four color option instead, the map might actually be easier to read – although I don't think it's very hard to read at all, except maybe the Québec-Nunavut thing. If Nunavut had been given the same color as Ontario, there wouldn't have been any confusion.

But I really think this is a minor issue. All in all it's a great map, easy to understand and pleasant to look at. Good job!

[Azélor]

Weirldy enoough, the north west borders of Québec ends at the shore. All the Islands are part of Nunavut. I think the same is true for Ontario but they would not have many islands anyway.

[hawazop]

I don't think it really matters that two regions share the same colour as long as they're clearly separated from one another by at least one other region. tellculvers com survey taco bell breakfast hours

[DEWLine]

Okay, I need to distinctively amend the colouration of either Nunavut or Québec, along with the other stuff that still needs modifying.

(Did not know about four-colour and five-colour theories before reading these initial responses.)

I'm wondering if I should keep trying for type legibility that's suitable for 8.5 x 11 - closer to what the map that inspired this project had - or for 11 x 17.

[DEWLine]

And having heeded that advice, I have an update that probably still needs further work. Revisiting the Maritime/Atlantic provinces is required, for example. Some of those routes connecting the cities and towns there to each other seems to have been discontinued by various airlines. (I have feelings about this for reasons I won't get into in this part of this forum.)

Someone over at TrekBBS suggested upon seeing this version that I should set up a list of the specific airlines running these routes. That would probably add a level of (visual clutter/complexity) we don't need at this point.

WIP: Air Route Map - Canada - 14 Sept 2022 by Dwight Williams, on Flickr

[rdanhenry]

You appear to have a stray route in the Pacific Ocean. I'm assuming it is a mistake rather than a connection between two islands since there is not indication of locations at either end.

I think the colors in the newer version are a major improvement, not just fixing the clarity issues noted, but making a more attractive map.

[DEWLine]

Belated thanks for that affirmation! And yes, I need to move that "stray route" to a destination pair that's actually being served!

[DEWLine]

And I have an update on this to share. Some more short-hop routes were added in recently, and some clutter got (re)moved. Obviously, I'm looking for additional information on connections I'm certainly still missing!

Font choices are not set in stone either, and the explanatory text is in need of revision.

AirRouteMap-Canada-18Mar2023-A by Dwight Williams, on Flickr