Commons:Featured picture candidates/File:New York state geographic map-en.svg

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File:New York state geographic map-en.svg, featured[edit]

Voting period is over. Please don't add any new votes.Voting period ends on 16 Oct 2019 at 12:44:14 (UTC)
Visit the nomination page to add or modify image notes.

Geographic map of the state of New York
  • Category: Commons:Featured pictures/Non-photographic media/Maps
  •  Info created by ikonact - uploaded by ikonact - nominated by Ikonact -- Ikonact (talk) 12:44, 7 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  •  Support -- Ikonact (talk) 12:44, 7 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  •  Comment Great map, very close to excellent. Data sources are listed and finally somebody remembered to specify CRS/projection information! I have some minor points, though, regarding the labeling: 1) "CANADA" has the same font specifications as "Vermont", making it look like just another US state until you realize it's all caps. Maybe make it a bit larger? 2) Automatic label placement rarely leads to satisfying solutions. Especially the labels for "Long Island Sound", "Fishers Island", "Long Island" and "Staten Island" intersect with the state border in an ugly manner. "Oneida Lake" would look much better if it was rotated by a few degrees clock-wise. Most of the smaller city names are difficult to read, as they intersect with roads and other line features. Manual placement of the labels could help in many cases (alternatively, maybe consider using label halos). 3) General layout: The placement of the zoomed-out map between the two legends is a bit awkward. The frame of the elevational scale is thinner than the one of the other two boxes. The distance scale looks a bit lost so far away from the corner – generally distances of the legend boxes to the map borders and each other need adjustments. I'd probably cut away much more non-NY territory at the west, north and east – The state is so awkwardly shaped that you still should have plenty of space for your legend boxes. 4) Weird: Canada looks exactly like non-NY US states with mountains and the same kind of half-opaque masking, but it has no roads, rivers or settlements. Maybe just make it plain grey then? Lots of little things and none of them reason enough to oppose, but that's the kind of attention to detail that I'd like to see in a featured map. I guess I'll stay neutral for the moment, hoping that some of them may be addressed … --El Grafo (talk) 14:51, 7 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
@El Grafo: Thanks. I have updated the map taking onto accounts most of your comments. 1) Increased the font for "Canada" 2) Tried to improve the labeling 3) Moved the legends. I prefer not to cut the map as the map limits are fixed and if I cut by hand I will loose the precision 4) Added roads and cities. I deliberately avoided to put this data as it adds 3-4 MB of data but it is outside of the area of interest. Anyway, I agree that the map is nicer like this. --Ikonact (talk) 22:10, 8 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  •  Comment - Very good map, but I'd like to be able to blow it up to at least twice the full resolution of 2,811 × 2,000 pixels and see a lot more details, topographically, in terms of names of bodies of water (rivers, lakes, etc.), and in terms of towns. Long Island is very strangely devoid of towns, when several more would have fit easily. (How about Huntington, Port Jefferson and some on the South Shore?) -- Ikan Kekek (talk) 03:54, 8 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
@Ikan Kekek: Thanks for the comments. I would like to see also a higher resolution but Commons cannot handle the svg to pngs with higher than 2000-2500 pixels resolution. That's why I chose to use this resolution as optimal. I will try to add more details but I have to admit I find a bit difficult to understand the cities on Long Island. It looks like they are made of junction of several villages and this is not reflected in the geographical data I use for the map generation. I will try to work on this. --Ikonact (talk) 22:10, 8 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
I understand what you mean about cities in Long Island. There are counties, then towns, which are really sub-county divisions, and then the towns can be divided into villages and hamlets. That said, the village of Hempstead (as opposed to the much larger town of Hempstead) had a population of 53,891 in the 2010 Census and should definitely be included on the map. The hamlet of Huntington had a population of 18,406 in the 2010 Census. So basically, the terms "village" and "hamlet" have nothing much at all to do with population in Long Island. I think it's a real problem that higher resolution isn't possible. Is there anything that can be done about that? -- Ikan Kekek (talk) 01:33, 9 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  •  Support That looks like a nice map. I do agree with some point of El Grafo's thorough review, but I wonder if a fix wouldn't make it weirder. My complaint is that you should specify more widespread backup font for small labels (when I open the SVG in Chrome, the names are displayed using serif fonts, Times New Roman I believe). If you make it an SVG, I guess it's for people to use the SVG and not the PNG version rasterized on Wikimedia's servers, which has the proper fonts. I would also make "CANADA" bigger, to better emphasize the hierarchy. - Benh (talk) 16:53, 8 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
@Benh: Thanks. all comments are welcome. I will change the back-up font to sans-serif.--Ikonact (talk) 22:10, 8 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • Yes there's issue with using mediawiki's builtin rasterization process (I tried to render the map at 4000px width with no success), but the fact there's no prerendered output larger than 2000px has nothing to do with the map itself. Native 2811px width also available btw. If you use a decent browser, it should also render the svg properly for you to enjoy the tons of details in this map. - Benh (talk) 17:56, 9 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
To be clear, I think the map is insufficiently detailed for FP. Very few names of lakes and rivers are given, for example. I expect those on any thorough relief map. -- Ikan Kekek (talk) 18:36, 9 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • That is just me, but if I want the names of every single item of a map and a zoom which reveals more actual details, I'd check Google Map (or OSM). That's what these are for. It would have been very cluttered at nominal size to label everything. This maps also focuses on NY state (as per its title). - Benh (talk) 18:53, 9 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • You're asking yourself the wrong question. Again this is no topo map. It serves different purpose. No one goes hiking with this, and no topographic map of the size of the whole state would illustrate an article about "NY State". - Benh (talk) 18:44, 10 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • The question of how many details to include is always relevant in any map. As I said, the number of identified bodies of water is insufficient for me, and there should also be a few more towns. -- Ikan Kekek (talk) 22:22, 10 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  •  Oppose I would like to support this, as I have lived so much of my life in different areas of this map, including currently. But ... why does Interstate 86 disappear from the map east of Binghamton? NY Route 17 is now designated as I-86 all the way to the I-84 junction near Middletown? I can understand if the cartographer wants to highlight only interstate highways but ... Route 17 has existed as a limited-access route through the Catskills and Delaware Valley for years ... surely the map should reflect this?  Support now Daniel Case (talk) 20:43, 9 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  •  Weak support - Thanks for contributing this to Commons. I want to err on the side of supporting, because it seems quite competently done and I don't think I've seen a user-created map at FPC before. I'm learning a bit from this thread (e.g. that svgs have fonts built in and that mediawiki has a hard time with larger svgs). My only comment is to ask why Jersey City, Stamford, and Elizabeth are in the same dark font as NY cities, while the other cities of NJ and CT are grayed out? — Rhododendrites talk |  13:57, 10 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • To be accurate, SVG has no font built-in. We specify the font we want to use in the SVG (which is only a text file). If the computer rendering it has the font then it will be used. Otherwise, it uses a backup font (if specified) and resorts back to a default font of the renderer's choice, and amongst the ones present on the computer. The PNG of the description page are rendered on Wikimedia Foundation's servers and the text are outputted using the fonts there. If you look at the SVG directly, the fonts are chosen amongst the ones on your own computer. That is why it is always good practice to specify backup fonts which are widespread (Times New Roman, Arial, Courrier...) - Benh (talk) 18:44, 10 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  •  Support --Dinkum (talk) 17:55, 11 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  •  Support - I still think you can add a few towns (technically, villages or hamlets) on the South Shore of Long Island (such as perhaps Patchogue) and a place like Oneonta upstate, but I think this is a very good map for the whole state now. -- Ikan Kekek (talk) 05:47, 12 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  •  Strong support This is the encyclopedic style of maps that have been really polishing off articles like en:New York (state), and have added there a level of professionalism and standardization that we were missing. The other state maps ikonact has made are also worthy of recognition here. My only comment/question with this specific file, is whether there is place or level of zoom to note the names to the two Canadian provinces, Quebec and Ontario. I ask just because the caption we use on New York (state) says "New York is bordered by five U.S. states, two Great Lakes, and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec." I'd be very happy to see this promoted.-- Patrick, oѺ∞ 14:02, 12 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  •  Support Nice map. Having lived close to New York (Boston), I really miss the 6 hour drive to the Big Apple. --Boothsift 06:06, 15 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  •  Neutral Small detail: Between 2011 and 2015 Albany's population grew beyond 100.000. Therefore, it should have the same font as Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo. Also, Newark and Jersey City deserve the bigger font, too. -- Axel (talk) 06:50, 16 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • @Axel Tschentscher: Thanks for the comment. I used the 2010 US census as reference. This is the most recent official census. I can use estimates from the US Census Bureau, but the estimates data shows that Albany has never reached 100 000. I agree on the remark for Newark and Jersey City font but this is a choice I made. A smaller font allows better readability as these cities are outside of the area of interest. Otherwise I think the map will be overloaded around New York. --Ikonact (talk) 07:53, 16 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Confirmed results:
Result: 9 support, 0 oppose, 1 neutral → featured. /--Cart (talk) 13:37, 16 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
This image will be added to the FP gallery: Non-photographic media/Maps
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