However, you may want to style your GIS data based on some common cartographic standards, such as making the water blue, parks green, and so on. Therefore, it is not necessary to fully finish the aesthetics of map symbolization in ArcGIS applications.

Map designers use this extension to take advantage of the extensive GIS capabilities of ArcGIS, combined with the graphic design tools of Illustrator.

Each of these geographic feature types has its own set of best practices for styling in ArcGIS Pro and ArcMap for consumption in the extension. This is true for every vector feature: points, polygons, and lines, as well as labels. If the original GIS data is not styled as described in this section, it may result in downloaded artwork that is not ideal for efficient design, even though its initial appearance may be effectively identical. There are underlying differences in how these formats render vectors to arrive at the same appearance.

The reason for this is twofold:Ĭonverts GIS data into Illustrator artwork paths, meaning that the GIS data will be in a different format when downloaded to Illustrator. Because the Maps for Adobe Creative Cloud extension leverages the Adobe Creative Cloud applications’ graphic design capabilities to create custom maps, you should understand that designing GIS vector data in ArcGIS Pro and ArcMap may require a different set of best practices than your usual workflow.

This section covers the best practices for styling GIS vector data in Esri’s desktop applications, ArcGIS Pro and ArcMap. It's not recommended to mix CMYK, HSV, and RGB. For best results when using symbology and labels, use RGB for all color spaces.

Online adobe illustrator