Lab 5 Proportional Symbols

This map had us using proportional symbols to show the population of India's cities.  The data had towns with populations ranging from 1,000 to more than 10 million.  This made symbology challenging.  Using symbols for the smallest towns to be visible produced huge symbols for the largest cities.  I used a nested legend with three sample sizes.  Created by Ray Eslinger in Nassau County Fl.

Lab 5 Proportional Symbols

This lab had us using proportional symbols to map positive and negative data.  The negative data first needed to be converted to positive.  The proportional symbology was used to demonstrate overall values.  Colors were used to show negative or positive jobs loss/ gain.  I used an inset map to show the congested northeast.  Created by Ray Eslinger in Nassau County Fl.

Lab 3 Part 3

For the last exercise of Lab 3 we were asked to add cities, states and the Mexican Capital to our map of Mexico’s River Systems.  The visual hierarchy of the map was Capital and Rivers followed by cities, and lastly the states.  We had to retain all the river labels from the previous map while adding Mexico City.  We needed to use symbology for the cities and states but not all areas needed to be labeled.  Dynamic labeling was used for the initial labeling.  I retained the river labels from the previous map and turned on the required layers one by one as defined by the maps hierarchy.  I first added the symbology for the capital city.  This caused some overlap so I converted the labels to annotation so I could tweak individually.  I kept Mexico City in the dominant position of upper right to its symbology and adjusted the surrounding river labels.  Mexico City used an Arial font with point size of 10 to show it was a cultural feature with the highest map hierarchy.  I then added the cities symbology I chose a tan color for both the symbology and labeling.  The tan draws the viewers’ attention before the states symbology but after the rivers in keeping with the map’s hierarchy.  The font was an Arial with point size of 7 to signify being cultural and in keeping with the hierarchy.  I converted the labels to annotation so that I could position individually to maximize the number displayed.  I lastly added the state symbology and labels.  I again used an Arial font to signify cultural but used all capital features to signify the political importance of these labels.  The visual hierarchy of this label was last so I used grey font slightly darker than the background color.  This downplays the labels while keeping them legible.  The dynamic labeling system was unable to display all labels especially in the busy central section of Mexico near Mexico City.  This was left unchanged due to the lower hierarchy of this layer on the map.  I added a detail map of the Mexico City but ended up removing it because it didn’t help clarify the area.  It was still pretty busy.  Created by Ray Eslinger in Nassau County Fl.

Lab 3 Typography Part 2

We were tasked with making a map of Mexico’s River Systems.  We were asked to use dynamic labeling for this typography lab.  I used an eight point italicized Times New Roman font for the rivers.  I used a lower case bold type face to make it legible and the main feature of the map.  The shade of blue used was slightly darker than the blue used for the river symbology.  This made a striking visual where the labels draw your attention first and then the eye moves to the features.  I chose a different shade of blue for the rivers than the Gulf of Mexico.  This coupled with the raised shadow effect for Mexico draws the viewer’s eyes to the main map window.  I minimized the inset, legend and title in the bottom left but moved the scale bar to the right so it could be used with the land features.  I labeled the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Mexico with all capital features to signify being physical features with a blue italicized print.  The blue is slightly darker than the surrounding water features to help it blend in while still being legible.  Created by Ray Eslinger in Nassau County Fl.

Lab 3 Typography

In this lab we worked on typography and we were asked to make a map of the San Francisco Bay Area highlighting certain features.  All features had to be labeled individually with no use of dynamic labeling.  We had 5 classes of features general (city and island names), water, parks, landmarks, and topographic features.  I used two font types’ serif (Times New Roman) and non-serif (Arial).  I wanted to limit my fonts to keep the map consistent.  I used font size and color to show map hierarchy. 

The general features were San Francisco, Sausalito, Marin Peninsula, Treasure Island, and Angel Island.  Marin Peninsula being a physical feature was labeled with a number 12 Times New Roman font colored with a medium grey.  The rest of these features were cultural and were given an Arial Font of 20 for San Francisco to show its importance while the others used an 8 point font.  I gave the cities a halo to set them apart from the other features.

The water features used a blue italicized Times New Roman Font. San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Straight were given font point sizes of 8 while Lake Merced was given a font point size of 6.  This shows hierarchy.  In order for Lake Merced to be visible it was given a halo.  The color blue was just darker than the surrounding water features so the labels blend in while still being legible.

The parks being cultural features used an Arial font of either 6 or 8 depending on the size of the park with a black printing. 

The Golden Gate Bridge being a landmark used an Arial 6 point font. 

The topographic features of Russian Hill, and Noe Hill like Marin Peninsula used a Times New Roman font but with a smaller font size of 8.   I capitalized all three physical features and adjusted the leading and character spacing to widen the words to set them apart from the map’s cultural features.

Lab 2 Projections

Lab 2 had us experimenting with projections.  In this lab I had to choose an US state and choose an appropriate projection to display it.  I chose Texas as my study area.  Texas has 5 state planes and 3 UTM’s so I looked for a custom coordinate system to better display state wide data.  ESRI has several custom Albers and Lambert based projections which are good for showing study areas with an east west extent like Texas.  I chose NAD_1983 2011_Texas_Centric_Mapping_System_Lambert which is a Lambert Conformal Conic projection.  Lambert projections are good for navigational purposes which made a good choice for a map showing Texas’s major roads.  Created by Ray Eslinger in Nassau County Fl.

Lab 1 Tongass National Forest

This exercise had us make a map of leased areas of the Tongass National Forest for a fictional report.  I used  a green on a grey background to have a high visual contrast and pull your eye to the study area.    I used an Arial Black font.  The Arial Black font produced a very legible script but doesn’t take away from the study area.  Having only two elements on the map makes figure ground organization relatively easy but the green and grey helps by drawing the eye to the highlighted area.    I used a layout that pulls the eye through the less important elements in a circular pattern allowing the viewer to focus on the subject.  The map seems very well balanced with the legend and inset map in opposite corners with ‘grey’ space in the other corners.  Created by Ray Eslinger in Nassau County Fl.

LAB 1 Austin, Texas Recreation Centers

This lab had us making a simple visitors map of Austin, Texas showing the area golf courses, recreation centers and waterways.  I used bold colors and type fonts to make the map legible and visually contrasting.  I maintained a figure ground organization by removing surrounding counties, and minor roads.  I then arranged the map elements to draw your eye to the most important parts of the map and down playing the legend this gives it a nice hierarchical organization and balance.  Created by Ray Eslinger in Nassau County Fl.