Cartographic Design

This lab tasked us with conceptualizing and creating maps for the need of the end user, based on Gestalt's Principles of perceptual organization, which are:

1. Closure - allows us to visually complete an image even when components are missing
2. Common fate - allows us to group elements that share the same direction of motion
3. Continuity - allows us to move our eyes from one object to another
4. Figure-ground - allows us to perceive some objects closer to us than others
5. Proximity - allows us to view objects that are close together as a group
6. Similarity - allows us to group together objects that are similar in size, shape, color, etc.
7. Smallness, or area - allows us to view smaller areas as figures and larger areas as ground
8. Symmetry - allows us to view symmetrical objects as whole figures that form around their centers

In this lab we were to create a map similar to that of Figure 12.5B in the textbook that showed schools within Ward 7 of Washington, D.C

I used a gray color to deemphasize the rest of the city and a beige color to show Ward 7 more clearly. I used different sizes of school symbols to show the different types of school. The features are smaller and appear closer to the user than other features. Also shows are roads and neighborhood clusters within Ward 7. The inset at the top right shows Ward 7 in relation to the rest of the city. I wanted to make the map well balanced, leaving not too much white space and placing other essential map elements well. With this in mind, I placed the legend at the bottom right of the map and the inset at the top right. The north arrow is relatively small and just above the legend. The title is prominent and does not overlap the relevant portion of the map. The scale bar, author, and data source are in a smaller font so they are not emphasized in the bottom center of the map. I feel this map gave me a better understanding of how to properly arrange a map with the user in mind.

Lab 3 - Cartography with ArcGIS

This lab was the longest lab of the semester so far (at least for me). We were tasked with creating three maps - one depicting the states of Mexico by population, one depicting urban areas, rivers, and roads of central Mexico, and one depicting a digital elevation model of Mexico. I found this lab interesting in that there was a lot to do, and I feel this lab really starts to showcase the power and versatility of the ArcGIS software.

For topography maps, I have always liked ones that used a scheme where brown described the higher mountainous elevations, so I used one like that here. I think this color scheme clearly differentiates higher and lower elevations. I wanted the north arrow easy to see at a glance but out of the way, so I placed it in the top right corner. I changed the title of the legend to better reflect what is being shown, and I placed the inset at an easy to see but out of the way location. This particular map (of the topography of Mexico) was to me the easiest of the three to create, but I really appreciate learning about the different types of classification and choosing which is best. I look forward to next week's exercise.

Introduction to CorelDraw

This week we were able to learn a little about a graphical design program, CorelDraw. I am familiar with some graphical software, but this one was totally new to me. Learning the software definitely slowed me down because it isn't very intuitive (at least not to me), but I feel by the end of this exercise I have a little better handle on it. Our objective this week was to take a basic state of Florida map in ArcMap, and take it to Corel Draw to use some of the graphical features on it and create a children's Atlas page for the state of Florida. Here's my result:

The north arrow was created by the basic shapes feature in CorelDraw, and I added the "N" text above it. I colored it magenta as it is for a children's atlas, and I wanted to add a little color to the map. I put the state nickname toward the top as part of the title, and I imported the state flag and state seal images onto the map. I could not find a state seal without a background and could not "fill" it as it's an imported image; definitely something to work on for next time. I chose to label 3 or 4 of the major cities as well as the capital. I made the text of the capital slightly larger and used bold font to highlight it. Overall, this took a lot of time, but I feel I learned a lot about CorelDraw as well about decision-making in regards to orientation of map elements.

GIS 4043 - Week 2 - Own Your Lab

This is the result of the second week of the GIS 4043 course. The objective of this exercise was to make a professional looking map, to understand metadata, and to understand the difference between relative and absolute paths in map files.

This lab wasn't too difficult. The most interesting part for me was having a separate inset map within the map, and activating each one depending on what I was trying to accomplish was fairly straightforward and rather user friendly. I enjoyed learning new features in ArcMap and look forward to next week's lab.

Cartographic Skills Module 1 Map Critique

An example of a “good map” to me is the ancestry map from the provided maps on the repository drive on eDesktop. One of the first things I notice is how easy this map is to read and understand. The color scheme is very good, they are different enough for the viewer to differentiate between the categories, but not so different or bright that it’s difficult to look at. The legend is detailed and well documented. The map doesn’t show any extraneous data, just the color that corresponds with the most common ancestry of the area. I can pick a county out on a map and easily see what the largest ancestry is, which brings me to another point. The scale of the individual areas is, in my opinion, appropriate. Using an area such as the largest ancestry per state (as seen at the top right of the map) definitely makes the map look different. It still gives a general idea of ancestry, but using the counties shows different ancestries within the states without making the map look cluttered. Additionally, the title is clear and concise, describing exactly what the map depicts and when the data is valid for without being verbose.

An example of a poorly designed map in my opinion is the Google map from the repository drive of eDesktop. First, there is no title or legend, so I don’t know what is being represented here at all. I know this is depicting something in the area of the Gulf coast, but there are also several points in the Gulf itself, so I’m not really sure. I also see a very large number of points on the map, so it would be too cluttered even if the map was labeled. Without knowing what is being depicted specifically, I’m not sure what would fix this, but I would start with a title, legend, and fewer data points.

Cartographic Skills Story Map

This is the story map I have created for the Cartographic Skills course. The photos I had planned to upload were not accessible, so I found images online, but the locations are correct.

http://bit.ly/17CzZ1O

This is my first map for my introduction to GIS course and my first blog post, so the organization of this page is still a work in progress. This is a map of the countries of the world by population. The darker browns depict countries with larger populations and the lighter yellows depict countries with small populations. The black dots show major cities.