Smiling Cartographers: Making GIS More Usable for Cartography

A software-usability approach was taken by ESRI Switzerland to design and build a cartographic production system for the Swiss Federal Office of Topography (swisstopo). Building on the strengths of ESRI ArcGIS and ArcMap for data management, symbolisation and intuitive cartographic editing, an analysis was made to improve the general editing environment and provide tools specifically for cartographers. This paper discusses how usability tenets were applied in the design of reusable software components used for the production of multiple map products at swisstopo and other sites.