What happens if the name of a city overlaps its marker? What happens if the name of a river intersects its shoreline on a diagonal? What happens if the name of one town overlaps another? All of these situations are quite common and tend to occur towards the end of the map design process, once you have already colored your map, added in roads, drawn borders, and applied a thematic layer. But placing your labels isn’t like any of the previous processes, because the names aren’t decorative, they are structural elements of the map.
The labels should be closely associated with their data features, but not overlap them. This association must remain unambiguous to the reader. For example, point labels are typically placed next to the feature and usually have a certain amount of space between them. Area labels, however, may overlap the area when space permits, and line labels must generally follow the orientation of the feature. However, there are cases where these conventions won’t work. It’s not the responsibility of the reader to figure out which of two points a particular label corresponds to.
Label collisions also occur when labels interfere with other map features, such as the symbols, borders, or other labels. You should move the label if it collides with any of these features, but you must carefully analyze the label’s new location to ensure you haven’t introduced a collision elsewhere. A label moved away from a point might appear to refer to another point. An area label placed near the edge of its area might appear to refer to an adjacent area. Labels should also have sufficient white space around them to prevent overlapping with symbols, lines, or other text.
Here is a quick exercise to help you with label placement: select a region of the map that is particularly crowded and make several copies. Move the labels around, but leave everything else the same (map extent, font type, etc.). Try placing point labels above, below, and to the side of the symbol. Make sure line labels align with the features. And try moving area labels into less cluttered regions. Compare all of your variations at final resolution. The best solution will be the one that is easiest for the reader to associate with its respective feature.
In addition to label positioning, you should consider your font type. Some types are better suited to certain kinds of labels. Major points might benefit from a large or bold typeface, while minor points might benefit from a smaller typeface. A water body label could be set off by using a different typeface, but still ensure that the water body labels are legible. Don’t just scale down your labels until they fit, because then you won’t know whether the labels are legible once exported. When you have a dense cluster of features, sometimes it’s easier to delete a low priority label than it is to find room for it. Likewise, reducing the complexity of the surrounding geography can sometimes free up room for labels.
It can be helpful to review your label hierarchy independently of the rest of the map. Try turning off your thematic layer, and viewing your base map, symbols, and text alone. Is it clear which features are labeled? Do your labels create clusters that look messy? Are some regions darker than others due to high label density? Are major labels easily distinguishable from minor ones? Then bring back your thematic layer and check again to see that the text doesn’t compete with the information you’re trying to show.
Before exporting your map, take the time to examine your labels individually. Ask yourself, “What feature am I labeling?” “What features am I covering?” and “Could my label be mistaken for an adjacent feature?” If you can’t answer these questions quickly and easily, try adjusting your label placement. You want your map to look clean, with all of your labels close enough to their respective features to indicate what they are describing, yet far enough away to not obscure the features themselves.
