Roussel, Megan. Hand-Drawn Overlays: Their History and Prospective Uses

The types and scales of data used as well as the methods and techniques of analysis have varied over time. Just as today, the common practice of documenting different data such as slopes, soils, and vegetation using overlays in order to analyze the site was just as critical of a step. While there is no mention of the actual terminology being used, the practice of overlaying can be traced back as far as 1912. Throughout the essay the authors explain the importance of overlaying and how it helps save time, money, and energy while giving examples through the years of design works. The rest of the essay speaks of the pros and cons of both hand drawn work and computer work. Each of the methods has their negative and positive aspects. While hand rendering can be beautiful, it can take too much time for a finished, clean product. But hand rendering can be a good start to be able to get ones ideas across quickly. With the technology we have today, a computer can be very beneficial to allow one to layer more analysis, quickly correct mistakes, as well as for a final product because it allows us to produce a clean piece with less time spent. I personally like to jump right into computer drawings instead of hand drawing analysis overlays first.