Creating Custom Baja Maps 101: Progress, and results added

Hi guys, I am just experimenting with different ways to make maps and different maps to use. Seems tough to get a map to show only what you want and not a lot of extra stuff and not a lot of erroneous detail, such as incorrect place names, etc.

In 1974, Tom Miller used the early NASA satellite black and white images to custom make roadmaps for his 'The Baja Book' guidebook series. While his placement of the roads wasn't always spot on, it served his need.

If you guys don't mind to indulge me with this project, I am going to see if I can use available computer editing and see if it works well enough to be of use in a possible guide. Feedback welcome!

I may not get very far with any of these, but maybe one of you has a good idea you would care to share! Yes, I have been suggested to use Google Maps. Maybe I am slow to figure it out, but there are many layers to those maps I don't want to clutter up what I want to show... basically the main roads plus side trips I am featuring in the new guide. Plus, I would want to add or change names on their map.

I think I will test on the part of Baja I have spent most of my years camping and exploring around, San Felipe to Puertecitos and inland to the San Pedro Mártir.

I have done the first three steps...

Step 1: Capture satellite image
Step 2: Crop and enhance
Step 3: Add (some) place names

Next, I need to figure how to add road lines and other symbols (campos, ranchos, mines, peaks, etc.).

First attempt:


Note: I already see that the map doesn't include enough of Valle Chico to show the Sierra canyons, plus the text font is too big. As I said, this is a test! Thank you!!



[Edited on 12-11-2017 by David K]

Quote: Originally posted by David K

This is to do on my desktop, not any mobile device. Thank you for any help!

Thanks Paul and Goat for some input I will explore.

I guess that issue is I want to do this soon without having to take a 'college course' first (lol). Maybe I am just feeling worn out after 20,000 miles driving all over Baja this year!?

You see the space map I was able to make easily above (using Flash Earth and Photobucket)? Flash Earth might be better than Google Earth for me because there isn't already stuff added in?

Well, the next step is adding a line or parallel lines to show roads. Maybe in Paint? I will try!

JZ, this is something that I want to produce and not farm out to India, but thank you still!

I greatly appreciate constructive suggestions and your patience with me as I feel a bit maxed out!

That will be up to the publisher. I was just hoping to create something a level up from hand drawn, which I have done for most of my life...

Some of the best or more user-friendly Baja maps were hand-drawn, from before the computer age:

1962 Gulick Maps:


1970 Cross Maps:
]

1982 'David K' Maps:

I use QGIS, there's a plugin that lets you use GE, Bing, USGS, NASA and other satellite based imagery as background.



I usually create my routes on GE or download from my gps my tracks and waypoints, then import to QGIS all the stuff to create my maps.

It has a its own map designer to print or export in any commercial format, you can add almost any feature you may need on the map, and you can edit almost anything.

I've found it very useful, even more than ArcMap, which by the way, it's not available anymore.

Another bonus, its that there's available (usually for free) almost any information you may need, from power lines, soil types, vegetation, roads, geological, hydrological, and many many more.

Cool

Any GIS software can be a bit overwhelming, if you don't need that much power, then GE can be your best bet.

I guess you already know how to edit a track or route, and how to change the icon for the waypoints.

In GE Pro you can create a custom map for printing or export, it will display only the layers you have selected.

If you want to give it a try, go to File, then Save as and select Save image, you'll have something like this:



In the box on the upper right that says "Legend", you can click on it and edit the names of the features displayed on the map.

Its way more simple than a GIS map, you can select if you want to have a only a scale bar, the compass, the box with the features of the selected layers and a box with an editable title and description.



Goat was correct in terms of that you can't edit some things, like the font, but you can change the color and the size. Also you can select the resolution of your map.



I have some files with most of the data (roads, towns, POI) of Baja California and Baja Sur, if you need something very specific, just ask.

[Edited on 11-15-2017 by Archie]

[Edited on 11-15-2017 by Archie]

"...if you need something very specific, just ask."

Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666

cool. what map software/program are you using?

Quote: Originally posted by David K

Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666   cool. what map software/program are you using? ArcGIS for first steps, then Word for additional edits. I will see if I can figure out this Visio program that Ted mentioned...

Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666

Quote: Originally posted by David K   Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666   cool. what map software/program are you using? ArcGIS for first steps, then Word for additional edits. I will see if I can figure out this Visio program that Ted mentioned... Arcgis is the best for what you want. Though very expensive!

San Felipe area map edit...

OK, so I added gas pumps and a jet plane (for the airport)... plus a copyright note and date ©, a couple other little things.

I think I will now work on my trip from Cd. Constitucion to Mission San Luis Gonzaga, La Pasion, Dolores overlook and on to San Evaristo!

As these take some time and effort... I plan to make maps only of the areas where a visual addition to the road guide contents would be a real boost. I may keep on doing more and more... but, I do need to do other things!

To keep me drawing maps and writing: contact me for my books, tour guide service, travel planning, or irrigation systems and repairs (in N. San Diego County)!



[Edited on 12-15-2017 by David K]

Ciudad Constitución to San Evaristo and 3 missions.

Today's map project...



This is the first test run... I see a couple things to fix already, lol! The only Pemex stations in this area are at Constitución, so I don't think I will stuff a pump icon in the city circle. These maps are to help visualize where the roads mentioned in my road guide are in relation to each other and do not intend to show all that is there... the road guide does that well enough. Also, in addition to the road into San Luis Gonzaga from Hwy. 1 being a well-graded road, the road passing La Presa to La Soledad (with a couple kilometer markers along it) is also well-graded... I just didn't want to fill the maps with too much extra detail. It gets too busy to be easy to look at at some point.

Tijuana to El Tigre

Update:
A revised version of the Tijuana Area Map:




[Edited on 12-15-2017 by David K]

Ensenada/Santo Tomás area map:



Some improvements/additions...



[Edited on 12-27-2017 by David K]

Some edits...



[Edited on 12-27-2017 by David K]

Quote: Originally posted by David K

OK, so I added gas pumps and a jet plane (for the airport)... plus a copyright note and date ©, a couple other little things. I think I will now work on my trip from Cd. Constitucion to Mission San Luis Gonzaga, La Pasion, Dolores overlook and on to San Evaristo! As these take some time and effort... I plan to make maps only of the areas where a visual addition to the road guide contents would be a real boost. I may keep on doing more and more... but, I do need to do other things! To keep me drawing maps and writing: contact me for my books, tour guide service, travel planning, or irrigation systems and repairs (in N. San Diego County)! Latest version San Felipe Region:

San Pedro Mártir Area

This map is for the observatory highway (black line) and other area roads described in the roadguide.

I have also been editing the other maps I have shared here making improvement and John M has been a big help creating icons for the map (highway signs, gas pumps, jet planes, missions, etc.).

The actual drawing in of roads I am including and placing icons and text for names and km. markers, etc. takes up to 8 hours per map, so far.

Believe me, using someone else's maps would be a whole lot easier!

Quote: Originally posted by David K

The actual drawing in of roads [...]

Quote: Originally posted by geoffff

Quote: Originally posted by David K   The actual drawing in of roads [...] Hey David, I love your maps! You're not actually "drawing" the roads by hand, are you? I would assume you could import GPS tracks from your travels. -- Geoff

First version El Rosario to Cataviña

Thanks to John M for creating the cool mine and airplane symbols!

Quote: Originally posted by TMW

David on the San Felipe map above you show several K numbers on the west side. Did you calculate them yourself or are there KM signs posted along the way? Also what is at K58?

Quote: Originally posted by Udo

I gotta throw in my dos centavos here: Superb effort DK, and excellent maps. Graham MacIntosh spent a few days at my house in Ensenada this week, and some of our discussion topic was southern Baja. We used the Baja Almanac a lot. Your name was mentioned a number of times during our information exchange.

Quote: Originally posted by TacoFeliz

Really nice work David! Looking forward to seeing where all this leads. Jay

Thanks, Jay!
It has been almost a year since I began this project for Baja Bound Insurance... 7 expeditions, each lasting from 6-14 days... nearly 20,000 miles of driving all over Baja in 2017... and then putting it all on paper (or on screen). Making these maps is the final raw work before it all goes together. Editing is so key. I am getting great help from Nomads like John M, with good eyes and guidebook writing experience. The author of the final auto club Baja guidebook is having lunch with me today as he has been giving me feedback too. He loves Baja very much and it was very sad when the Auto Club of Southern California ended their 90 years of giving us so many Baja books and maps!

I just made some fine tuning to the San Felipe area map:

Edit: Taco Felix did a great job removing the splice line, thank you!



[Edited on 12-19-2017 by David K]

Quote: Originally posted by PaulW

David, It might be a good idea to come up with a way to mark the KM on the way to Algodon, because nobody will be able to find any KM markers. Maybe something like Italics or Prens? Good work - keep it up.

Here's the next one...


Notice I put in the new Hwy. 5 route that bypasses Coco's Corner.

Quote: Originally posted by PaulW

Just an observation If you had made a GPS track for your travels the effort would have been hugely less intensive. I like your final product

Latest version: Paved roads into L.A. Bay, La Gringa, Santa Rosalillita; Gas Pump; Larger mission icon.

The steps...

Since this is a How To Make Maps Q & A thread and Nomads have been super with help, let me see if I can visualize the steps. Maybe MORE Nomads will begin making maps and help others find a Baja paradise and improve the lives of those in Baja who benefit from the visitors who come to Baja.

OK Step 1 is to pick a region of Baja. So far, I have done two scales as you can see from the scale bars on the maps. One is 6 km. bar and allows better detail if many roads or points are in the area of interest. The other is 10 km. and can cover from Pacific to Cortez or larger areas of Baja. This is the scale I am doing more at.

The next map I will make will be from the bottom of my previous one, approx. Punta Rosarito on the Pacific and Pancho's San Rafael, on the gulf south to the state border.

Here is the base map at 10 km. scale and basically it gives you the coastline, mountains, and Highway 1, almost nothing else. Maps are all oriented with north at the top, but I add a compass rose because I think it is cool to have one on a map.

This is my base map, without enhancement, everything else you will see I add to it. I cropped the bottom of it at the state border and I removed a small toolbar for changing the size of the map by coloring over it, if you have good color vision, you may see the slightly different shade of blue in the upper left corner:


So, besides topography and the ocean/gulf only Highway 1 is shown and the state name along the border.

STEP 2
Add in the roads I want to show. These are roads I traveled this year that are being included in the Guide (exception is the Valle La Bocana road). Other than Highway 1, all the roads are hand drawn in traced from the satellite image. The base map can be switched from the Road map to Satellite image, then a pencil or line tool allows one to draw in the roads desired.



Next step (after a break, as I am exhausted and hungry) will be to add in icons for highway signs, gas pumps, airports, missions, the compass and scale bar. I also then add in the place names and small black squares or circles for places on the map.

STEP 3: Add most of the rest! Names, Symbols, Icons, I even added a road I forget to earlier (to La Unión). I think I just need to add Km. markers along Hwy. 1 and then enhance the image...



STEP 4: Add in the kilometer markers at the desired locations. Again, these additions are all done in Word. The text is added in using the Text Box: Draw Text Box choice. The font size is adjusted if needed and generally, I make the font bold to be easier to read. For terrain/ocean names I use a different font. The whole idea is to customize to fit the map.
Besides adding the km. marker points, I also noticed I needed to add a road out to the old Laguna Guerrero Negro salt dock.
Finally, I enhance the map colors in my Photobucket hosting Photo Editing feature....



I can always go back to the map, saved in Word, and add more.

The steps from Word to Nomad are numerous and perhaps there is a better way. This just how I figured out how, so if you want to do the same, maybe it will help?

A) Get Base Map. I used ArcGIS and chose the base map "Streets" but flipped back to "Imagery" (satellite view) and edited with "Map Notes" to draw in roads. Once done, I use Print Screen (on the keyboard) and then Paint, Paste, Save... convert PNG to JPEG, Save. Then go to Documents, Pictures, Edit, Crop, Close File.

B) Open up Word and pick a blank sheet and the Insert, Picture (pick the maps I just saved in Pictures), and begin to add in icons, roads, text all using Insert (Pictures, Shapes, Text Box).

C) When done, click on the map, click Format, click Corrections and fine tune the map image, if needed. Have the map (on Word) as large as the window will allow without cutting the map off and then perform the Print/Paste operation again (Paint, Paste, Save... convert PNG to JPEG, Save. Then go to Documents, Pictures, Edit, Crop, Close File).

Anyway, that is my method (for now) and if you want to try and make maps to show, I hope this tutorial will be of assistance. Feel free to email or u2u me any questions.




[Edited on 12-20-2017 by David K]

Edit with improved size scale bar

The scale bar was pretty tiny to see/use. A big thank you to Taco Felix for making a larger one to use...
John M has also been a super help with all the symbols/icons he has provided!

Quote: Originally posted by David K

A) Get Base Map. I used ArcGIS and chose the base map "Streets" but flipped back to "Imagery" (satellite view) and edited with "Map Notes" to draw in roads. Once done, I use Print Screen (on the keyboard) and then Paint, Paste, Save... convert PNG to JPEG, Save. Then go to Documents, Pictures, Edit, Crop, Close File. B) Open up Word and pick a blank sheet and the Insert, Picture (pick the maps I just saved in Pictures), and begin to add in icons, roads, text all using Insert (Pictures, Shapes, Text Box). C) When done, click on the map, click Format, click Corrections and fine tune the map image, if needed. Have the map (on Word) as large as the window will allow without cutting the map off and then perform the Print/Paste operation again (Paint, Paste, Save... convert PNG to JPEG, Save. Then go to Documents, Pictures, Edit, Crop, Close File). Anyway, that is my method (for now) and if you want to try and make maps to show, I hope this tutorial will be of assistance. Feel free to email or u2u me any questions. [Edited on 12-20-2017 by David K]

Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666

Quote: Originally posted by David K   [Edited on 12-20-2017 by David K] Word is a very poor graphics program. You can do almost everything in Arcgis. If uncomfortable with Arcgis, then export to Adobe Illustrator or MS Visio - they are pretty intuitive graphics programs. Dont use Word for graphics!

Here is today's map... so far>>>

[Edit, added "4WD" on two roads]



[Edited on 12-21-2017 by David K]

Quote: Originally posted by David K

Here is today's map... so far>>>

Need to add notes and arrows for surf breaks, so guidebook is useful to surfers!
Perhaps Woody can mark up your map to illustrate breaks, campsites, etc

Quote: Originally posted by 4x4abc

David, do you have a reader for shp files? since I am Mac based, I have limited options

Quote: Originally posted by David K

Quote: Originally posted by TacoFeliz   Really nice work David! Looking forward to seeing where all this leads. Jay Thanks, Jay! It has been almost a year since I began this project for Baja Bound Insurance... 7 expeditions, each lasting from 6-14 days... nearly 20,000 miles of driving all over Baja in 2017... and then putting it all on paper (or on screen). Making these maps is the final raw work before it all goes together. Editing is so key. I am getting great help from Nomads like John M, with good eyes and guidebook writing experience. The author of the final auto club Baja guidebook is having lunch with me today as he has been giving me feedback too. He loves Baja very much and it was very sad when the Auto Club of Southern California ended their 90 years of giving us so many Baja books and maps! I just made some fine tuning to the San Felipe area map: Edit: Taco Felix did a great job removing the splice line, thank you! [Edited on 12-19-2017 by David K]

Quote: Originally posted by Barry A.

QUESTION: Back in the old days ('50's and '60's) the "main road" (only road?) south from Diablo dry lake to Rancho Algodone ran along the base of the Sierra SPM and was nothing more than a substantial dirt track but 2-wheel drive was fine most of the time. I notice that "road" is no longer on your map, but you do make reference to it in your narrative, I think. Does that road no longer exist?

Quote: Originally posted by StuckSucks

Quote: Originally posted by Barry A.   QUESTION: Back in the old days ('50's and '60's) the "main road" (only road?) south from Diablo dry lake to Rancho Algodone ran along the base of the Sierra SPM and was nothing more than a substantial dirt track but 2-wheel drive was fine most of the time. I notice that "road" is no longer on your map, but you do make reference to it in your narrative, I think. Does that road no longer exist? You mean it ran more due south than passing thru Morelia Jct?

Quote: Originally posted by Barry A.

Yes, Steve, and more west right along the base of the SPM. At that time, the Morelia road did not exist, as far as I know. On Edit: The road I am talking about shows up clearly on the older editions of the BAJA ATLAS.

Yes Barry, it is there, along the base of the mountain... Now, a few cattle gates are across it and that requires a lot of opening and closing.

I last drove it from Algodon north to Diablo Dry Lake in 2004 when Nomad 'jide' and I explored the canyons from Parral north to Cajon.

Here, I just made this to show the old road on the west side of the valley. Algodón is at the lower left corner and Diablo Dry Lake is at the top...

EDIT: Thanks to your question, Barry... I found a mistake to fix! The road I showed as Km. 31 (El Cajon) is not! That will be resolved right away! THIS IS (a good reason) WHY I SHARE MY WORK HERE...





OK, here is the corrected San Felipe Area Map:



[Edited on 12-21-2017 by David K]

Merry Christmas

I just redid the Dolores area map (Cd. Constitución to San Evaristo):



After Christmas, I will be getting back to work on them.

[Edited on 12-25-2017 by David K]

Back to work! South (7) Sisters Map

Before moving into Baja Sur, I needed to cover the Mexicali-San Felipe area a bit. Here is one of two maps (at least for the Hwy. 5 corridor and Laguna Salada roads that are mentioned in the future guide.

This is the first draft... I may be adding to it or adjusting what I put on it...

Today's work... just south of the previous. I think that's all I have for Baja Norte, at this time. Next... on to Baja Sur!