Alternative Designs for Dot-Matrix Printer Maps

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Abstract
In a previous study Groop and Smith (1982) illustrated how the dot-matrix printer could be used to produce choropleth maps. In their study a 9 × 6 = dot character cell was used as the basic building block for a map. Borders surrounding areal units were represented by solid black character cells (all 54 dots in a cell were printed). Different shades were obtained by printing different proportions of contiguous dots extending from the center of a cell. One problem with their approach was that the resulting map appeared rather coarse, principally due to the very wide borders surrounding areal units. An alternative approach is to use the more flexible graphics-mode option available on dot-matrix printers. In this mode a building block as small as a single dot can be specified. A distinct advantage of this approach is that borders of one dot in width are possible. In this approach single dots are combined to create larger conceptual building blocks, and these in turn are combined to create areal shades. Quite different looking maps are achieved by printing different arrangements of dots within the conceptual building block. Three arrangements are illustrated, including the contiguous one suggested by Groop and Smith (1982), a uniform, and a random one.

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