Name Selection for Maps

As all Atlas maps show Canada at a small scale, space permits only a small portion of all officially-recognized Canadian geographical names to be included on them. Geographers at The Atlas have developed selection criteria that ensure consistency in the names selection process for any specific scale of map. The criteria listed below refer to populated places. However, very similar criteria would be used for the selection of any other feature names (such as drainage features).

Prior to using selection criteria, the geographer ensures that the latest version of possible names for inclusion on a map, are compiled. This is essential, not only for the integrity of the Atlas product, but also to meet the needs of users, who wish to have the newest version of any name.

Two recent changes show the necessity of keeping current. One was the change of a province’s name from "Newfoundland" to "Newfoundland and Labrador". The other was changes to many place names in Quebec due to amalgamations in the 2001 to 2002 period. Sometimes these amalgamations resulted in a place simply increasing its population, but using the same name. However, other changes resulted in new cities with new names being created, such as « Saguenay », which takes in the former cities of Chicoutimi, Jonquière, and La Baie. There have been similar recent changes to places in Ontario and Nova Scotia, as well. Former towns or cities, once amalgamated into a large incorporated unit, are usually no longer shown on Atlas maps. However for reasons of prominence, and space permitting, some former places are shown in italics. These places are not assigned a population.

The main criteria for selecting names are as follows:

• Local Prominence
  This is the principal criterion. Usually local prominence is based on population as given in the most recent census. However, it can be based on administrative role. Thus, on very small-scale maps of Canada, the only place shown for New Brunswick will be Fredericton (the capital), even though Saint John and Moncton are larger places.
  A caveat is that a locally-prominent place in an area is only shown if the lettering for its name does not overlap with the name for more prominent places nearby. In cases of congestion, the place with larger population is usually the one retained.
  
• Balance
  Judgement is needed to ensure that the distribution of place names gives a reasonably accurate portrayal of the population distribution across Canada. Balance means not showing places with a small population in remote areas (even though there is no lack of space for type placement). However, for a map of Canada to show communities in remote Arctic regions, size of population is not used as a criterion. Conversely, balance means not putting too many names into more densely-populated parts of Canada.
  Atlas geographers may need to apply a second level of balance depending on whether the map will serve as a general reference map, or will be a base map to which thematic information is added. A general reference map will show many more names (as that is its purpose). On the other hand, a base map will show as few names as are needed since the thematic information is more important, and the base names are just used as a locational reference.
• Avoidance of Showing Names for Suburbs
  Atlas maps will not normally name suburbs of a particular place. One reason is crowding of names – there simply is not room to fit in the additional names. A more basic reason is conceptual: a suburb is, by definition, a less prominent place than the central city to which it relates.

Suburbs are identified in one of two ways:

1. For larger urban areas (those designated by Statistics Canada as Census Metropolitan Areas or Census Agglomerations), the central city is identified, and all other places around it are usually considered to be suburbs. (The inclusion criterion for places in any particular metropolitan area is based on place-of-work patterns for individual places).
2. For smaller urban areas (those with a total population of under 10 000), visual criteria are used to identify suburbs. Suburbs would be places that are either directly adjacent to the central city, or are close enough (within about 3 kilometres) that it is likely they all form a continuous built-up area.

In the case of interactive Web cartography, when the scale of a map may be sufficiently large that the built-up area of a large city occupies a considerable area on the computer screen, the necessities of balance and then of local prominence make it appropriate to name some suburbs. The selection should be based on local prominence and on balance, but there should also be particular care to avoid cluttering any other map data with these extra names.

• Small Transportation Places
  These are mainly small places that do not meet a criterion for prominence based on population or administrative role, but which are important to show because they are the names used for well-known border crossings. These places are significant as the volume of people and goods crossing the Canada-US border is an exceptionally important aspect of Canada’s economy.
  A second group of small transportation places are ferry terminals serving population movements within Canada. The main one is Tobermory, Ontario, but there are several in the Strait of Georgia area of British Columbia.

Depiction of Names on Maps

Typography, the art of type setting, is the most important communication tool in map making. For what would a map be, without names? Geographical names and labels play an important role in cartography for the identification of features and the spatial orientation of the map user.

Legibility is the primary consideration in using type. At its most basic, this means avoiding clutter (especially the overlap of names). However, legibility also means ensuring that the overall message of the map is seen, and that localized patterns are as obvious as possible. The legibility of type on maps depends on a number of factors: typeface, type style, type size, type colour; and the positioning, and arrangement of names with respect to other names. Some comments on each are given below.

All type is classed by its typeface (or font). For mapping, typeface selection means choosing among fonts or type styles that are either serif or sans serif in format. Serif type has small ticks at the ends of any lines in a letter, whereas sans serif type has smooth lines. Typeface names with “Roman” in them are prominent examples of serif type, while Arial is an example of sans serif type. Map designers should try to ensure that all features of a certain category use the same typeface on a single map, and, ideally, throughout a set of related maps. Doing so helps the map user to identify features quickly and easily. As a rule, serif type is more pleasing to the eye, but sans serif type is much easier to read when the type size is small.

Type style means the use of a bold or italic style instead of using the standard form. An instance where this is significant is with some feature categories: it is widely accepted that italic type be used to identify meandering linear features such as rivers or roads.

Type size should be appropriate to the scale of the map, and to the size and extent of the feature. Designers should avoid using type that is too small for easy legibility – a significant concern for online static maps as computer screens need relatively large type for names to be legible.

Conversely, type should not be so big as to clutter the map or to be too prominent. One manner of ensuring this is to space out the letters in the name of a large feature, so that its full extent is identified. (For example, the name “Ontario” is usually spelled out with widely-separated letters so that the name suggests the full extent of the province).

Type colour is a useful design tool in map typography. Colour may be used to emphasize or subdue type (and thus to emphasize the type of feature named in that colour). Designers must also consider the background colour against which names occur. Ideally, designers will ensure that the type colour will ensure maximum legibility for the names. An important colour convention for type is: drainage features and their names are traditionally in blue. This is a useful convention to retain, as drainage features are normally base map features and it is handy for readers to easily differentiate base names from thematic names. In practice, almost all other names on a map will be in black type.

The positioning of type on a map deserves important consideration, and has always been a key skill of the cartographer. In interactive Web cartography, one normally has to follow the rules of the software: these usually place type as a straight line, either horizontally or at a preset angle. As well, the software usually has options in the position of the name in relation to its place symbol.

Occasionally, an overlap of names will be unavoidable due to these relatively rigid rules. If the software has a “best fit” proviso, it can avoid overlap, but it may automatically omit important names as a result.

The diagrams below show preferred alignments of type.

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Figure 1. Direction of Lettering on a Map

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Figure 2. Positional Preference in Labelling Point Symbols

Principles and Procedures for Approving Names

Many countries have an organization whose task is to record and approve official names, in accordance with an official names policy for the country. The naming authority in Canada is the Geographical Names of Canada (GNC). The secretariat of this agency is a part of Natural Resources Canada and supports the Geographical Names of Canada Web site. This site contains a complete database of the names that are officially recognized for Canada, and also contains publications, such as Principles and Procedures for Geographical Naming 2001.

The guidelines of the GNC are always followed for names used in the Atlas of Canada. The notes below summarize the recommended format for names in Canada, and for names of foreign areas as shown on all maps produced by the Atlas of Canada.

• Names within Canada
  Principle 1 of Principles and Procedures for Geographical Naming 2001, states:
  “The names of municipalities, territorial divisions, reserves, parks, and other legal entities as created by, or resulting from, legislation by the appropriate government shall be accepted.” This principle requires adherence to the spelling and language form of names specifically legislated by federal, provincial, or territorial governments. Statutes always make clear if the name has forms in both official languages. For example, the name “Newfoundland and Labrador” is statutory, as is the French form “Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador”. However, the only official version for the name of its capital is “St. John’s”; the French form, “Saint-Jean”, is not authorized, even if it should occur incidentally, although incorrectly, in a statute. All provinces and territories have an official name in each official language, though some (for example, Alberta) are the same in both languages.
  Almost all populated place names exist in only one official language (in other words, in English only or French-only). The most prominent exceptions are: Grand Falls, New Brunswick, which is also “Grand-Sault”, and Greater Sudbury, Ontario (also “Grand Sudbury”). On bilingual Atlas maps, both versions of the name are always shown.
  In 1983, the Treasury Board of Canada (Official Languages Branch), was instrumental in designating English and French forms of names for features of “Pan-Canadian” significance. Some 80 entities (for example, provinces, rivers, lakes etc), are so designated for use on federal maps. The GeoNames Web site shows the list of Pan-Canadian names.
• Foreign Names on Atlas of Canada Maps
  These are most commonly the names of cities and states within the United States. The Atlas of Canada also produces some general reference maps (North America, North Circumpolar Region, and The World), which show large numbers of foreign names. As with domestic names, principles from the GNBC are used for guidance. The main principles are summarized as follows:

1. Names of sovereign states
   These are to be rendered in English and French forms as provided by Canada’s Foreign Affairs and International Trade Department to the GNC.
2. Populated places in countries outside Canada
   These names will reflect the official form of the name within that country, romanized if necessary. If no easily-obtainable official gazetteer or names Web site exists, official documents produced by the country are consulted, or failing that, well-respected atlases are used for advice.
3. Names of other features within sovereign states
   The same rules and procedures as per populated places are applied.
4. Names of features adjacent or common to two or more sovereign states
   The names will be rendered in English and/or French, depending whether the map is unilingual or bilingual. For example, “English Channel” would be used on the map, “The World”. “La Manche” would be the name for the same feature on the French version of the map, (“Le Monde”). Both names would be shown if this were a bilingual map.