Better Looking Maps

[Don Drake]

I've been working with Mapserver for the last few months and I like
what it can do when displaying my data stored in a PostGIS db.

What I need is the maps to look more presentable.  My maps cover the
USA and I need road data, city data, airport data, etc.  The road data
really needs all streets, not just major highways.

Can you provide some example of making better looking symbols?

I have some data I've found on some USGS sites, but it's lacking
detail when zoomed to the street-level.  Is there a place that has
this in a .shp file?

Any commercial mapserver alternatives that would run on Linux?

Thanks.

-Don