City Map Poster - Adobe Illustrator Tutorial
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- Опубликовано: 21 июн 2024
- Another viewer requested tutorial! In this video I show you how you can modify a vector map and turn it into a beautiful poster that you could print and hang on your wall.
The original map for this tutorial was sourced from www.openstreetmap.org and is licensed under an Open Database License. www.openstreetmap.org/copyright
In this tutorial I show you how to source a SVG file from Open Street Map, how to edit it in Illustrator and how to add it to a minimal poster layout.
The typeface I use for the poster is called Bison and was purchased from DesignCuts. Feel free to use a font of your own choosing for this project.
If you have any suggestions for other design based tutorials I'd love to hear them in the comments down below. Also if there was anything I missed in this video that you need clarification on let me know and I'll try to help out.
My Instagram feed: / designwisdom
My Behance page: www.behance.net/DaveWatkins
I am a Graphic Designer/Illustrator/Photographer/Creator with over 14 years of professional experience. Subscribe to my channel so I can share some of my creative knowledge with you.
By far the best tutorial I've come across. So glad I kept searching. Very thorough and completely relevant since I have Ai. Thank you so much!
Wow, thanks for the awesome compliment! Glad you found the tutorial useful.
Brilliant. I’m not a strong Illustrator user and you have detailed every step. Great, keep up the fantastic work.
Thank you very much! Glad you found the video helpful.
I’m at the beginning of my Illustrator journey, creating maps and this was the first video I watched. Thank you for the step by step explanation, such videos are the most valuable on the internet and it makes me continue my journey in adding Illustrator to my list of skills. 😊
That’s awesome! Illustrator was intimidating when I started to learn many years ago so being able to help others in their learning journey really means a lot to me. Best of luck!
One of the best tutorials I've seen. It's complete and everything is shown clearly, even shortcuts. Thank you so much!!!
I'm a beginner at design and I just couldn't understand how to work with Illustrator at all, you made it so much simpler. Definitely going to check more of your content. Again, thanks.
That’s awesome to hear! I always try to find a balance where my videos are easy to follow and interesting for people of all skill levels.
I have been looking for a long time for the technique to make this kind of card in poster format. Thank you very much!
I'm glad I was able to help!
SUPER. So many insightful tips which lead to a stunning result. I find it very compelling due to it‘s simplicity. Can‘t thank you enough, Dave. Very impressed how quickly you turned this one around. 💫👏👏👏👍🙏 Greetings and stay safe!
I'm so glad that you were happy with the result. It was a great suggestion on your part! I'll certainly be printing out a copy the poster for my office.
Thank you! This process was a lot easier than I expected it to be.
Thanks Pamela that's great to hear!
Kudos for sharing your process. I’ve been looking into creating similar designs and have been focusing on Map Box and Snazzy Maps as the map source. They allow for much easier map stylization and label removal, but the method you provide here allows for SVG export so you’re working with true vector art, which is a huge plus if you’re creating large posters.
Thanks for those two suggestions I’ll have to check them out. The process I shared here is tedious, but having true vector data and a generous Creative Commons licence is certainly a plus. I’ll need to keep my eyes peeled and possibly post an updated version of this tutorial if I find a better process.
jfc I was about ready to punch something until I found this video haha. Thank you! Great audio level, clean work space, perfect length, easy to understand and perfectly outlined. Seriously, thanks for the video.
Glad this video could help you avoid some frustration. Really appreciate the kind words!
Great tutorial! It was really easy to follow :D
Glad you think so! Thanks for checking it out.
Thank you for the excellent video, have watched quite a few map making vids and yours was the best one for using Illustrator, Cheers
Awesome, thank you! Really appreciate that.
Nice work! And thanks for putting the hot keys on the screen. Very helpful.
You’re very welcome! Key commands are the best! Hope that you’re able to add some of the shortcuts I shared to your workflow.
Thank you! It's useful for me to finish my works.
Glad it helped!
Best tutorial, thank you!
Thanks Julie! Glad you enjoyed it.
This is GODSENT thank you so so much!
You're very welcome. Glad to hear that this video was helpful.
Super helpful. Thank you!
Glad to hear that! Cheers.
Thanks for sharing this amazing tricks!
No worries! Thanks for checking it out!
Hi Dave; I found your RUclips when I was messing around in Astute Graphics. I'm here in Hot Springs Village, AR and I like doing maps. I saw your video on converting maps for art. That was a cool set of tools and ideas. Thanks for sharing your hard work and talent!
Hi Carol - Thanks for checking out my channel. Maps make such great subject matter. I'd personally love to be able to use a laser cutter to make custom map art.
@@davewatkinscreative That would be very cool in wood and black art that could be layered in some way.
Wow this was to easy to follow for a beginner like me. I'm using this as a chistmas gift for my boyfriend. I'll mark the spot of our first date on the map 😁
What a great idea!! Glad you enjoyed the video!
Thank you for such a great video!
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for leaving a comment.
thank you for your tutorial
very inspiring
Thanks Sam! Appreciate the comment.
Thanks Dave! it was really helpfull
That's awesome! Thanks so much for the comment.
i looooved it
Awesome! Glad you enjoyed the tutorial.
I was messing around with maps and I found that using the eraser tool helps too!
I personally don’t use the eraser tool that often but could totally see it being useful for this type of project!
Thank you very much!
You're very welcome! Thanks for checking out the tutorial.
great ill try it !
Awesome! Good luck!
Thank you for this.
You're very welcome! Thanks for having a look at this tutorial.
Hey thanks for the great video! FYI I found it easier to save as a pdf and open in illustrator - Just seemed to simplify the initial layers.
Glad you liked the video and thanks for sharing that tip! I hadn't tried a PDF export from OpenStreetMap before so that's a new thing to explore.
This is an incredible video. I'm trying to start a local business using photography and map art, and this is so helpful.
I am having one issue. I have done everything up until converting the map to black and white. Whenever I try and do this, All of the roads become white, and the open land surrounding it becomes black. I'm not sure why it's inverted, but I would love to know how to fix this. Thank you for this amazing video!
Thank you so much!!!!
You are very welcome. Thanks for checking out the tutorial.
Thank you!
You bet! Thanks for checking out the video.
Hi Dave, I’ve watched several tutorials about making a map and I somehow end up coming back to yours, with a few questions and a special request for a future tutorial.
Ive had that clipping mask issue when uploading the openstreetmap svg file to illustrator and I wasn’t successful in cleaning it up like you did. Another tutorial uploads a pdf, which made it seem easier to access the map image.
Would you say that’s a solution that will allow the same features as if I’d imported a svg file?
As for my request, would you be able to make that same minimalist Toronto Map but this time with neighbourhood names, and if there’s a way to select all the words and change the font, all at once.
Also how to organize layers, say I want to show parks or street names in a different versions.
Thanks again for sharing by your knowledge, it’s super helpful!
Julie
Very nice 👌 👍 👏 😀 ☺️ 😊 👌
Wow! Appreciate that.
If you are having an issue downloading a map please check your scaling in my case it was not updating and my svg size was always in 210 KB range. In scaling type 11000 and you are good to go :)
Dave, I'm not much of a SVG expert, but the way I understand it the "Tiny" error has to relate to the SVG Tiny format meant for cell/smartphones. I think that SVG type doesn't handle clipping masks. So, if you try to save the file back to SVG Tiny, the clipping mask will/may not save with rest of the file.
Thanks for the info Justin. I rarely come across SVG files and had zero idea what the "Tiny" error meant. It's good to get this explanation. Cheers!
Great video
Appreciate that!
THANK YOU
You're very welcome!
Dude this is amazing, exactly what I was looking for to start creating to cool city artwork. Quick question though, for copywriting if you print this map all you have to do is put the name "OpenStreetMap" somewhere on the map or printed area?
I found a wiki page that details the copyright notices that need to be used for artwork created with openstreetmap data at the following link. wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Licence/Attribution_Guidelines
God bless you
Great video! How would I add city boundaries to an export? A map with multiple cities (boundaries included). Thanks
Hi Henry. Unfortunately I'm not sure how to find that level of data in Open Street Map. From what I can tell it's possible to zoom out while using the transport map layer and get state/provincial and country boundaries... But I'm not seeing a way to get city boundaries.
I want to do this as black and white metro maps. I printed in the past some metro maps from around the world and hang them on my wall in a unorganized poster board aesthetic but because they were colored and my printer is black and white they looked grey and had too much detail it wasn’t ugly and I liked it but it bothered me for so long. I thought about asking a printing house to print me some colored posters but now I can try to make black and white versions at home for free. It will save me money and time thank you for enlightening me.
Sounds like a great idea. Best of luck with your posters!
Hi Dave. Thank you for this video! Super helpful. I am trying to create a map of Chicago for laser cutting however, I keep running into roadblocks. I can see how the Open Street map works for printing but needs a lot of work to change the lines into one connected outline for laser cutting. Do you know how I could do that?
Not speaking from experience here as I don't have a laser cutter... I imagine what you'll want to do is outline the stroked elements of the map and then use the unite feature in the pathfinder to give you a compound path that would be suitable for laser cutting.
Great
Cheers!
Hi, amazing video mate! Everything worked completely well. I just got one doubt, when I'm trying to do the transform by scale, a pop-up tells " Can't scale the objects. The requested transformation will make some objects fall completely off the drawing area." How do I go about this?
Hey thanks for reaching out about this issue. The maximum drawing area size in Illustrator is about 227inches square. When increasing the size of the map for the stroke trick I demonstrated your map must be getting too large which is why you're getting that error. You could try scaling your original map down first so that it's smaller to begin with. Make sure you have "scale strokes and effects" on for that so that the stroke scales down with your map. Then try increasing the size of the map again with scale stroke and effects turned off to get the proportional reduction in stroke weight. Let me know if that works for you!
I had the same problem - the issue was a certain part of the map that I did not see at first - zoom all out to check for unnecessary parts. It was like a massive river outside the A4 canvas. Deleting the river fixed the issue.
Awesome video! Brand new to illustrator and was able to walk right through it! One problem I am having is trying to get it over to light burn for a laser project, all the lines out side of the Clipping Mask are carrying over. Any help would be amazing! Awesome video, thanks for showing this!
Hey! Thanks for checking out the tutorial. I have two possible solutions for you.
1.Clipping masks can be used to crop underlying artwork using the "crop" function (4th option/second row) in the pathfinder palette. However this can be hit or miss... especially with complicated artwork. I double checked on my sample poster and was able to get it to work by outlining all strokes and using the "unite" pathfinder option to merge the map together prior to applying the clipping mask. At that point the crop function deleted all of the excess map that was hidden by the clipping map.
2. This is more of a question as I'm not familiar with Lightburn. From what I saw online Lightburn doesn't require vector files for engraving projects. That being said could you just export a PNG of the clipped map without worrying about deleting the actual excess vector material in your original file?
Let me know if either of these solutions works for you.
@@davewatkinscreative Great thanks so much the first option seemed to work well for me! I am really loving this tutorial. I do keep running into an issue when trying to Transform > Scale saying the transformation would make objects too large. If you have a quick fix that would be awesome! Otherwise I am working through it, appreciate your tutorial and response!
Hey. I’ve run into that issue many times. Up until recently the max workspace size in illustrator was roughly 227” x 227”. Any instance where artwork would be moved or scaled beyond that size would produce that error message. If you’re using Ai2023 you should be able to create a new XL work space larger than 227” square paste in the map artwork that you’re working on and then scale it back down as needed without the error message. I’ve also avoided that error by removing excess material manually first to avoid having the transformation falling outside the workspace limits. Hope that helps.
@@davewatkinscreative Truly appreciate the help! Will be back for more videos for sure. The suggestion worked wonderfully. Cheers
@@davewatkinscreative I also found an alternative route just now. I noticed everything was grouped. If you ungroup more layers are shown than before, which are rather large shapes (maybe county outlines) and when you remove them scaling is allowed again. Cheers
Great tutorial! I came across one issue though, not sure if I have missed a step or not. When I make the chipping mask i get an error message saying "The top object is very complex and may cause the document to fail to print or preview if used as a mask. Then it disappears.
Hey thanks for checking out the tutorial. That error comes up all the time. Generally what’s happened is the layer order of objects is mixed up. You want to make sure that the simple path that you’re using to make the mask is at the top of the layer order. Double check that the shape you want the mask to be is selected and at the top of the layer order.
Great video, the instructions are very clear. However, I am having the issue of blank document when I import the SVG into Illustrator. I followed the steps you outlined and am able to see the map but only as black and white lines, I can't see the colours. Any ideas why this may be happening?
Hi CK - To me it sounds like you might be in outline mode which would explain why you were only seeing black and white lines once you clear the clipping mask. Could you try switching to preview mode and see if that solves your issue? The command for that is CMD Y and it can also be found near the top of the view menu.
@@davewatkinscreative yep, that’s what I was doing wrong! Thank you so much, very helpful for a beginner.
Thats awesome! Glad I was able to help out. Switching between outline and preview mode is a key technique to learn in Illustrator as it allows you to trouble shoot documents and to select objects that are buried beneath others in the layers.
Great video, i just have one question. I have a great gaming pc that can run anything very smoothly, but when i try to make a map, adobe illustrator just takes hours to load for every tiny step, and crashes when im almost done. Why does Adobe Illustrator not load when i try this?
In my experience Illustrator can be unstable when dealing with extremely complicated files no matter what machine I've been working on. I've grown used to this and always do my best to save as often as possible to avoid losing work, I also look for any opportunity to simplify elements. Frustrating I know. Sorry I couldn't offer a better solution.
Hi Dave thanks for this tutorial, but one question how can i get rid off everything outside the clipping mask?
Great question! There is an option in the pathfinder panel that will let you trim everything that is hidden by a clipping mask. It's called "trim" and should be the second option from the left on the bottom row. I have run into issues with stroked artwork not trimming properly with this feature. What I found worked was to outline all of the strokes and then run the trim feature to clean up all items hidden by the clipping mask. Let me know if that works for you.
@@davewatkinscreative That was the trick, thanks again for this great tutorial with a fantastic result,
Great tutorial but in my case it has overlapping lines on top of each other with one different strokes what to do? Second while creating mask I;m getting an error or pop up saying "The top object is very complex and may cause the document o fail to print or preview if used as make" want to make it as mask when I say yes all the lines kind of disappear any idea?
Hey there - not sure exactly what you mean about the overlapping lines. All of the maps that I have downloaded so far include lines that overlap. For the second issue it sounds like the shape you wanted to use as your mask wasn’t at the top of your layer order. Make sure the shape you’re trying to use isn’t grouped and that it is located at the top of the layer order when you make your selection - then use the make mask feature. The warning you were getting indicates that you had a complex path at the very top of the layer order and Illustrator was trying to use that as the mask.
@@davewatkinscreativeI meant so many overlapping strokes this is what I meant and even If I change the stroke thickness nothing happens
if i want to make this a poster i should use the real dimentions to print it after?
You could set up your map at any size and then scale it to fit your final print size. Just be aware that your stroke sizes don't shift when you adjust the scale.
I was about to make my maps sell these on Etsy etc but unfortunately, that is not possible right? Are there other possibilities where I can make use of my map-making skills for profit cuz getting a job with my qualifications in this day of age is nearly impossible
The site that I used to source the map data has a detailed page describing the Creative Commons licence that they use. It mentions there that commercial use is acceptable and they only require proper attribution. I would take a look at the following link for more information.
wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Licence/Licence_and_Legal_FAQ#What_is_the_licence.2C_how_can_I_use_it.3F
Can somebody explain to me how he gets the svg file to display Rich Black ? no matter what I do I still get an awful washed grey colour
While I was making this video I didn't do anything special to get the rich black look. Without seeing your file I'm just guessing here but sometimes an existing transparency or blending mode of an object can get applied accidentally to the map. I would have a look at the transparency tab and/or the appearance tab to make sure you don't have any unwanted effects applied. Let me know if that works.
Ive spent hours and hours on this and am totally stuck. I probably should be more fluent with illustrator. When I download a map from open street map, it keeps area WAY beyond my viewed area (in my case a few river that go on and on). So im left with a map that is far bigger than I want and whenever I try to scale it makes it bigger than the drawing area.
The vector data that gets exported from open street map can be quite messy. The majority of this video was just me explaining how I cleaned up the maps that I exported. In your case since you’re dealing with unwanted paths that are sprawling way past the edges of the area you want to focus on there are multiple tools in illustrator that you can use to clean those up. You could use the pathfinder drop a rectangle over the unwanted area and use the minus feature to delete the area under the rectangle, you could use the scissor tool to cut the path and then delete the excess, or you could use the direct selection arrow to pick up the unwanted points and press the delete key. All of these options may cause unwanted results. If the path in question was grouped, the pathfinder option will likely not work. The scissor tool may cause issues depending on if the path was open or filled. The other thing to consider is if the river path even falls into the area of the finished map you’re trying to create. If it doesn’t, you could just delete it outright without having to use any other tools. Hope that helps with your project.
Dude thank you so much!@@davewatkinscreative
Hey, I came here looking for an answer to my issue. My SVG is blank when I load it. Outline mode reveals it is there. Releasing it doesn't seem to do anything. I've cleaned up the data as much as I can, but I only ever see the outlines or the highlight when selected. Any ideas as to what I am doing wrong?
Hey there - I ran into the hidden artwork with many files and I just tested a new one after reading your comment. In all cases it was an opacity mask that was hiding the map. Did you see the instructions at 3:10 - 4:10 about releasing an opacity mask by using the transparency panel? You'll want to have the map selected with either the main selection tool or by selecting all (CMD A) then when looking in the transparency panel you should see a solid black square on the right - a press of the release button there should put you in a spot to go in and clean up all of the random paths. Please let me know if you're able to figure this out.
@@davewatkinscreative So funny you commented now, I figured out the problem, and the problem was me, being too hasty xD
I am not exactly sure why this happened, but when I released the panel. Somehow a white panel (or something like it, I couldn't grab it or anything) was overlaying the map. When I tried to delete nodes, either I was using the general select or node select, or when I was deleting I may have double tapped the DEL button. (this is a serious issue for me, I spent €120 on this goddamn keyboard, and it is just way to sensitive, it makes typing a pain in the butt. I hate it, but I really dont want to go buy a new one)
So when I released the mask the last time, and then removed the layer covering it (from thee layers menu, it took a while), I could then see the map.
Now I am running into the issue where I can't remove thee buildings, as it seems like the image has been flattened, even if I know that can't be the case. If you have extra tips to provide, I kindly await them, but feel free to not. I can probably work it out (with patience).
Thanks for the speedy reply. Just found your channel, very interested in your videos.
Well I'm glad you were able to figure out the first issue... hopefully you don't need to replace your keyboard.
Now on to the second issue you are having. The first step to trouble shooting the problem I would suggest is to switch back and forth between outline and preview mode while zoomed into area of the element thats giving you problems. In a few of the maps I worked on there were symbols that didn't show up at all in outline mode. The cause ended up being that the symbols were actually a pattern fill and not individual vector shapes. This would give the impression that the symbols were a flattened image. I found in these instances that I could either change the fill to a solid colour or sometimes just delete the whole shape that contained the symbols all together.
The second thing I can think of would be if the symbols were contained in a clipping mask. If you switch to outline mode and the symbol you're looking at does in fact have vector outlines it's likely that there's a clipping mask that is making it difficult to select the smaller individual elements. Here I'd want to find and release the main clipping mask to be able to have easier access to the symbol inside. This might taking some digging through the layers or some work with the selection tools to grab the right element.
Hope all of this made sense. Let me know if it ends up working out for you.
Also, I really appreciate the kind words about my channel!
11:33 when I am trying select the frame my map is disappearing
I dont have adobe illustrator. Do i need to have it???
For this tutorial I’m afraid so. I’m not familiar with any other vector editing software so can’t comment on what’s possible.
I've done all the steps until 9:18
But when I copy and paste the map to my new document, the outlines have a veeery light grey color. Even though it indicates it is black. What can possibly go wrong here?
Without seeing your file/workflow I'm not entirely sure what the issue is. When objects aren't appearing the way you think they should in Illustrator you could use the appearance panel to confirm if there are unwanted settings applied to your object. Perhaps your map ended up with a transparency or blending mode applied. The other area I would check would be the layer panel. There you could confirm if you have an additional transparent shape covering your map. Hope you're able to solve the mystery!
@@davewatkinscreative thanks for your reply! You managed to include quite some useful tips in there :)
I already used a different method to get the map design for the poster I was working on. But still appreciate the reply!
Awesome! Glad to hear you were able to get it to work.
How do you click on the whole map at 12:05?? Makes no sense to me that you can select all of the maps?? I can only select one vertex when I do it.. this clipping mask is so hard for me and it should be so simple.
At 12:05 the map that I selected was grouped together so using the regular selection arrow picks up the whole group. If you are having issues at this point it either means that your map wasn't grouped or you were using the direct selection arrow (the white one) and that mean you would pick up small sections of the map instead of the whole thing like I did in the demonstration. Hope that helps!
@@davewatkinscreative thanks! Yes, the map wasn’t grouped!
Commercial use available?
From what I can tell yes. Looks like the main requirement for using the map data is attribution. Here is a link that I found with examples of usage that is allowed. wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Licence/Attribution_Guidelines
But now, how to print it without exporting .pdf and using Acrobat Reader???
What format would you like to export it as? There are lots of options if you go to File>Export>Export As. If you’re trying to print and don’t need to maintain the vector data you could use .tif and select CMYK at 300dpi.
Mind boggling that we are in 2022 and there is no good map editor out there that can actually change the style of the map, add routes, markers and what not, we used to have software like that from early 2000s but none of them accept newer formats anymore.
I was shocked when the request for this tutorial came in that there wasn't an easier way to accomplish this. Seems like a tool that should be available.
@@davewatkinscreative I'm a geography graduate and I specialise in GIS and geoinformatics, trust me when I say that there is a WAY easier method to do this, although you have to be quite well versed in GIS software for that! I have done maps like this and in simple terms the steps are this:
1. We don't go directly to OpenStreetMap, but rather an OSM API, where we can actually download the geodata. This means we download all the information on roads, buildings, train tracks etc., so basically everything we can see in the map.
2. We load the geodata into GIS. Every object in our OSM dataset has different attributes and values, so a road would be a "line feature" with the value "highway" for example. We can filter our dataset based on this.
3. We give different styles to different values, so we can color all highways red with a line width of 1 mm (for example)
4. We do this to all objects we want in our final map (highways, rivers, smaller roads, buildings if we want) but give them a minimalist black/white color scheme
5. When we do this, we do it for our complete dataset, so now we can go anywhere in the world and have the same style everyhwere, we don't have to do it all over just because we want another city!
It's simple but effective cartography in the end :)
@@legendary_igel_master Can you teach how to do this?
Sheeeeeeeeeee
Thank you. In my case, PDF files work far better.
That’s good to know! A few others have also pointed out that the PDF export worked better for them.
Lighting in the beginning of the video is too saturated