Tag Archives: Rand McNally

San Francisco CityFlash Street Map

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San Francisco CityFlash Street Map

San Francisco CityFlash Street Map

This is a detail section of a San Francisco Street Map that Randal Birkey produced for Rand McNally/Hallwag in 1989 as part of their CityFlash Map product line. This was the first Rand McNally map product produced on desktop computers. Randal and his team used Apple Macintosh FX, CX and CI computers running Adobe Illustrator and Aldus Freehand software.

The street map portion of each CityFlash Map included street level details such as street names, locations of post offices, hospitals, banks, theaters, pharmacies and illustrated points of interest. Also included were vicinity maps, shopping center maps, public transportation system maps, all in an easy-to-use, two-sided folded format.

Other cities produced were Chicago, New York, Washington D.C. and Boston.

Boston Vicinity Map

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Boston Vicinity CityFlash Map

Boston Vicinity CityFlash Map for Rand McNally

Randal Birkey created this Boston Vicinity Map as a part of an entire new map product line for Rand McNally in 1989. This product series called CityFlash Maps was the first product line offered by Rand McNally and European partner Hallwag, produced completely digitally on desktop computers. Randal and his team used Apple Macintosh FX and CX computers running then current versions of Aldus Freehand and Adobe Illustrator.

The digital vector Postscript files were supplied to Rand McNally’s printer, and converted to 4-color process film (CMYK) and plates, then used for 4-color offset printing.

For each city, Randal and his team produced additional maps including street level detail maps including points of interest, public transportation maps, and shopping area maps.

5 US cities were completed as a part of the CityFlash product project: Chicago, New York, Boston, San Fransisco and Washington, D.C.

Rand McNally CityFlash Maps

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OBJECTIVE
As the recognized premier global map company, Rand McNally was exploring the possible transition from traditional cartography techniques to digital map production in the late 1980′s. A new product line called “CityFlash” maps were to be their first test map products (in partnership with Hallwag in Germany) produced entirely on standard desktop computers using standard commercial illustration software.

SOLUTION

Rand McNally CityFlash Map Products

Rand McNally CityFlash Map Products

Randal Birkey produced 5 CityFlash maps using Adobe Illustrator and Aldus Freehand on Apple Macintosh computers. The cities included:

  • Chicago
  • Washington DC
  • San Francisco
  • New York
  • Boston

Rand McNally provided Randal with reference maps which were used as base maps. Randal developed the color palettes, line weights and various cartographic symbols based upon the existing Hallwag CityFlash maps. The resulting Postscript™ map files were delivered to Rand McNally and used for four-color direct output to high-resolution film, and printing plates, used to 4 color offset print the final map products. The Rand McNally CityFlash map product line is still available today in map and book stores.

Boston Area Map

Boston Area Map