Custom maps can be fun to make and help to communicate the right message to your audience. Custom maps are used to show project areas, directions, events and locations in books and publications, exhibit maps, and much, much more. In today’s world of advanced digital cartography and geographic information systems (GIS), hand drawn maps still represent a well-accepted cartographic technique and provide the greatest flexibility for creativity.

Professionals often use digital mapping software called “geographic information systems” (GIS) to manage and analyze mapped data. These data, in the form of Shapefiles*, can be imported from other sources into Ortelius from Menu > File > Import Shapefile with some limitations. Read more »