Cartographic Perspectives
Journal of the
North American Cartographic
Information Society
sPeCi a l   m o u n t a i n  Ca r t o g r aPh y   i s s u e
Number 67, Winter 2010
Cartographic Perspectives
Journal of the
North American Cartographic
Information Society
sPeCi a l   m o u n t a i n  Ca r t o g r aPh y   i s s u e
Number 67, Winter 2010
I n   t hIs   I s s u e
L E T T E R   F R O M   T H E   G uEsT  E D I T O Rs
Bernhard Jenny and Tom Patterson
F E ATuR E D   A R T I C L Es
Mountain Ski Maps of North America: A Preliminary Survey and Analysis of Style
Alex Tait
Accidental cARTographer
Tibor Tóth
Mapping Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska
Tom Patterson
Design and Production of the Himachal Pradesh Topographic Overview Map, 1:500,000
David Schobesberger, Karel Kriz, Markus Breier
Terrain Sculptor: Generalizing Terrain Models for Relief Shading
Anna M. Leonowicz, Bernhard Jenny, Lorenz Hurni
Visual Fields
Elbie Bentley
Practical Cartographer’s Corner
Alex Tait
Book Reviews
Various Reviewers
Instructions to Authors
3
5
19
29
43
51
61
63
75
83
Cartographic Perspectives, Number 67, Winter 2010
  1
Cartographic Perspectives
Journal of the
North American Cartographic
Information Society
© 2 0 1 0   N A C I S        
 
I S S N   1 0 4 8 - 9 0 8 5
w w w. n a c i s . o r g
ED I T O R
Fritz Kessler 
Department of Geography  
Frostburg State University 
230 Gunter Hall 
101 Braddock Blvd 
Frostburg, MD 21532 
(301) 687-4266 
(301) 687-4495 fax 
fkessler@frostburg.edu
G u e s t  edIt o rs
G uEsT  ED I T O R
Bernhard Jenny
Institute of Cartography
ETH Zurich
jenny@karto.baug.ethz.ch
CO P Y  ED I T O R
Mary Spalding
Potomac State College of
West Virginia University
G uEsT  ED I T O R
Tom Patterson
US National Park Service 
Harpers Ferry, WV, USA
tom_patterson@nps.gov
MA N A G I N G  G uEsT  ED I T O R
Tanya MA Buckingham
UW-Madison Cartography Lab
tbuckingham@uwisc.edu
C O P Y R I G H T   N O T I C E
Unless otherwise noted, NACIS holds the 
copyrights to all items published in each 
issue. The opinions expressed are those 
of the author(s), and not necessarily the 
opinion of NACIS.
W O R D C L OuD   A BsT R A C Ts
The wordclouds featured in the 
abstracts were produced using Wordle 
(http://www.wordle.net/). Complete 
text from each article was included.
A B OuT   T H E   C O V E R
The map of “Switzerland during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), 1:500,000” 
shows the maximum extent of glaciation in Switzerland at the height of the last Ice 
Age about 24,000 years ago. The Swiss Commission for Quaternary Research 
SKQ and Prof. Christian Schlüchter of the Institute for Geological Sciences at the 
University of Bern gathered the data and coordinated the scientific work. The 
Federal Office of Topography swisstopo is responsible for the cartographic work. 
The map published in 2009 presents the latest results of research on the Ice Age 
in Switzerland.
A digital version of the map is available for free from www.swisstopo.admin.ch > 
Products > Maps > Geological maps > Geological maps 1:500,000
Reproduced with the authorisation of swisstopo (JA100120)
Close-up of “Switzerland during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), 1:500,000” 
2  
Cartographic Perspectives, Number 67, Winter 2010
L e t t e r   Fr oM  t h e  Gu e s t edIt o rs
This special mountain cartography issue of Cartographic Perspectives features papers 
by members of the Commission on Mountain Cartography, a special interest group 
of the International Cartographic Association (ICA). The commission focuses on 
a range of issues related to the mapping of mountains—peaks, cliffs, scree, glaciers, 
and various other types of rough terrain. Mapping such extreme places presents 
challenges. For example, standard mapping techniques often do not apply, and 
collecting good geospatial data of high mountains is an ongoing challenge despite 
technology advances. There also is a cultural aspect to mountain mapping. Many 
mountain dwellers live under the threat of gravity-induced natural hazards, from 
avalanches to mudslides to damn bursts, which maps can help them better understand 
and deal with. But mountains have also long been a source of inspiration for those 
who visit and map them alike, prompting cartographic innovation. The well-known 
maps of Heinrich Berann, Richard Edes Harrison, Eduard Imhof, Hal Shelton, and 
Bradford Washburn highlight just some of the contributions by those engaged in 
mountain cartography to the profession as a whole. Most papers that follow are a 
sampling of those presented at the 2008 Mountain Cartography workshop at Lenk, 
Switzerland.
Since its founding in 1999, the Commission on Mountain Cartography has held 
biannual workshops at various mountain venues. To date these have included the 
Austrian Alps (2000), Mount Hood in the USA (2002), the Spanish Pyrenees 
(2004), the Julian Alps of Slovenia (2006), the Swiss Alps (2008), and the Carpathian 
Mountains of Romania (2010). The workshops have attracted an increasing number 
of presenters, reaching almost 60 participants at the last two workshops in 2008 and 
2010. In addition to the formal program, the relaxed atmosphere of the workshops 
is conducive for catching up with old friends and making new ones. A workshop 
tradition is to devote the last day to outdoor activities for a range of interests 
and abilities, from ski touring to curling, or hiking, depending on the season. The 
workshops typically occur over three days in either late February or early September.
The workshop participants represent diverse backgrounds and interests, but share a 
common passion for mountain mapping. The presentations take many forms. These 
include longer academic papers, Pecha Kucha-style short presentations, software 
demonstrations, panel discussions, and posters. The presentation topics generally fall 
Cartographic Perspectives, Number 67, Winter 2010
  3
into four thematic groups. In the first group are techniques, software, and ideas about 
2D or 3D relief mapping, which are topics of recurring interest. This includes the 
related pursuits of contouring, relief shading, rock drawing, and vegetation mapping. 
The second group covers the monitoring of mountain environments and thematic 
mapping. The survey and visualization of glacier movements, and the mapping of 
avalanches and other mountain hazards are common topics in this category. The 
third group focuses on information systems and digital maps of mountain areas used 
by tourists and outdoor recreation enthusiasts. And, the fourth group concentrates 
on historical mountain mapping, looking at the activities of cartographers and 
expeditions from the past and their rich contributions to our profession. However, 
many of the workshop presentations are on alternative and innovative topics that do 
not fit into these neat groups.
This special issue contains three papers from North American and two papers from 
European authors. The first paper by Alex Tait (International Mapping, USA) 
examines maps of alpine ski resorts in North America. He compares the graphical 
styles of trail maps of more than 400 resorts, and traces the history of past and 
present artists, such as James Niehues, Hal Shelton and Bill Brown. The paper by 
Tibor Tóth (Tóth Graphix, USA) looks back on his forty-year career as a relief 
artist, much of it spent at the National Geographic Society. He discusses the manual 
development of relief art created by pencil, airbrush, and acrylic painting, and ends 
with digital relief shading. Tom Patterson (US National Park Service) discusses the 
making of a National Park Service map of Glacier Bay. He describes the various 
steps leading to a brochure map of this wilderness park visited mostly by cruise ship 
passengers. The paper examines various mountain-mapping challenges, including 
shaded relief, land cover, glaciers, fjord bathymetry, braided rivers, and place names. 
David Schobesberger and his coauthors (University of Vienna, Austria) describe the 
design of a map of mountainous Himachal Pradesh, India. The aim of this map is to 
support an interdisciplinary research network focusing on the cultural history of the 
western Himalayas. Schobesberger’s paper describes data compilation from a variety 
of mostly suboptimal sources, starting with maps originally surveyed by the colonial 
British and ending with satellite imagery. The main author of the last paper is Anna 
Leonowicz (University of Zurich, Switzerland). Her paper discusses Terrain Sculptor, 
a new freeware application that prepares generalized terrain models for relief shading.
For additional mountain cartography readings and to learn more about the ICA 
Commission on Mountain Cartography, visit http://mountaincartography.org/. The 
website offers the proceedings of past workshops, the commission’s terms of reference, 
a list of commission members, and information about the next scheduled workshop. 
We would welcome your participation.
Bernhard Jenny  
Institute of Cartography 
ETH Zurich 
and 
 
 
Tom Patterson
US National Park Service
 Harpers Ferry, WV, USA  
4  
Cartographic Perspectives, Number 67, Winter 2010
Mountain ski Maps of North America: 
A Preliminary survey and Analysis of style
Alex Tait  |  alex@internationalmapping.com
International Mapping 
5300 Dorsey Hall Dr.
Ellicott City, MD 21042
A b sTrAcT  
 
This article examines mountain ski resort trail maps in North America in 
2008. It looks at the styles of maps used by resorts and at the main artists 
involved in producing the maps. The survey included maps from 428 resorts 
with additional analysis of maps from the 100 largest resorts. Point of view 
and creation method are the primary factors in determining the style of 
each ski trail map. Artists have employed three main types of views for ski 
mountains: panoramas, profiles, and planimetric maps. Panoramic views are 
by far the most common type of map (86% of all maps and all of the maps at 
the top 100 areas). Profile views are used in 8% of the maps and planimetric 
views in only 6%. Production methods for ski trail maps fall into three main 
categories: painting, illustrating, and computer rendering. Maps created with 
painting techniques are the most widespread, in use at 72% of all resorts 
and at 89% of the top 100 areas. Those created in a hard-edged vector-based 
illustration style are in use at 20% of resorts and those created through 
computer modeling and rendering at 3% of resorts.
Many artists have created ski trail maps for resorts in North America but 
one artist, James Niehues, has produced by far the most maps in current use. 
His maps are in use at over a quarter of all ski areas and at half of the top 
Cartographic Perspectives, Number 67, Winter 2010
Mountain Ski Maps of North America: A Preliminary Survey and Analysis of Style – Tait |  5
100 resorts. Niehues follows in the footsteps of two other Coloradans, Hal Shelton 
and then Bill Brown, and this Colorado School has been key in the development of 
a classic painted panoramic style of North American ski maps. Additional research 
is recommended to provide further details of the history of the maps and their 
creators as well as to analyze the artists’ terrain manipulations and to look at the 
growing use of electronic trail maps.
K e y   w o r d s 
Ski maps, 3D-maps, panoramas, North America, map design, Hal Shelton, James 
Niehues
MA P PiNg  s Ki   M o uN TAiNs   iN  N o r
Th   AMe r i cA
 
Trails maps for ski areas are iconic images of the nature of the sport of skiing and 
its relation to the terrain on which ski resorts are built. Canada and the United 
States have well over 400 ski areas that are large enough to merit a trail map. The 
development of the maps has paralleled the development of the sport of lift-served 
skiing. As skiing in North America has grown and more money has flowed to 
building bigger resorts and marketing the resorts to skiers, more attention has been 
paid to marketing materials (Fry, 2006). The combination of bigger areas to map 
and an increase in money in the sport led to a shift from simple wayfinding maps 
to more elaborate mountain portrayals.
This study looks at the total number of ski maps in use during the 2007-2008 
winter ski season and categorizes them by angle of view, method of creation, size, 
and artist, if known. An evaluation of these factors is provided in the context of 
how they affect the style of the ski map. In addition, an examination of the artists 
involved in the maps’ creation yields information about the history of mapping ski 
resorts.
S u r v e y   o f   S k i   M a pS  i n   C u r r e n t  u Se
A mountain ski map as defined for this paper is a map of the trails and ski facilities 
of a lift-served ski area. Maps are included for any ski area that has a vertical drop 
(top to bottom elevation change) of at least 200 feet (60 meters). In addition, 
due to the limit on time and expenses for gathering materials, the study includes 
only ski areas and resorts with established websites, indicating that they are both 
currently operating and that they are marketing to the public to entice skiers. 
The resulting survey of ski maps does not include very small areas—because of 
the vertical minimum—and it does not include some of the smaller private and 
non-commerical ski areas that do not have websites or advertise in the manner of a 
commercial ski resort. Many of these areas have trail maps but are outside the main 
ski area focus of the industry and of this paper. Most resorts have additional maps 
in their marketing materials and on their websites that display Nordic or cross-
country skiing trails, base lodge areas, resort towns, and lodging. These maps are 
not included in this study.
The develoPMeNT 
of The MAPs hAs 
PArAlleled The 
develoPMeNT of  
The sPorT of  
lifT-served sKiiNg.
6  |  Mountain Ski Maps of North America: A Preliminary Survey and Analysis of Style – Tait
Cartographic Perspectives, Number 67, Winter 2010
PAiNTed PANorAMic 
views hAve A 
sTroNg TrAdiTioN 
iN sKi MAPPiNg iN 
NorTh AMericA 
ANd Much of This 
doMiNANce iN The 
curreNT survey cAN 
be ATTribuTed To jusT 
A few ArTisTs.
The survey was conducted during January 2008 by searching the Internet for 
ski resorts and then for ski maps used by each resort during the 2007-2008 ski 
season. Compiled lists of resorts data were accessed at www.skitown.com and 
www.skireport.com. Each ski map was obtained directly from the individual 
ski resort website. A visit to the individual websites confirmed that each resort 
was currently operating and allowed viewing of the trail maps provided by the 
resort. In cases of a resort with multiple trail maps, for example different maps 
for print and on-line use, the map designated for print and on-slope use was 
used. An electronic file was available for 428 out of 429 resorts researched (the 
only exception was Apple Mountain in Michigan, not included as part of the 
survey).
For each trail map the following information was catalogued: view type, 
creation method, artist, existence and type of interactive web map, and size of 
resort (vertical drop, number of lifts, number of slopes). In addition, subjective 
style notes were made to assist in categorizing maps and assigning authorship. 
View type describes the general nature of the view of the mountain, i.e. the 
location and orientation of the cartographer’s (or photographer’s) point of view 
in relation to the terrain. Creation method describes the technique used to 
construct the final image. 
In order to isolate some of the more important trends in the creation of ski 
maps, a distinction was made between major resorts and minor resorts. The 
major resorts are the top 100 ski areas as defined by a size index calculated 
by multiplying the vertical drop (top to bottom elevation difference) by the 
number of lifts and then by the number of trails. The use of vertical drop in 
the index aided in putting the larger mountains (in terms of terrain covered) 
toward the top of the list. Many of the smaller mountains did not make it into 
the top 100 resorts.
The initial results of the survey are summarized in Table 1. Some immediate 
trends emerge, such as the preponderance of ski maps using the panoramic 
view. Indeed for the major resorts it is the only type of view used. Also, the 
painted technique—originally using traditional art tools and now often using 
computer painting applications—is the dominant method used to create the 
trail maps. Painted panoramic views have a strong tradition in ski mapping 
in North America and much of this dominance in the current survey can be 
attributed to just a few artists.
All Ski Resorts 
 
View type 
   panoramic 
   profile 
   planimetric 
Total 
Table 1. Survey of North American mountain 
ski maps, counts, and percentages 
by view type and creation method.
Creation method 
   painted 
   illustrated 
   annotated photo 
   computer rendered 
Total 
 
368 
36 
24 
423 
 
307 
85 
24 
12 
428 
% 
 
86% 
8% 
6% 
100%* 
 
72% 
20% 
6% 
3% 
100%* 
Top 100 Ski Resorts
100
0
0 
100
89
7
1
3 
100
*All percentages have been rounded
Cartographic Perspectives, Number 67, Winter 2010
Mountain Ski Maps of North America: A Preliminary Survey and Analysis of Style – Tait |  7