What do the colors on our maps represent? Raven Maps bring the U.S.G.S. materials up to date with current roads and reservoirs. We then go far beyond the originals by adding color tints to depict elevation. The colors progress from greens at lower elevations, through yellows and browns, to grey and finally white at the highest altitudes in the mountainous states. This sequence of color steps replaces the abstraction of contour lines with a graphic picture of elevation.-- and, in combination with the relief shading, of the entire landform. We have been publishing maps for over twenty years. In that time, many people have asked for more information about how we actually go about making or building a map. Maps must be accurate, but they should also be beautiful. Raven's state wall maps were prepared using base materials originally produced by the U.S. Geological Survey for their definitive 1:250,000 scale series. These extremely detailed bases identify thousands of features, even minor lakes and streams ignored by most maps. We have maps for all 50 states. On the Hawaii map, the technique is extended to the ocean floor with a startlingly three-dimensional result.

The Raven United States (except Alaska and Hawaii) map was produced in the same way as the state maps. It contains an amazing wealth of details. For example, all county seats, more than three thousand of them, are included. Many are so small they are almost never show upin maps of the United States. But the map remains completely uncluttered by type when viewed from more than a few feet away. This is our most popular map. It gives an unequaled sense of the physical 48 states.

A second version of the 48 states leaves off the roads and the city names, and presents only the relief shading, without any elevation tints. Catalogue reproductions of this piece are often seen as "black and white", but the map is printed in four different inks (greys and warm black). The effect is to render the country's landforms with rich detail normally seen only in duotone or tri-tone art photographs. An enormous amount of detailed type identifies landforms and lakes and rivers, but is noticeable only on very close inspection.

The One World map is a striking example of cartographic art dealing with two of the fundamental difficulties that any world map must resolve. The first is that there is no way to show a single three-dimensional world on a two-dimensional piece of paper without greatly distorting the earth's actual shape. (To understand the problem, one has only to peel an orange, and then try to flatten the peel without covering any part of it). The second problem is that while the earth's surface appears rugged and uneven to us, the elevation range between the highest mountains and deepest ocean trenches represents such a tiny percentage of the earth's circumference--about one part in five thousand-- that the planet is a lot smoother than a bowling ball. How, then, can we show the earth's mountains and valleys? The One World map solves the first problem by presenting three globes progressively rotated to show the whole earth as if by time-lapse photography. It solves the second problem with a classic example of cartographic generalization and rendering. Landforms are simplified and exaggerated with such art that they look appropriate, and make it possible to understand features which would completely disappear in a literal rendering. This is a technique that only works when it is handled with great skill and restraint. The One World is one of our most popular maps.

Raven's North America map is the most precise single-sheet map of its kind. Extremely detailed data was recently made available to help us create this striking and accurate map of North America.

Countries of the World is our most popular map. This political map is a useful reference tool as well as being elegant. This is our first political world wall map. We used 185 delicate colors in place of the conventional five or six pastels. The important cities (1,827) are shown by size class. This wall map also displays a listing of the continents, countries, populations, and capital cites in the four corners.