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National Geographic Finds Relief with Curious
Faced with the need for high-volume map production, National Geographic Television abandoned its time-consuming methods based on print maps, and streamlined its production with Curious
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The National Geographic Channel-US uses Curious World Maps across a range of programming, including National Geographic Today, a daily show that requires up to 15 maps for every programme.
Lucas P Aragon, senior art director at NGC Creative, says animated maps are vital for The National Geographic Channel because they allow the broadcaster to quickly and accurately explain geography and the locations of worldwide events to its viewers. Before it installed Curious World Maps, map creation was a tedious and difficult task because NGC had to rely on Paintbox or Photoshop, both of which were laborious and time consuming.
"We had great vector files that showed accurate borders and bodies of water, but towns, parks, mountain ranges and other such information had to be researched in an Atlas," he explains. "We could never have graphic relief or ocean contours, which is very important to many of our stories."
Given the volume of maps required by NGC, finding a viable alternative became an imperative. Lucas Aragon and his team looked at the maps other broadcasters were producing and soon identified Curious World Maps as the common link.
"Curious World Maps was obviously the solution," says NGC designer Richard Veteikis. "Creating up to 15 maps a day was very difficult to accomplish, but since we installed the software we have been able to do this with ease. Looking up locations used to require looking it up in the glossary of the Atlas and attempting to find the location on a page filled with lines and type. Now it is as simple as typing a part of the location name and selecting it from the list that appears ... a huge time saver."
Since installing Curious World Maps, Aragon and his team have been experimenting with satellite imagery to create even more spectacular results. Curious recently introduced satellite data as an option for new and existing software users, but NGC is in the fortunate position of having its own satellite imagery, which it accesses from the National Geographic Society. Aragon says: "We used the conversion tool supplied by Curious to convert our imagery into our standard map template. We did have to colour correct the images but the end product was a wonderful image of the earth."
NGC believes Curious World Maps has allowed it to bring a geographic context to its work, while at the same time increasing the beauty and style of the maps it produces. "In terms of maps as information architecture, there has never been a better product than Curious World Maps," Aragon says. "We are able to quickly and accurately show locations around the world and that is just as important as the improvements it has made to our workflow."
The National Geographic Channel (NGC) provides a new platform to showcase and build on the Society's 36-year history of award-winning documentary production, which includes an unprecedented 119 Emmy Awards. NGC connects its viewers to the pulse of the planet, covering science, conservation, culture, arts and adventure - everything you would expect from National Geographic, fresh every day.
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