Computer assisted map production: an integrated, cost effective approach

The Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) in Western Australia has traditionally produced a 1:50,000 scale map series over the south west of W.A. for management and operational purposes. Since 1988 the Land Information Branch (LIB) has been assembling a vector based spatial database to meet strategic and operational requirements of the Department. One of the identified derivative outcomes from the spatial database will be the Computer Assisted Map Production (CAMP) of the department's 1:50,000 Land Management Series maps. In the past computer assisted map publishing had meant the application of computers to produce repromat utilising flat-bed plotters. With the advent of ‘low cost’ powerful computers, new software releases and large format output devices, a desktop publishing solution can provide a cost effective approach to CAMP. This paper outlines CALM's approach to replace the existing 1:50,000 Series maps, with an automated methodology, the functionality of the system and the various ...