MAPPING HIGH-TECH FORUM
COLOR PRINTING, PROS AND CONNS
By Knut-Olav Sunde, Norway (Aug96)
My opinion is that the IOF map committee and others should treat 4-color o-map printing seriously. In Norway this becomes now more and more popular. Not only because the pure printing costs are a little bit lower - but because 4-color printing gives new possibilities and because the quality now becomes better and better. I would like to clarify my opinion upon this.
Pros and cons of 4-color orienteering map printing:
Pros:
- 10-50% lower printing cost.
- Digital printing when low volumes. This allows very frequent updating of the maps at a reasonable cost.
- More easy to sell announcements printed on the maps. They can through 4-color printing contain any color and even advanced graphics and photos.
This gives a better economy for the project (and the club).
- Most professional printing companies are directed into 4-color printing. It is more comfortable for them to print 4-colors than PMS.
- New software (I am thinking of OCAD 6) now have much better support for 4-color printing. Other software in the market (Adobe Illustrator and
others) are primarily made for creating 4-color products.
Conns:
- The problem with the registration - especially for thin brown lines. This can partly be avoided by new raster technologies. One will probably
have to choose a professional printing commune rather than the print shop on the corner.
- The appearance of mixed colors are not as clear as the pure PMS colors. The colors looks a little bit more diffuse. This can partly be avoided by
new technology.
My conclusion is:
4-color orienteering map printing will come more and more because of the pros. Today 4-color map printing is not according to the IOF map specification. The IOF Map committee should prepare an addition to the IOF map specification containing color specs both for PMS and CMYK printing to ensure the optimal quality for 4-color printed orienteering maps. OCAD6 should be delivered with a IOF symbol template according fulfilling this addition.
Knut Olav Sunde
As Knut Olav indicates, there is currently a lot of attention paid to the possibillities of 4 color printing for o-maps. The fact that new techniques such as digital color separation and advanced rasterisation (e.g. chrystal rasters) are being built into the software used for o-mapping has made this even more actual.
On the other hand, using 4 color technique for printing high quality complex maps (such as o-maps) puts more phocus on the capabilities of the print shops, capabilities that vary quite a lot throughout the world of orienteering. This is another side of the coin that has to be taken into account when setting standards.
However to conclude, the IOF MC will definitely include the considerations for 4-color printing in the work of the ISOM/2000 mapping standard revision, and welcomes more opinions in this matter.