Cartographic Tools
Introduction
Cartography—thankfully—is still a relatively healthy and relevant profession, despite being subsumed in to the world of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Make no mistake, however, it is also still much misunderstood.
“In a world where more maps are being made than ever before, cartography doesn’t need reinvention; it needs understanding!”
Cartography has a rich and long-established academic, theoretical and practical history. Its personification is much more than what is represented by ‘Google Maps’, which seems to be most people’s understanding of maps and mapping. If I say I’m a cartographer, it’s usually met by a ‘blank stare’. As such, I tend to say that I draw maps for a living — before then retort, ‘hasn’t the world already been mapped?’
This summary is focused on the core applications and tools available today that allow the design and production of maps that reflect the full design and abstraction process that is cartography. Additionally, this summary is focused on vector-based graphics applications and tools. This isn’t a review but simply a guide to what’s available to unleash the cartographer inside you.
GIS is not Cartography
This summary is concerned with the practice of cartography, not the map outputs from GIS. Such systems are concerned with geo-spatial data interrogation and analysis. The map is simply the primary visualisation type of those processes. The user of a GIS is not designing or drawing a map, per se, but simply re-styling and curating existing map features from readily available geospatial datasets such as OpenStreetMap (OSM). In general, GIS applications have rudimentary drawing tools in comparison to professional illustration tools.
Desktop Applications
These are the primary tools, and in general, are professional [ technical ] illustration applications. They are often referred to as vector graphics editors and/or design software. As such, these tools allow for the design and creation of readily editable and scalable nespoke artwork. They allow you to originate and produce a map, any map, whether topographical, topological, thematic, abstract or artistic in form… and for print or digital media.
Adobe Illustrator
Regarded as the ‘industry standard’, Illustrator has been around for over 40 years! It’s arguably the most feature-rich and developed toolset available. The well-established and expensive GIS mapping plugin, MAPublisher, is designed to work exclusively with Illustrator. Apart from the extensive control over typographic and graphic stsyles, layer styles and organisation, you can also readily extend Illustrator’s capabilities with numerous available plugins, extensions and scripts. As with most tools now, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now integrated in to this application, with a growing impact.
Affinity
An application that does it all! Emerging out of the purchase of Serif’s Affinity Designer, Photo and Publisher applications by Canva, the relaunch saw them all combined in one truly integrated application, simply called Affinity. This unified all three separate applications in one single application. And, it’s free to download and use, so long as you do not need AI integration. A slick and impressive set of tools worth trying out.
Canvas X Draw
This, along with its sibling, Canvas X Geo (below), flies under the radar. Few have ever heard of these applications, but this is a very capable product, aimed at technical illustrators in particular. This means cartographic work is very much catered for in the whole. It has an integrated vector and raster workflow, which negates the need to switch between different applications. It also supports data-driven graphics, smart labelling, sprite effects and scale and measurement tools.
Canvas X Geo
A rare beast. An application aimed at cartographers! Based upon its sibling, Canvas X Draw (above), but with integrated GIS capabilities. This enables it to import a range of different geographic data types and carry out projection changes, make geo-spatial queries and perform visualisations. It also claims it can readily handle millions of objects, not untypical of geospatial datasets. This is impressive! Think of it a little like Illustrator with the MAPublisher plugin, but faster and cheaper.
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Another mature application suite, now over 35 years old. Often regarded as the bridesmaid to Illustrator, but a very capable and impressive package. The Mac version is less convincing than the Windows version as it doesn't seem Corel developers are very famailiar with the Apple design philosophy. Even so, another very capable and professional application. You can just opt for the stand-alone CorelDRAW Standard, but the wider suite is aimed at professionals and provides more tools.
CorelDRAW Technical Suite
As above, but includes Corel DESIGNER. This is an additional application focused upon technical illustration, particularly engineering based 2D and 3D work. However, that also means it contains tols useful to the cartographer.
Inkscape
The first and only open-source professional vector graphics editor, that is free to own and use. A fascinating and quite powerful application that continues to get better as it matures. It has been in development for over 20 years. It has some unique tools not to be found elsewhere. It’s native format is SVG, so also the only application here where you can edit files in a plain text editor!
OCAD
Another application that tends to fall under the radar, though anyone involved in orienteering will probably be familiar with it. This, unsurprisingly, Swiss application is aimed at cartographers exclusively; it’s not a generic graphics and illustration application. Therefore, there are some dedicated and powerful tools available.
Plugins and Extensions
Not strictly necessary, but very helpful in many use cases. Workflows can be simplified and more effective; the application gets a cartographic focus.
MAPublisher
Now 30 years old, this Avenza Systems plugin has been the industry standard for cartographic workflow in Adobe Illustrator for all that time. Effectively turning Illustrator into a self-contained GIS, creating an environment that offers the cartographer almost everything they will ever need. Expensive and complicated, yes, but you are unlikely to need anything else in most use cases. However, think of this as a tool to import, manipulate and style GIS data, not a GIS application in itself as Illustrator simply isn’t built for handling huge and complex geospatial datasets.
ArcGIS Maps
Although this ESRI extension originates with what is regarded as the industry standard in GIS, the aim here is simpler than that of MAPublisher. The extension enables the selection and manipulation of geospatial data from ESRI’s own databases. As such, you are assured of a wide variety of datasets that are accurate and up-to-date. A simpler and easier introduction to GIS within Adobe Illustrator (and Photoshop). Fundamentally, it solves the biggest hurdle of cartographic workflows in graphics editor applications; importing data.
In a Supporting Role
There are numerous other tools that can be used to enable a process, achieve desired effects and communication strategies, but not in themselves the final step of the map production process. Their outputs are usually embellished further with graphics editors.
Blender
Yet another highly capable open-source application, Blender is often used to generate the greatly exaggerated and dramatic relief shading maps that are so common these days. However, it is much more nuanced and subtle than this and is very useful for 3D mapping that you then futher manipulate in your graphics editor of choice. There are plugins for Blender that enable you to work with GIS data and OpenStreetMap (OSM). A solid and useful intermediary tool.
Eduard
Developed by academic, Bernie Jenny this is a great application for producing beautiful and accurate Swiss-style shaded relief maps, along with many other conventional analytical types. Bernie Jenny has created numerous extremely interesting mapping applications and utilities. Whilst the desktop application is Mac-only, Eduard Cloud is browser-based and thus available to any platform.
Geographic Imager
Another from the Avenza stable, this plugin works with Adobe Photoshop, and is designed to allow the import and manipulation of raster-based geospatial datasets. A lot of GIS derived datasets are raster format, so this is quite a useful and important tool as Photoshop is often used with Illustrator in a wider cartographic workflow.
Parallels
Here as a way of running Windows-only applications on Apple Mac, seamlessly and simply. You will also need the latest Windows OS. If you are still using an Intel Mac, you can, of course, still use Apple’s Boot Camp Assistant to install Windows on your machine.
QGIS
The third open-source application listed here. Again, well established, feature rich and professional. Although this is not a list for GIS applications, this can work well with vector graphics editors as a way of filtering and referencing geospatial data before taking it in to your graphics application of choice, usally via formats such as PDF or SVG. Effectively, it assumes the role of plugins like MAPublisher, albeit a less integrated approach, though much more powerful. Always worth having as part of your arsenal.
SimpleDEMViewer
Simialr to Eduard, a Mac-only tool for generating bird's-eye view, stereographs, panorama view, grayscale map, contour, hypsometric tints, orthographic, Mercator and other projection maps from Digital Elevation Models (DEMs).
VMware Fusion Pro
As with Parallels, here as a way of running Windows-only applications on Apple Mac, seamlessly and simply. You will also need the latest Windows OS. If you are still using an Intel Mac, you can, of course, still use Apple’s Boot Camp Assistant to install Windows on your machine.
The Lost Tools
Sadly, even very good applications fall by the wayside due to all sorts of economic and other factors. Sometimes these tools posses unique abilities that are not duplicated elsewhere, so their loss is even more acute. In memory of.
Affinity Designer
A now discontinued vector graphics editor developed by Serif Ltd, a successor to Serif's DrawPlus and first released in 2014, Affinity Designer was part of a suite alongside Photo and Publisher, respectively a raster graphics editor and desktop publishing application. All considered worthy alternatives to Adobe’s Creative Suite.
Cartographica
Discontinued in 2023, this Mac-only GIS was a simple and effective way of importing, manipulating geo-spatial data, that you could literally copy-and-paste into Illustrator or similar. You could also export directly out to Illustrator, maintaining layers and styles. Although no longer developed or supported, the website is still up and the the application is still available to download.
Ortelius
Originally created as a Mac-only map design tool, this unique application tried to span the divide betwen GIS and vector graphic editors. A clean and simple interface, as befits the Mac, hid some unique and powerful features. This PDF user guide shows what we have lost.
Summary
This brief outline of vector graphic editors and related tools for cartography, principally on a Mac, is neither complete nor exhaustive, but does cover the most important and useful. Those listed here are are all capable of producing topographic, topological and thematic mapping.
The focus has been on desktop applications, though there is a vast array of other online tools, frameworks and applications that can play a part in cartographic design and production. If you are interested in artistic and abstract map outputs, there are even more tools to consider, including the ‘elephant in the room’, AI! Most current applications already implement aspects of AI to generate particular effects and workflows. That will steadily increase until we are no longer designers, but curators… if there is anyone left out there insterested in non-human content?!
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Updated: April 2026