Exaggeration

When many features of the same type are in close proximity, omission and simplification are often accompanied by the exaggeration process, which can itself be accompanied by displacement and orientation. So, what is exaggeration? Exaggeration is the process where you make elements seem larger, more important, than they really are. So, why use exaggeration? The features that are important enough to be shown on the map, but in reality are small in size (e.g. roads, houses), are size exaggerated to be visible and well-interpreted by the map reader.

Exaggeration Example

A public highway shown on a Swisstopo paper map at 1:100 000 scale has a thickness of 0.5 mm. This 5 m wide road (in real world) should have proportional scaling of 0.005 mm.
Reminder: the minimal dimension of a line on white paper is 0.05 mm. Roll over the map to have an approximate view of proportional scaling without public highway exaggeration.

Map source: national map 1:100'000, reproduced witht the permission of swisstopo (BA057224) (swisstopo)

Exaggeration - Displacement

Exaggeration is often associated with displacement. In the following you, can observe how the exaggeration of streets affects displacement, in order to keep the main character.

Exaggeration is closely associate with displacementExaggeration is closely associate with displacement