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!