Effective Map Design Principles: A Guide for Creating Clear and Informative Maps

1. Designing Maps with ArcGIS Module 8 ESRI Virtual Campus Learning ArcGIS Desktop Training Course ESRI ArcGIS

2. Introduction • Before creating a map to present results • Take some time to plan • Effective map communicates clear message to audience • To present information through a map effectively, ask • Who is the intended audience? • What is the purpose of the map? • How will the map be used? • To determine • Amount and type of information • Scale • Symbols and colors

3. Learning Objectives • Understand and apply basic cartographic design principles. • List elements that can be included on a map. • Create a map layout. • Add orientation and position information to a map. • Create and modify a map legend. • Add and modify decorative map elements. • Convert feature labels to annotation. • Apply and modify a map template.

4. Working with Map Layouts • This topic provides a brief introduction to cartographic principles and shows how to apply them in the ArcMap™ layout environment.

5. Cartographic Design Principles • Cartography encompasses the art and science of mapmaking. • Cartographers rely on some basic principles to create effective maps. • Audience and purpose • Size, scale, and media • Visual balance

6. Audience and Purpose • Knowing intended audience helps communicate message in a way they can best understand. • Typically, a map has only one purpose so that it's easier to understand. • A map with more than one purpose will blur the map's message and confuse the audience.

7. Audience and Purpose • Both maps show the perimeter of a forest fire. • Left Map has less info and appropriate for general audience • Right Map includes detail suitable for expert audience

8. Size and Scale • Influence • number of features • Level of detail that a map can show. • Amount of info that can effectively be communicated • Too much information will confuse and overwhelm • Too little information won't get message across

9. Size and Scale • Based on how map will be used • For example, a map viewed from a distance • Should be larger than one that will be included in a report • Features represented at a large enough scale to be clearly seen from a distance • Layer of rivers collected at 1:100,000 contains much more detail than a 1:3,000,000 map printed on an 8.5 x 11-inch piece of paper

10. Size and Scale • Left - small-scale map • Cannot show as many features or as much detail • Right - larger-scale map • Shows an area in southern Australia

11. Media • Plays an important role in map design • May be printed on • Different paper sizes • Some may be unsuited to showing much detail • Viewed digitally • On the Internet • Designed specifically for that medium • Symbol colors • Amount of detail shown • Map size

12. Visual Balance • Map’s Central Theme • information to focus the reader's attention on first • should be the most visually prominent element on the map. • Maps contain more information • Elements need to be visually ranked (sized) according to importance

13. Visual Balance • Both maps above have the same central theme, countries associated with the Nile River • Left, central theme is unclear because elements are not arranged in any particular order • Right, elements rearranged and data extents adjusted to better convey the theme. • A map reader can easily interpret this map

14. Visual Balance • All elements of a map work together as a composition • Arrangement affects map's visual balance and reader's perception of the info • Before printing or publishing a map make sure it includes • all relevant info readers need to fully understand it, • arranged in a way that promotes understanding

15. Elements of a Map • A map can have many different elements • each with specific function that helps audience understand • Deciding which elements to include essential part of map design • Main elements are: • Map body • Legend • Title • Scale • North Arrow • Inset map

16. Map Body • Most important element on a map • Shows mapped data • May contain one or more map bodies

17. Legend • Explains symbology used in the map body • Without a legend • map's audience may not understand what the symbols mean

18. Title • Conveys map's subject to the audience

19. Scale • Numeric • 1:10,000 • Verbal • 1 inch equals 10,000 inches • Graphic • Scale bar • Map reader can measure • Distances between features • Length of features • Area of a shape in the map

20. North Arrow • Shows a map's orientation • how the features in the map relate to north • Most maps tend to be oriented so that north faces the top of the page

21. Grid or Graticle • A grid or a graticule may be more appropriate • Grid • Network of parallel and perpendicular lines superimposed on a map and used for reference • Usually named after map's projection • i.e. Lambert grid and Transverse Mercator grid • Graticle • Network of longitude and latitude lines on a map or chart • Relates points on a map to their true locations on earth

22. Inset Maps • Shows how area of interest is related to a larger area • Helpful when • map body is zoomed in on a region and • audience is not necessarily familiar with the area of interest

23. Other Elements • Source of data shown in map • Map projection • Can help audience determine accuracy of the measurement info • Name of the map creator or organization • Date of publication • Informative text about map's subject or purpose • Graph, table, or report based on map data • Neatline (graphic border) • Helps bind map elements together • Internal borders • Categorize or rank map elements • Images • i.e. company logo or aerial photo

24. Map Elements

25. Working in the ArcGIS Layout Environment • Create and arrange map elements on a virtual page called a layout. • Default layout shows the data frames contained in the table of contents • Control which layers display in data frames on the layout • by turning them on and off in the table of contents • Remove a layer from the table of contents, it disappears from data frame on the layout

26. Working in the ArcGIS Layout Environment • Change or customize all elements in a layout • Change map title's font and size • Control which layers are shown in legend • Change a data frame's background color • Add borders around elements • Align layout elements relative to each other • Change map's page size and orientation

27. Working in the ArcGIS Layout Environment • You don't have to create a map from scratch • Start with existing layout • Modify its properties or elements it contains • Can save work and time

28. Exercise • Modify a map layout

29. Creating a Presentation Map • Designing a presentation map can take hours, even days, of careful work • Easy to get carried away trying to make a beautiful map • ArcMap provides tools to help reduce time and effort spent creating maps • While enhancing their effectiveness

30. Streamlining Map Design with Templates • Map templates provide a good starting point • A template contains a fully designed layout with all the standard map elements • such as data frames, scale bars, and north arrows, and can also reference specific data • Useful when an organization produces many maps that all need to have a consistent look • i.e. a city planning department may have a template that contains the city's logo; a north arrow; scale bar; layers of the city streets, parcels, and rivers; and a legend showing the colors and symbols for each layer

31. Streamlining Map Design with Templates • To create a map template • Open a new map document • Add each desired map element to it • one at a time • Arrange all the elements into a pleasing composition • Save the map as a template. • Or, to save time • Open an existing template • Modify it as needed • Save it as a new template

32. Streamlining Map Design with Templates • ArcGIS Desktop includes a standard set of templates • All continents • Industry- and USA-specific templates • Modify templates to suit needs

33. Making Maps More Readable • To clearly communicate its message, a map must be readable by its intended audience • Making a readable map can be a challenge • ArcMap provides tools to help audience interpret data

34. Adjusting Layer Transparency • When a map contains multiple layers with overlapping features • can appear cluttered • Distinguishing features in different layers can be difficult • Solution • Adjust transparency of one or more layers • Setting specific transparency values for layers • allows map reader to see symbology for multiple layers at the same time

35. Adjusting Layer Transparency • A layer of census tracts partially transparent • Layer of census blocks underneath can also be seen

36. Converting Labels to Annotation • When feature labels are displayed labels • Are dynamic • May overlap • Be too close to features • Resulting in a map that's hard to interpret • Cannot reposition dynamic feature labels • Convert feature labels to annotation, • Position annotation for max readability • Modify annotation text and display properties • such as font, size, color, and character spacing

37. Converting Labels to Annotation • Left - State capital names are dynamic labels • Right – Labels converted to annotation • Moved to create a more readable map

38. Adding a Reference System • An effective map • Readers can easily locate features • Add a reference system to the map

39. Adding a Reference System • A property of the data frame • Modify so they don't interfere with interpretation of other map symbols • Color of the lines • Font and orientation of the labels

40. Adding a Reference System • Left - includes a graticule to allow readers to locate features by their latitude and longitude coordinates • Right - uses a simple reference grid to help readers find map features

41. Adding Graphic Elements • Improve visual balance • Easier for readers to interpret a map • Borders and images • Good way to visually group similar elements • Help reader distinguish among all the elements included on a map • Text box • Draw attention to explanatory text added to a map • Images • i.e. company logo or aerial photograph • Add visual interest

42. Organizing Map Elements in a Layout • Organize, size, and arrange elements elative to one another and to the map page. • Goals • Pleasing composition • Allows readers to focus most important info • Distinguish supporting information that promotes understanding • ArcMap tools • Rulers, guides, alignment, and grouping tools

43. Exercise • Create a presentation map part 1

44. Exercise • Create a presentation map part 2

45. Review • An effective map communicates a clear message to its intended audience. • All elements work together as a visually balanced composition that emphasizes and supports the map's main purpose. • In ArcGIS, you design a map by creating a layout in ArcMap.

46. Review • Visually, the map body should be the most prominent element on the map. • The main elements of a map are the map body, legend, title, scale, north arrow, and the inset map. • Maps can also contain other elements such as graticules, text boxes, charts, graphics, and images. • Can modify the properties of all the elements in a layout to suit your needs. ArcMap gives you tools to organize and arrange the elements so that a map is easy to read.

47. Review • To increase the information conveyed by a map and to make a map more readable, you can adjust layer transparency, convert labels to annotation, and add a reference system. • To improve a map's visual balance, you can add graphic elements such as borders and text boxes.

48. Review Questions • What are some questions you should ask before creating a map? • When is a map template especially useful? • What are some of the tools used to organize and arrange elements in a layout?

49. Review Answers • Some of the questions you should ask before creating a map are: Who is the intended audience? What is the purpose of the map? How will the map be used? • Using a template is a good idea when several or many maps need to have a consistent look. • Rulers, guides, and the alignment and grouping tools can be used to arrange the elements in a layout.

50. Key Terms • Annotation • Descriptive text used to label features on or around a map. Information stored for annotation includes a text string, a position at which it can be displayed, and display characteristics. • Cartography • The art and science of expressing graphically, usually through maps, the natural and social features of the earth. • Graticule • A network of longitude and latitude lines on a map or chart that relates points on a map to their true locations on the earth. • Grid • Any network of parallel and perpendicular lines superimposed on a map and used for reference. Grids are usually named after the map's projection; for example, Lambert grid and Transverse Mercator grid. • Inset map • On a map layout, a smaller map used to orient map readers to the area shown in the main map body. An inset map shows how the area in the main map is related to a larger area. For example, an inset map could contain a world map with the country that is the subject of the main map highlighted or outlined with a box. • Layout • The arrangement or overall design of elements on a digital map display or printed map, possibly including a title, legend, north arrow, scale bar, and geographic data. • In ArcGIS, a presentation document incorporating maps, charts, tables, text, and images. • Legend • An element on a map that lists and explains the colors, symbols, line patterns, shadings, and annotation that have been used on the map to represent the various elements and data values. The legend includes a sample of each symbol with text describing what it means. • Map body • On a map layout, an element that contains one or more layers of geographic data that forms the subject matter of the map. A map may contain one or more map bodies. In the ArcGIS layout view environment, a map body is a data frame. • Map template • In ArcMap, a type of map document that provides a quick way to create a new map. Templates can contain data, a custom interface, and a predefined layout that arranges map elements, such as north arrows, scale bars, and logos, on the virtual page. Map templates have the .MXT file extension. • Scale bar • A map element that shows the map scale graphically.