Legibility of Lettering on Remotely Sensed Image Maps

The legibility of lettering on image maps is a continuing cartographic design problem. Many past lettering studies benefited from examining the practices devised for type legibility on line maps, while other studies focused on the use of lettering in high-contrast, text-reading situations. With increasing requirements for remotely sensed image maps, preserving imagery while maintaining lettering legibility is an area of important research. The U.S. Geological Survey produced 24 experimental printings of a four-color Landsat Thematic Mapper image for a portion of the 1:250,000-scale Monterey, California, quadrangle. The visual variables if ink reflectance and hues, together with lettering display techniques, were altered for part of this printing. This paper describes the methodology and presents an evaluation of this research. The U.S. Geological Survey produced 24 experimental printings of a four-color Landsat Thematic Mapper image for a portion of the 1:250,000-scale Monterey, California, quadrangle. The visual variables if ink reflectance and hues, together with lettering display techniques, were altered for part of this printing. This paper describes the methodology and presents an evaluation of this research.