Week 3 - GIS Cartography - Three Maps of Mexico

Populations of Mexico States

Transportation, Rivers and Urban Areas of Mexico

Topography of Mexico

This week's lab covered using cartography in GIS.  We were introduced to some new skills in ArcMap, such as using dynamic text and SQL queries.  We also had raster data for the first time, in the form of elevation.  The main emphasis this time was to start putting the maps together independently...we were given a lesson on the cartographic process, presented with the data, told generally what the maps should represent. Then, using what we'd learned, we built the maps ourselves, without too much step-by-step instruction.

Module 3 - Cartographic Design - South Florida Hispanic Population

This week's lesson covered cartographic design.  We learned about how to arrange the map elements and the composition of the map in order to most effectively present the information to the map user.  We can achieve this through the use of cartographic design principles.  By recognizing the hierarchy, or order of importance, of elements that go on the map, you can emphasize or de-emphasize them, by the use of color schemes, element size and element position.  This map displaying South Florida's Hispanic population percentages by county uses a chloropleth scheme, in which the overall percentage for each county is shown by a class and color.  The color scheme used is a monochromatic gradational one, that suggests increasing density.

The main thematic symbol of the map is the purple South Florida counties map.  It is most important, so it stands out as a strong field against a more subdued ground, by being larger and more colorful.  The other elements become more and more subdued with lower position in the hierarchy.  For example, Title and Legend are secondary in importance, so they are also fairly bold, but not as bold as the main Field (South Florida Counties).  The inset maps (base information) are intermediate, and fairly subdued.    Scale, source data and authorship, and North Arrow are fairly inconspicous because they are the least critical supporting information.

This was a challenging lab because I am finding Adobe Illustrator to be subtle and tricky (compared to ArcMap). But, I gained a lot of practice in it with this lab, and feel more comfortable now.

Week 2 - GIS - Own Your Map! Essential Map Elements and Presentation Skills

In this week's GIS exercise, we used data of Florida's county boundaries to create a map of Escambia County, highlighting the position of the UWF campus.  The goal here was to continue to practice using ArcMap and to learn about the critical elements every map should have.  Our initial obligation as GIS technicians is to always include the most universal and critical information on the map, such as title, legend, scale bar, North arrow, index map (if appropriate), date of map preparation and the source of data, as well as identifying ourselves as the creators of out maps.  Beyond that charge, it is then up to us to creatively improve the map's readability and aesthetics so that it will most effectively serve the user.  Our choice of colors and placement of elements, for example, contribute to this end.

The main trouble I had withe this map was with the frame.  Although the frame appears just fine in the ArcMap .mxd file, it did not translate well to the final .jpg image.  It seems to have something to do with the Page and Printer settings in ArcMap.

Module 2 - Cartography - Introduction to Adobe Illustrator

This week in Cartography, we learned the basics of using Adobe Illustrator in conjunction with ArcMap.
The above map of the cities and counties of Florida looks very basic and simple, but it involved a very absorbing lesson in managing layers in Illustrator!  We opened the map data in ArcMap, then immediately exported to Illustrator to rearrange the layers.  Our goal was to put the counties, cities and scale bar layers in a single layer group so that they will remain consistent to each other  when any one of them is  re-sized or moved.  In order to do this, we had to parse out the elements of the scale bar from those of the legend.   It was an interesting lesson.  We also tabulated the metadata for this map.  The lesson on datums, ellipses and coordinate systems helped make sense of that part.

Week 1 - Overview of ArcView and Learning to Make a Map in ArcMap - Lab 1

This is the map I made this week as I learned to use ArcMap and ArcView.  

I hope it efficiently conveys the data it represents!

For our introductory lab, we were given the shapefiles for the countries and cities, followed by population data, and then put together a simple map to effectively portray the distribution of population among the world's countries in 2007.

I found ArcMap fairly intuitive to navigate and it wasn't too difficult to actually make the map.   It is a satisfying program because it lends itself to experimentation and exploration of all the various tools and functions.  Because the procedure of making the map didn't take too long, I ran through it several times and had a couple of different versions.  One version I made step-by-step as I wrote out the Process Summary details. Some aspects of the map-making I discovered after I'd already finished my initial attempt.  The main one of these was changing the data ranges (and their labels in the legend) so that they are easier to read.  I learned quite a lot about ArcMap and ArcView from the activities in the Process Summary as well.  I did NOT find the ArcView Help to be extremely helpful at first.  Basic definitions are hard to find and there is SO much information!  I think this will improve as I gain more experience, however.  I found Dictionary of GIS terms on ESRI's website and this helped a lot.

In addition to the lab itself, there was a huge amount of information about the structure and logistics of the courses to absorb.  I spent most of my time checking and rechecking all of the links in the eLearning site to make sure I'd covered everything.   I really learned a lot this week about the eLearning environment and got very familiar with navigating through the course materials and building and maintaining the blog... I feel so much better about it than I did a week ago, as I composed my first blog post!  I know that this practice will give me a huge advantage as the actual substance of the courses becomes more challenging.

Week 1 - Introduction to Cartography and Map Design Principles - Module 1

The first lab for Cartographic Skills involves selecting a well-designed map and a poorly-designed map, based on Edward Tufte's 20 principles of map design, also known as Tufteisms.  Displayed below are the two maps I chose, along with explanations of several Tufteisms to which they adhere or violate.

A Well-Designed Map of Easter Island

     This map of Easter Island is well designed because it satisfies several Tufteism principles of map design.  It follows Principles #1 , #2 and #3 in that it is a well-designed presentation of interesting data, and immediately shows us that most of the statues and ruins lie along the coast, and that there are at least two mountains on the island. In addition, the map and its legend efficiently draw the eye to the most prominent and well-known cultural features on Easter Island, those that visitors are most likely to want to visit.   The features (moai, petroglyphs, etc.) are clearly and simply represented by symbols that are easy to identify and remember, and they are also labeled on the map by name (Principles #7 and #8), as are the more general areas of the island.  The roads, tracks, and settled places, which the visitors will need to know about in order to access the sites, are clearly indicated.  The index map locating the map in the Pacific Ocean also contributes to the map’s effective presentation of information.   The map follows #4 in that the data is multivariate.  Not only does the map clarify various cultural features of Easter Island, it also is a topographic map done in an intuitive and attractive color scheme, so the visitors can get a good idea of the terrain.   The index map offers additional data dimension.  Finally, the map adheres to Principle #5 and tells the truth, in that it gives the visitor an accurate portrayal of what they can expect from the island, culturally, topographically, and geographically.


A Poorly-Designed Map about Sit-Coms in the United States

     This map about sit-coms and the United States has several flaws in its design.  Two related Tufte principles that it does not follow are #7 and #8: it is ambiguous in that it does not explain the relationships between the T.V. shows in the lists and the parts of the country in which the lists are displayed.  We are left to wonder, for example, are these the favorite T.V. shows in different parts of the country?  Or, do the story lines of those shows takes place in those areas?  There are no explanatory notes. The map also violates Principle #7 when it assigns different colors to the states.  This scheme apparently has nothing to do with the data, but seems to have been done solely to add some variety to the design.  This color scheme thus also violates Tufteism #9 (show data variation, not design variation) and #11 (two dimensions, regions of the country and color of state, exceed or do not correspond to the single dimension of the data, which (we assume, but don’t know for sure) is T.V. show setting.

Test: image added to blog via eDesktop.

Added directly from Google Chrome Blogger on eDesktop platform.  This is the easiest way to do it.

Blog Image: uploaded via internet explorer on eDesktopGIS platform

Photo from local computer: inserted into PowerPoint, then saved as .jpg on local computer.  Sent in an e-mail, opened in Internet Explorer on eDesktopGIS.uwf.edu.  Downloaded into S:\.  Uploaded here. 

test image e-mailed to blog

This image was sent using the e-mail to blog utility, found in Settings>Mobile and E-mail

Week One: Orientation for Cartographic Skills and Geographic Information Systems Tuesday January 7

It is very important to find all the orientation pages and throroughly read them all.  There are so many that it seems overwhelming to keep track of them at first.  The more you practice navigating around, the easier it gets to remember where they all are.  It helps to write down some notes on how you got to something.
   For example:
  eLearning page>cartographic skills (from drop-down at top left)>content>important course information>orientation>course blog

Week One: Beginning the Course - Monday January 6

Monday, January 6, 2014

My name is Gail Sease and I live in Bakersfield, California.  I have earned BS and MS degrees in geology but have not worked as a geologist for a long time.   My occupations over the last 20 years have included oil company geologist, junior college geology instructor, Spanish student, teacher of middle school and high school Spanish, biology and geology, school librarian and school secretary.  Before moving to Bakersfield in 2011, I lived with my family in Bogotá, Colombia and Tripoli, Libya for 8 years.  

I would like to get back into the oil and gas or minerals industries and need to bring my skills up to date.  GIS expertise is extremely valuable in these and many other fields.  My sister is currently working on her internship at UWF's GIS Master's certification program and her experiences have convinced me that it will be an excellent opportunity.  I am really excited to begin!

I can see that one of the biggest challenges to start with will be to keep track of all of the different web pages and lists and schedules: where to find them in the virtual sense.  At the beginning, I'm going to use this blog to lay out some notes to help me remember where to find everything.   I expect I'll get used to it pretty soon and I'll be able to lay my hands on whatever item I need right away.  It will be much easier to learn the stuff if I lay out the information in one place.

One of the most useful documents when I started is called Prepare Guide.   It's a pdf document with some links to important places.  I got to it through one of the early e-mails:  "Reminder to Apply to UWF Inquiry."

In this e-mail, click the link, "How to Apply Page."
On this new page, go to the bottom and click #5, "Go to Class."
The Prepare Guide link is the first item below.  It has links and getting-started instructions for pretty much everything you need.

 (Note from later: I just realized there's a link for the GIS desktop on the eLearning page.   Under the GIS Links tab at the top right.  That's easier than the way I was doing it.  The more you rummage around, the more you find out.

Below the Prepare Guide is information about textbooks and the e-mail account.
Starting tomorrow, and at least until I get used to the online system, I think I will work on the two courses at separate times of the day and keep them separated to avoid getting things mixed up.

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