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NR 322: Intro to Cartography

NR 322: Intro to Cartography. Jim Graham Fall 2010 Chapter 4, can skip 4.2.3.1, 4.2.5, 4.2.6, 4.4.1,4.4.2. What is a Map?. What is a Map?. A visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes.

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NR 322: Intro to Cartography

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  1. NR 322: Intro to Cartography Jim Graham Fall 2010 Chapter 4, can skip 4.2.3.1, 4.2.5, 4.2.6, 4.4.1,4.4.2

  2. What is a Map?

  3. What is a Map? • A visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes. • Cartography, or map-making is the study and, often, practice, of crafting representations of the Earth upon a flat surface Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Map

  4. Before you start a new map: • What is the purpose of the map? • Directions? • Education? • Who is the audience? • What data do you need to fulfill the purpose for the audience? • Which is the most important: content, accuracy, or appearance?

  5. Cartographic Elements • Minimal elements of a map: • Title • One or more views of spatial data • Legend • Scale bar • Credits: Author and data sources • Projection and Datum • North Arrow • Common elements: • Regional/Location map

  6. Layout • What is the most important element? • The main views of spatial data! • What is next most important? • The title? • The legend? • What has to be there but does not need to be highlighted? • The scale bar • The credits • North arrow

  7. Text • Title: Large, serif font • Times Roman • Labels: Smaller sans-serif font • Arial • Size based on importance • Halos over complex backgrounds • Don’t fell like everything needs a label! • Label positioning is an ongoing issue

  8. Colors • Backgrounds tend to be white • Borders, scale bars, north arrows, and text tend to be black • Large areas are best as pastels • Light blue for water • Light color variations for nations, states, counties, etc. • Outline with black lines • Bright colors can be used to highlight

  9. Design Issues • Some “White space” is good! • Make the important content fill most of the available area • Make sure the text is readable (remove unneeded text)

  10. Thematic Mapping • Layers can have one or more themes: • City population • Range of a species • Locations of archeological sites • Board feet of timber • Concentration of mineral deposits • Biodiversity of parks • Locations of Starbucks!

  11. Layers and Attributes • Layer names with attributes: • Cities: name, population • States: name, area • Parks: name, type • Plots: name, species • Trees: species, DBH • Each city, state, park, plot or tree is a feature

  12. Communicating Themes • Labels: • Names • Values • Equation results • Symbology: • Symbols: Features • Colors: Categories and Quantities • Charts: Pie, Bar, Stacked

  13. Feature Symbols • Select from standard list • Some allow colorization • Add “halos” • Can import your own with “bmp” files

  14. Categories • Unique Values: • Species • Park type: State, national, etc. Topographic Map Symbols from: http://www.compassdude.com/map-symbols.shtml

  15. Quantities • Range of values (continuous data) • City: population • State: area • Plot: diversity • Trees: DBH

  16. ArcMap Tips • Don’t resize the legend, delete and insert it again • Print early and often • Be prepared to adjust the data to fit the margins after printing

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