Isohyet Precipitation Lines

This was another fun map. 

So since I had the same printer output issues noted on our discussion page I took another tack.  I selected a range of colors for the different rain levels.  In this case the colors chosen red for 70+ inches, purple for 60 inches etc.  It was actually very useful because the zones practically jumped off the page. 

Then I used the pencil tool to draw the lines and used an iterative approach to define the line  locations.  The first pass was the rough draft. Then subsequent iterations, I studied the location of the rain volumes and worked to get the proportional distances closer.  This meant, adding and deleting points on the isohyet lines.

I can see where one could get confused with which side of the line represents the isohyet line.  Consistency is key here. You will see that the volumes are generally above or inside the isohyet line.

I look forward to seeing your comments.

Bonus Exercise - Before and After

      Before                    and              After




I chose Percentile map from week 3 because I wanted make a better map product. I also wanted to see how and if a different presentation would change the intended message. Remember that the data is exactly the same as before.

I had some friends over tonight and asked their impression of the two maps. half preferred the Proportional Dot map and half leaned toward the Equal Interval map. This was a fun exercise and sparked a lot of discussion about map content.

My very informal poll of my house guests tonight suggested that the primary improvement seemed to be map type followed my map design. And I agree. One person thought thought that the positioning of the graduated symbol in the center of the county districts could mislead someone to think that is the exact location of the black population.

The following was done to the map:
1: Switched from equal interval to Graduated Symbols
2: Switched from categories to dot symbols. Circles were chosen since literature indicated that people like that shape over all others
3: Changed the entire color scheme
4: Added Source
5: Added Map compiler information.
6: Expanded the neat line to create more useable area
7: Expanded a secondary title to better reflect the map message
8: Changed font schemes to better reflect the map message
9: Repositioned the Scale information and North Arrow
10: changed the title of in the table from "p_black" to "Percent Black Population"


This lab required us to do the following
1. Choose one of the laboratory maps that was created/altered this semester (or at least
was created using an Arc shapefile).
2. Visit the following website ESRI Mapping Center.
3. See the Map library that contains various cartographic effects that can be used in Arc.
4. Download and use as many effects necessary to help display the information effectively.
5. Post your final map to your personal blog.

Week 9 - Immigration Flow Map

This was an interesting lab.  I experimented with various color schemes and pallets. I compared the "monochrome looks" with multi-colored looks and as you see here settled on the multi-color look since the regions stood out better and helped me to convey the immigration message.

 

I wanted to see how much I could do in ArcGIS then compare the end result with AI.  The end product is definitely more polished after AI than directly from ArcGIS.  Yes, I rather knew that it would.  What I find interesting is that the same information is presented and for the quick solution ArcGIS is sufficient.  If a map quality presentation is needed then one needs to have a finishing product like AI. 

My trick to get my curves was a digital version of what I did years ago.  Cartographers used to use these gizmos called french curves.  They are a set of odd looking shapes because the are made of lots of complex curves.  So I drew my lines, created some complex curves then fitted the lines to the curves.. 

Lab 8 - Dot Map Density Lab

This lab was so time consuming making and placing all those dots but in the end it looks pretty cool.  Trisha said to use the minimum of features for this map.  I experimented with different layers (specifically the hydrographic layers, and county names).  In the end I opted to leave these off (even though I edited all the county names) because it distracted the eye from the primary purpose for the map.  That being the dot density.

I lifted the description about the lab from the Discussion Board

So why map density? It emphasizes patterns rather than individual locations.  When mapping areas of different sizes and when the location of each individual feature is mapped it may be difficult to distinguish how many are in a highly populated area.
There are two ways of mapping density:
1) map graphically with a dot map
2) map density value for each area


Things to remember about this map


1) dots are distributed randomly within defined area
2) do not represent actual locations of features
3) closer together dots mean higher density of features in an area
4)This method is good for showing clustered features.


The density value= total# or value of features/area of polygon


The downside to this type of calcuation/map is that you can see which areas have higher density but not specific distribution of density within area.

Tricks I Used
Created few sets of random Dot concentrations then used a unique copy paste function
use these steps
1) Select the features you want to copy (in this case a dot cluster)
2) Copy them with
3) Bring the copy to the front a frame appears around the cluster
4) Move the cluster to your desired site.
5) voila...it is now there.  Just and aside, these clusters can be rotated using the methods we learned in previous labs.