Maps zoomed around specific locations (magnifying glass effect)

Question

How do I create a static map where the scale varies based on location?

Example: to drive from a specific location X in Albuquerque to a specific location Y in Chicago, I want to "zoom" around X and Y as follows:

• Near X and Y, the scale is fairly large, so you can see minor streets, buildings, etc, near X and Y.
• Far away from both X and Y, the scale is fairly small, so you might just see long lengths of highway, but no details.

In other words, it's like a regular map with a "magnifying glass effect" around X and Y. The effect should "fade off" smoothly, so there isn't a break in the map.

Reasoning: when traveling between remote cities, the highway travel is often easy (in the sense it doesn't require details), but getting from X to the highway and from the highway to Y can require detailed instructions, knowing minor streets, etc.

EDIT: I've attached a horrible example of what I want to do. Notes:

• This only zooms in on one city, not two.
• This is just plain old image zoom. What I would want is more detail in the Albuquerque area.
• Notice, however, that the roads/highways are continuous: the magnifying does not have a "cutoff" problem.

Answer 1

This document presents an algorithm to do that:

Harrie, L., Sarjakoski, T., Lehto, L. A variable-scale map for small-display cartography. In: Joint International Symposium on GeoSpatial Theory, Processing and Applications (ISPRS/Commission IV, SDH2002). Ottawa, Canada, july 2002

An example:

EDIT: This kind of representation is quite old. See the plan Conrad Morant (1548):

Answer 2

Not exactly an answer but you might want to have a look this indiemaps blog post with several interesting examples.

Answer 3

Flash http://www.richtersveld.net/index.php/site/region_map/

you can blend a more detailed image inside the magnifying glass.

Answer 4

I think you are looking for Microsoft's Line Drive service http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc514631.aspx which produces maps like

You can read the original paper that it is based on at http://cs.ubc.ca/~tmm/courses/cpsc533c-03-spr/readings/rtmaps.pdf

Answer 5

The easiest thing I can think of is to use multiple data frames in ArcMap. 1 for the highway overview, and one for each of the detail views at the end points. Arrange them as you like in the layout view, and set the zoom scale or extents appropriately. I've never worried about a smooth fade out, and that won't be available in ArcMap.

If this is close to what you are looking for, I can provide more details.

Answer 6

Since the maps are static, you can do some artwork to get nicer results. Here to solve that problem I overlay maps with different scales. Depending on the GIS that you use you can do that in many ways. One is to generate a large map and save, than generate small zoom maps and save, then combine them in a software like Inkscape or Illustrator and clip the zoom map in the desire shape. Look at the simple example made with Qgis and Illustrator. .