When one is concerned with the placement of names on a map one should remember the following guiding principle:

"An optimal association should be achieved between the name and the named object".

The content of this module is based on teaching materials by Ferjan Ormeling and by Tjeerd Tichelaar. These teaching materials are made available as well, see the "documents" section.

The module contains the following chapters:

Introduction
Chapter 1: Spatial characteristics of map objects
Chapter 2: External factors: non textual map content
Chapter 3: Graphic variables of text
Chapter 4: Esthetics and legibility

When reading through the following pages, you will come across some unusual terms. These terms are hyperlinked to the UNGEGN Glossary of Terminology (pdf). Behind each term a number (#) is given that corresponds to the numbering applied in this glossary, e.g. toponymy (#344).

For exercises and documents (and literature) on this topic see respectively the "Exercises" and "Documents" section of this module.

The complete module can be downloaded here.