Marathon Key; Typography

This week was typography or the process of, well, labeling according to cartographic principles. For this week we had to create a map of Marathon Key to exhibit our understanding of good cartographic typography as we understood it from both the lecture and chapter 11 in our text.  

The tricky part with Marathon Key is that it is not easy to label the required areas via the guidelines. So the use of leader lines was heavily employed. As for the various keys, I placed the text alongside the coast lines. I thought this would make it more apparent and easy to read. Except for Crawl Key, it's such a small feature that I used a leader line. 

I used two font styles. For the cities and keys, I used Casteller and for the title, water, and various places on the key, I used century new gothic. Both fonts are easy to read. For labeling the water features (except for Florida Bay) I went with a white font. This was to help differentiate the feature from the keys and I also enjoyed the aesthetic look of how the text seems to sink into the drop shadow. I used drop shadows to make the features easier on the eyes. Without the shadows, the key itself just bled into the blue. 

I went with a simple color scheme of blue and green. This is more intuitive for most people especially when dealing with an island. It makes it more apparent.  

Also, the island was rotated to be horizontal with the north compass also rotated to reflect the directionality. I did this for two reasons. First it made it easier to work with. I was able to label the features batter and include the basic elements (insert, legend, scale, compass) in a more linear fashion. Because I did this, I went with a north arrow that included east, west and south to make it easier to understand that the map is not true north from bottom up. I went with a simplistic compass. Second, I feel it's easier for the map reader to understand. Admittedly, I may of created too much dead space between the title and the island. 

I attempted to adhere to the principles of topography as outlined in the text and discussed in the lecture. However, I did have a hard time lining up the leader lines with the points. Also, given the lack of land I tried my best to label features such as the keys in the best way possible. I realize there is room for improvement. 

The process was simple. First, I created the map in ArcGIS. I found GIS data made by FDOT so I could include US route 1. The highway shield was created in arc as were the points for the towns. I created the insert by using Florida counties shape file and finding a good scale for it. I used the extent feature in the properties to create the small red box. The labels, legend and tile were all created in AI. 

I created the border by making a new layer that had blue (the background) with a thick grey edge.  I really developed a better sense of the layering and used that to my advantage in making the map. I was mindful of the hierarchy so to speak. 

And that's it in a nutshell. Hope you enjoy. 

"Cartography in GIS"

This week we learned the basic concepts behind cartography. I was actually surprised that most GIS users don't have much formal cartographic training. I feel like that's important to know when making maps or just working with maps in general. Though this week was mainly an introduction to cartography, I'm sure I'll grasp it (in my concurrent cartography course). This week I also worked more with ArcGIS 10.3. This is a program with a lot of abilities and ways to display or work with data. This week showed how to label and display data while keeping to good cartographic principles. It's quite easy to make a cluttered unappealing map in Arc. The take away this week, is that a good map shows data that is easy to read and understand.

The map I choose for this post is the population map.  I choose it because I feel like it came out the best of the three I made.

This project was to create maps in ArcGIS using the basic principles of cartography. These principles include the more obvious, such as including legends, scale, north arrow and  authorship. It also includes making a map that is at once informative while being aesthetically pleasing. I feel with the population map, I made an aesthetically good map that conveys the information in an easy to read manner.

The map above shows the population of Mexico by state. The color ramp chosen uses a gradient of greens. The darker, the more populated a state.  The greens stand out and draw the eye, while  information (other counties, etc)  providing context blend into the background. 

The State of Florida Map

The objectives were to learn the basics of AI functions, exporting maps from Arc to AI, using the essential map elements as per the UWF GIS Essential Map Elements, demonstrate competency in AI, and using scripting to improve functionality.

I'm going to be honest, I suck at graphic design. Mainly because I'm unfamiliar with the software, but as time goes on, I'll develop the skills needed. AI is a huge suite with lots and lots of capabilities and surprisingly, some limitations. Figuring out how to make a border wasn't easy. I ended up using youtube videos. What I did in the end was use a rectangle with the inside white and the outside a green edge. I find that given the complexity of the program, it is not intuitive so it's something that needs to be learned.

I started with ArcGIS and obtained the needed data. I modified the legend by changing the layer titles. I also used ArcGIS to help create my background color. In AI I put the map on 80% transparent so the background color could emerge a bit. The scale and North arrow were also created in Arc GIS.

Once the map was exported to AI, I set it to transparent as stated above. I then added the graphics using wikipedia which provides public domain and creative commons photographs and graphics.

To make it a little unique, I used palm trees as the symbol for the cities. The palm trees were freely available (no copy right) off of icons etc. Now, figuring out the find and replace script was a slightly frustrating experience. However, I finally figured it out and magically my cities turned to palm trees.The trick was, besides un-grouping the cities, selecting the palm tree first, then the graphic I wanted to replace, finally running the script. I kept the state capital as is from Arc: a big red star.

I modified the legend in AI to match with the font I was using, "Intergraph Architectural". I thought it was a fun font and it's easy to read making the information very clear. The key tools was the direct select function, because it allowed me to select certain objects without disturbing others. Also, learnig how the layers work was important. The other key tool for me, was the hand tool. It allowed me to move the image as a whole. Initially, I was moving the image with the cursor and screwing everything up. Learning the colors and how the work was also important. I can see that becoming an issue in the future. There is a gradient on the the border colors. It's light, but it adds a little je ne se pas.

The three features I went with was the state nick name, the seal and the state animal.

My Own Map Week 2 GIS

This week we had to make our own map. Admittedly, I ended up doing the bulk of the work at the last minute. It was finals time in China and I was sitting my desk grading a huge stack of English lit finals. That being said, I really enjoyed this. I feel like I got a better understanding of how ArcGIS works. In the past I had done those ESRI lessons, but this week I got into more of the minutiae and I only look forward to more.

See my map below. I seem to have forgotten the borders! :( So now it's a nebulous map that floats in space.

I now feel I can better use the tools given, including the clipping. It's a mighty powerful tool I never knew existed. Learning how to inlay a smaller map was quite useful, though you can't see the work unless you're in layout view.

The most important for this week was learning how to source the metadata and the other related information (ctrl+f came in handy) inside the arc program. I realize the importance of this as it can have serious implications in future work.

I know in the future our labs won't have such a step by step feel, though I feel for now that was needed, as ArcGIS seems to be a large program where hand holding (initially) helps a lot.

It took me a solid 3 hours to go through the lab and to build the map. However, despite my thinking that I was being careful, I feel like the final product could've came out better. I had a hard time aligning all the elements. Is there a way to lock the elements as a total, so I can align them together instead each individual part? Was that already covered and I didn't pay attention? Questions for the discussion board.