What you will make

A black-footprint, white-background figure-ground map in PDF or PNG format.

A figure-ground map reduces visual detail so building footprints and the spaces between them become the subject. It can help a planning team discuss continuity, block pattern, and reuse opportunities, but it does not reveal building condition, occupancy, ownership, or suitability by itself.

• Style building footprints as black shapes on a white background.
• Use scale and extent to compare block form without visual clutter.
• State what figure-ground evidence can and cannot establish.

Watch and try it

Work through the method

1. Prepare the map

   Add the supplied footprint and boundary layers. Turn off basemaps, imagery, labels, and unrelated overlays so they do not compete with building form.

   Check your work: Only the study boundary and footprint geometry remain visible.

2. Set the background

   Set the map background to white and style the building polygons with a solid black fill and no outline or a restrained outline that does not create halos. If the boundary needs emphasis, use a thin neutral line.

   Check your work: Footprints read as black shapes and open space reads as white.

3. Frame the pattern

   Zoom to a scale that shows several blocks. Keep the boundary in view and avoid cropping edge blocks in a way that makes them look incomplete. If the footprint source includes multiple classes, filter only when the field meaning is documented.

   Check your work: The extent supports comparison among blocks and open spaces.

4. Read without overclaiming

   Describe observable patterns such as compact clusters, gaps, or block-edge continuity. Do not infer occupancy, property status, condition, or redevelopment readiness from footprint geometry alone.

   Check your work: Write one observation and one question for follow-up field or records research.

5. Export the page

   Create a layout with a direct title, study-area name, source/date note, and a small legend only if needed. Export PDF and PNG, then open the outputs to inspect edge completeness and contrast.

   Check your work: The exported map keeps a white background and black footprints at normal viewing size.

Compare two blocks

1. Use a supplied footprint layer and boundary for one downtown area.
2. Create a white map background and black building footprints.
3. Frame at least two adjacent blocks and describe one visible pattern.
4. Add a note naming one follow-up source needed before interpreting reuse potential.

Bring the method into a product

• Figure-ground map
• Observation and follow-up question

Suggested formats: PDF, PNG.

Reflect: What information would you add before calling a visible gap a redevelopment opportunity?

Avoid these mistakes

• A footprint is not proof of a building's current existence, condition, or use.
• A missing polygon may reflect source coverage or age rather than vacant land.
• Do not add roads, labels, or imagery if they undermine the white-and-black figure-ground reading.