Monday, January 30, 2017

GIS 5050L - Week 3 - Cartography

Cartography Lab - GIS 5050L


  This week's lab was interesting, especially since my thesis topic deals with 16th century Mexico. Some key things we learned included how to utilize Dynamic Text, the Legend Wizard, and getting more comfortable with inset maps. Additionally, we learned how to manipulate some of the data within our layers to display things in a more focused manner, such as narrowing down the rank of rivers to be displayed so as not to clutter our maps. I also enjoyed learning how to utilize the symbology for elevation gradient, a unique feature that I've seen on maps for a long time, but never quite understood how it worked.

We created three maps for this weeks lab. One depicting Mexican states by population, one displaying only Central Mexico with federal roads, railways, and major rivers displayed, along with the names and locations of large urban centers. Lastly, We created an elevation map of Mexico utilizing gradient symbology.

Some struggles this week included corrupted data, which plagued my maps, and made ArcGIS crash repeatedly until I was able to replace the corrupted data files. This slowed my progress considerably, and definitely demonstrated just how fickle ArcGIS can be. I managed to get everything done, though it definitely took a lot longer. I lot some work in the crashes and had to start over, once again instilling a fear that will make me hit the save button every 30 seconds in the future.

The map I decided to share on my blog today displays elevation data for all of Mexico. The inset map displays where in the world Mexico is located. I chose a slightly different color to represent the ocean for the inset map, but I prefer the ocean coloring to the white backgrounds of the examples displayed in the lab. It seems to make the lines crisper. The color ramp I chose is in the classic style of elevation maps, with earthy tones and sharp contrasts on both sides of the spectrum. The stretched symbology is nice because it displays all the variation of elevation data, meaning the map gives more information to the viewer. I've come to appreciate the classic nautical north arrow as a signature of all the maps I design, maybe I'll step out of the box one day, but we'll have to wait and see. I spent some significant time editing fonts and spacing of the title, legend, and other essential map elements. Once again, part of my map style, I suppose. All said and done, I think my maps turned out alright. My Central Mexico map seems overly busy, thus why I chose not to share it. My Mexican states map is decent, but I wish, in hindsight, I had done the title and layout a bit differently. My elevation map, the last one I produced, to me is the most complete and well organized. I hope you enjoy viewing it!

Monday, January 23, 2017

Owned My Map! - GIS Lab 2

Own Your Map - GIS Lab 2

This week we made a map of the location of the UWF main campus and its location in Escambia County Florida. The map layout also had a smaller map displaying the location of Escambia County, at the very northwestern part of the state. I used a template for my map since that was one of the options offered in the lab and I am not entirely comfortable navigating the software yet. This allowed me to remember all the Essential Elements that my map required, such as the Title, Legend, Source, etc. I chose the color green for Escambia County because I consider this to be a fairly wooded state. The purple star representing UWF blends well with the green color, is eye catching, but not overwhelmingly bright or blinding. I’ve established a favorite North arrow choice which reminds me of classic nautical maps.

The map turned out okay and I was able to follow most of the instructions. I feel I am somewhat of a slow learner, as I far exceeded this week's timetable for completing the lab. However, I am learning how to navigate the program and particularly, choose symbols and colors that are in my style as well as manipulating the map layers to display what I choose. That said, despite using a template, I still feel like I owned my map!

Thursday, January 19, 2017

ArcGis Overview Lab and Orientation

ArcGIS Overview Lab and Orientation

So my first experience with making a map in ArcMap was a success, though there are a few quirks I need to work out. It was helpful to see where many of the commands for the program were, but the end result of my map was too centered and I could barely fit the legend in the corner. Next time I will reposition the map a bit better in layout format before adding the legend, title, etc. Hopefully, this will all come with practice!

The map displays the world countries by population surrounded by a beautiful blue ocean.