Sectional graphic quality

[SkyHog]

Dumb question here....

Why are some sectionals better looking than others. For example - the Albuquerque Sectional looks kinda washed out. You get used to it after a while, but as soon as you look at, say, the Phoenix sectional, it becomes painfully obvious. I noticed the same thing about the New York sectional and adjacent ones.

Seems to me, they are cut from the same big map, yes?

Also - why is it that things don't line up right? Class E airspace never quite forms the normal circle around the edges, and the victor airways and roads are usually a little bent across multiple sectionals. I am sure that I have it lined up correctly, btw.

Am I wrong about it being one big map of the USA with separate chunks cut out of it?

an example from runwayfinder.com follows:

 

[Bill]

Dumb question here....

Why are some sectionals better looking than others. For example - the Albuquerque Sectional looks kinda washed out.

Different printing runs, different dye lots, different vendors?

 

[Frank Browne]

Dumb question here....

Why are some sectionals better looking than others. For example - the Albuquerque Sectional looks kinda washed out. You get used to it after a while, but as soon as you look at, say, the Phoenix sectional, it becomes painfully obvious. I noticed the same thing about the New York sectional and adjacent ones.

Seems to me, they are cut from the same big map, yes?

Also - why is it that things don't line up right? Class E airspace never quite forms the normal circle around the edges, and the victor airways and roads are usually a little bent across multiple sectionals. I am sure that I have it lined up correctly, btw.

Am I wrong about it being one big map of the USA with separate chunks cut out of it?

an example from runwayfinder.com follows:

I'm not sure that I know the answers with any degree of certainty, but I've always assumed all sectionals were printed from separate master documents. As far as the color differences are concerned, I can tell you that there is often considerable difficulty in maintaining uniform color saturation throughout any given press run. There are lots of variables to control during the printing process, both during the press run itself and prepress operations. If the flow of any particular color ink changes during a run, all colors that need a specific amount of that color will change. Mechanical variables of the press itself such as the pressure of the rollors and the thickness of the "blankets" on which the plates are mounted, can affect the density and satuation of the product. Also without knowing how the printers are controlling their prepress operations, I can say that there are as many variables in prepress as there are during the press run itself. These variables include film and/or plate exposure and processing. It's possible to pull a press sheet from the end of a press run and compare it to a sheet from earlier in the run and see a sometimes considerable difference in density and saturation. I would expect to see some differences in color between sectionals depending on where in the line-up that particular sectional was printed. Quality control efforts should insure these differences are minimized however.

 

[The Old Man]

The line up problem is due to the projection used. i.e. putting a spherical object onto a flat plane. We tried to tape sectionals to a wall for a demo once and after 3 panels, things really went to pot. Wrinkles, skewed angles, etc.

 

[wsuffa]

You can buy the .tif files from NOS..... then use something like MapInfo to splice 'em. With georeferencing, it ought to correct the alignment problem.

As for the colors, that's probably a printing function.

 

[river_rat]

You can buy the .tif files from NOS..... then use something like MapInfo to splice 'em.

Or you can get them here for free

http://aviationtoolbox.org/raw_data/FAA/sectionals/current/


greg

 

[flyingcheesehead]

You can buy the .tif files from NOS..... then use something like MapInfo to splice 'em. With georeferencing, it ought to correct the alignment problem.

If you've got a big enough pipe, you don't even need to buy 'em:

http://aviationtoolbox.org/raw_data/FAA_sectionals/current/

Not recommended for dial-up users! IIRC, the files are around 40MB and change.