Abstract: Problems of poor cartographical quality and feature conflict exist in the traditional GIS data-centered cartography. In this paper, we designed PostScript-based high resolution symbol library for high-quality cartography, in which the common graphical descripting mechanism in PostScript imaging model is applied to describe the map symbols and cartographical data structure. There are two major phases in our method:first, to store the map symbols and map graphics using PostScript path structures and to establish the symbol library; and second, to transfer the PostScript-described symbols to be cartography-oriented ones. Crucial issues of our method are discussed in perspectives of map symbol structure, mapping process and feature conflict. Application shows that our method practically improved efficiency and quality of digital map publishing.