Cartographic Skills - Final Project

Cartographic Skills - Module XII - Google Earth

The conversion of the Southern Florida map into a Google Maps friendly file can be dont with the KML tool on ArcMap. In this case, a dot map from a previous exercise (module 11) was used. shapefile as well as an entire mxd were converted and opened directly from the desktop in Google Maps.

The yellow pins symbolize marked locations that are included in a tour, which was included on google maps for the purpose of this lab.

Intro to GiS - Lab XIII

The image raster files that fit over the general basemap show the general location area of the UWF campus. The feature class containing raster files that show a feature set of buildings and roads was georeferenced in ArcMap to fit over the image files.

Two extra features were created in the process: The Gymnasium (in the Buildings layer) and Campus Lane (in the Roads layer).

The inset map shows a protected buffer around an eagles nest, which is located east of the campus.

Cartographic Skills - Module 11

This Dot map was created entirely in ArcMap. Each green dot represents 25,000 people and the results are displayed only in urban areas. The three shapefiles provided for this assignment included an outline of southern Florida along with county borders, water bodies within the boundary, and urban areas within the boundary. The labels for the cities were made and placed independently, and the locations were based off of already existing maps.

Cartographic Skills - Module 10

1.       After completing adding the legend and the essential map elements to the project, I began to work on the color scheme. I locked everything but the continents in the layers table, and selected the direct selection tool. I went into “select-same-fill color” in the main menu as directed and highlighted Asia.

2.       I clicked in “Recolor Artwork” at the top, and picked a Strong Red color. I colored the other continents in a similar fashion, by selecting them and using the “Eyedropper” tool to pick the same color as for Asia.

3.       Afterwards, I locked the continents in the Layer table, and unlocked the “US Immigration” layer. I changed the color scheme of the enlarged United States in the same fashion. I adjusted the legend in order to correspond with the new color scheme by clicking on each box and using the “eyedropper” tool on appropriate states.

4.       I unlocked the neatline, and selected it with the direct selection tool. I chose a light blue, in order to match a color theme of my map (I do not think it could be mistaken for an ocean.)

5.       I selected one of the flow lines (Asia) and selected “effects – stylize – inner glow” as directed. I picked an opacity of 20 and Blue of 144. Left the arrow red in color. Afterwards, I selected all the arrows and clicked ctrl-shift-E as directed to make them all match.

6.       I highlighted all the arrows with a direct selection tool. I added a standard shadow to the arrows as suggested in the directions. (effect-stylize-drop shadow-ok).

7.       I used the rectangle tool to draw an oval around the enlarged US, in order to make it clear that it is not a proportional element. I moved the oval down in the layer table so that it does not appear on top of any other feature.

8.       I decided to make my large United States three dimensional. After locking everything but the US in the layer table, I selected it and in the main menu, I clicked on “Effect – 3d – extrude & bevel.” I experimented with different positioning of the cube, and the extrude depth but decided to do something different. Because the large US map contains info crucial to understanding the information, I decided to leave it flat. Instead, I decided to make the surrounding continents appear 3d.

9.       I locked the US in the layer table, and unlocked all continents. After selecting them all with the direct selection tool, I followed the same instructions to access the extrude & bevel menu. I reduced the extrude depth to 20 pt, and rotated the cube. The continents looked great on the preview, but after Adobe Illustrator crashed 4 times in a row after loading the changes for five minutes on each occasion, I decided to use a different effect.

10.   A added a shadow to both of my legends and the oval neatline for the center US map.

11.   I selected the large neatline, and opened the gradient menu on the left side of the screen. I angled the gradient at -126 degrees, and left it in grayscale.

12.   I saved the map, and exited the Illustrator.

Cartographic Skills Lab VII - Choropleth Mapping

 The first map was created on two programs; ArcMap and Adobe Illustrator. Most the setup, color scheme and the essential map elements were done on ArcMap, and the finishing touches (such as extra notes, label modifications and  in A.I. The map shows population change in the U.S. between 1990 and 2000. The data is presented by state, and divided into 5 classes.

The second map was created by modifying the first in Adobe Illustrator. The color scheme was switched to grayscale, and the new classes were determined by taking the average percentage of change in the population based on division. The legend and color were adjusted accordingly.

Cartographic Skills Lab VI - Typography

This map of Marathon, FL and the Florida Keys was created entirely on Adobe Illustrator with data provided in this weeks lab. The lab focused on typography, and I tried my best to follow the guidelines provided in the text book. The size of the labels corresponds to relative importance, and the labels for the bodies of water are in italic. The north arrow and legend were both made from scratch, and a few generic symbols were used to make distinctions between specific locations.

Intro to GiS - Participation Assignment I - UNESCO World Heritage Project

UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Africa

As GIS students at the University of West Florida, we have put together a map gallery of our assigned world heritage sites. Each member of the group has included a map of locations around the continent of Africa. There are a total of nine group members and each has a map in the map gallery. Upon viewing the gallery, one can view maps of exotic locations in Africa and a description of the location. These maps provide the viewer with information and a visual representation of the mapped locations.


The link for the map gallery is: http://www.arcgis.com/apps/PublicGallery/index.html?appid=25d23f3c33a34d61919fcbb7f2a21a74&group=be7f6aa365f7441aa067081fc8b1aca7

Below is a screenshot of the map gallery:

Resource List

Website: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list

-Contains an interactive map showing the heritage sites around the globe. By clicking on the individual sites, the user can open up more detailed information about each site.

Website: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Conservation Monitoring Centre
http://www.unep-wcmc.org

For GIS data for the World Heritage Sites, IUCN and UNEP-WCMC have compiled a KML layer with key information on the natural and mixed World Heritage sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as of 1 January 2012. Link to access this information directly is:

http://www.unep-wcmc.org/kml-file-of-world-heritage-sites_812.html

Victoria Falls

“Mosi-oa-Tunya / Victoria Falls.” UNESCO. UNESCO World Heritage Centre, n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2013. http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/509

“Victoria Falls.” National Geographic. National Geographic Society, n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2013. http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/world-heritage/victoria-falls/

Timbuktu

“Timbuktu.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., n.d. Web.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/596022/Timbuktu
Site 4: Memphis and its Necropolis (Andrew Bradley)

“Memphis and its Necropolis – the Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur.” UNESCO. UNESCO World Heritage Centre, n.d. Web. http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/86

Simien National Park 

“Simien National Park.” UNESCO. UNESCO World Heritage Centre, n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2013.
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/9

Rainforests of the Atsinanana

Braun, David “Everglades, Madagascar rain forests added to List of World Heritage in Danger.” National Geographic. July 31, 2010. Web.

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2010/07/31/everglades_madagascar_rain_for/

Air and Tenere Natural Reserves 

“Air and Tenere Natural Reserves .” UNESCO. UNESCO World Heritage Centre, n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2013.
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/573

“Air and Tenere Natural Reserves.” World Heritage Seen by the Japanese Satellite ALOS. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. n.d.Web. 21 Feb. 2013. http://world_heritage.jaxa.jp/en/search/detail.php?froml=list&from=category&id=263

Virunga National Park

“Virunga National Park.” UNESCO. UNESCO World Heritage Centre, n.d. Web.
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/63

Virunga National Park. Virunga National Park, 2011. Web.
http://www.visitvirunga.org/

Tsodilo

“Tsodilo.” UNESCO. UNESCO World Heritage Centre, n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2013.
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1021

Conclusion:

Our team highlighted different UNESCO world heritage locations from around the continent of Africa and created maps illustrating these locations. A screenshot of our gallery showing our maps is provided with a link to the gallery. In addition, included is a resource list citing all resources used when researching these sites during the project.

Cartographic Skills Lab V - Map Composition

The map was created entirely on Adobe Illustrator, using the resources provided in the lab. 

I began by dragging all individual features off the main canvas, and re-sizing them individually before placing them in their proper place. I chose a yellow-red theme to represent the population concentrations on the lab, with the stronger colors representing greater values.

I did not use the feature of the US map, as I did not think it was necessary to get the message across. The title itself states that the map is that of several Florida counties, and the general location is obvious. I did include the mini map of Florida, and marked the counties which are represented in red.

The neatline was created as a separate independent feature, and placed on the bottom of the feature table before everything else was in place.

Intro to GiS Lab V - Georeferencing/Projections Part 1

The purpose behind this lab, was to create a single output file showing differences in distortion between three projections; Albers, UTN and State Plane. The first challenge was to place all three maps on a single final canvas. The second, was to strategically place all the essential map elements to fit all the needed information.

I thought that a single north arrow, and a single legend could suffice for all three maps (I chose to make three separate scales, since different projections would have different areal distortions. Though it would  be hardly noticible on a scale that size, I assumed that the length of the scale may be slightly different based on the projection used.)

I could have fit the necessary information on a single legend, but I thought that there was plenty of room for the second legend, describing area. I decided to take the latter approach, to use as much empty space as possible.

Intro to GiS Lab IV - GIS Hardware, Software & Programming/ArcGIS Online & Map Packages

This lab provided a very useful set of instructions on how to create map packages, share them online, and how to open map packages contributed by other users to the ESRI database. Because I worked on this lab late, I noticed that at least some of the results which came up during my initial search for the necessary map packages were submitted by my classmates.

The main difference between this lab and all other labs, was the fact that the directions came directly from the ESRI website. They were fairly easy to follow, and the supplemented tips and guides provided on the template helped with filling in the more confusing portions of the lab.

I imagine I will have to return to this lab in the future, if there is a need to share data. However, with practice it will surely prove to be a valuable piece of knowledge and a great way to share one's work in a professional (or academic) setting.

Cartographic Skills Lab III - Data Classification

The maps presented above, illustrate the distribution of the African American population throughout Escambia County, FL. Each map was created using a different method of classifying data, including; natural brake, standard deviation, equal interval and quantile. 

I think that the Natural Brake method would be best to present the data to the broadest range of audiances.

It seems that the standard deviation method is too vague in expressing the information it tries to communicate. The quantile method has too great of a range for the highest value in the legend, and the equal interval method too great of a range for the first value making the map look very plain. The natural brake method map looks detailed in expressing the spread of the values across the county, and also at expressing the patterns of increase and decrease throughout Escambia County.

Cartographic Skills Lab IV - Adobe Illustrator

Part 5: The Layers Palette

1.       When I first opened the map using ArcMap, I misread the directions and added all leftover essential elements to the map before exporting it. The text items that I inserted in ArcMap, such as; name, title, date and data source remained in the Scale Bar layer. Afterwards, after combining the groups, the name, date and data source were no longer visible, but the map title remained as was. I decided to leave the map title, the way it was imported from ArcMap, but re-created everything else according to the directions. If I did have to create the title on Adobe Illustrator, I would simply use the type tool, and expand it to desired proportions with the selection tool. To change the size and the font, I would double click on the type tool button and select from each of the drop-boxes. Everything else went smoothly and according to directions.

Intro to GiS Lab III - Cartography

The first map shows the country of Mexico divided by states. The population of each is represented by a shade of green in accordance with the legend.

The second map shows the urban areas, roads, railroads and major and primary rivers in central Mexico.

·          In order to modify the legend of the third map, I went into layer symbology for the mex_elevation layer by right clicking directly from the table of contents.  Afterwards, I selected “classified” and changed the amount of classes to 6. I selected from the list of color ramps, but had a problem with changing the elevations. I could not modify the values by right clicking or double clicking on them.

Examine the Metadata in ArcCatalog for the following files and fill out the table below: 

Layer	Data Type	Publication Information: Who Created The Data?	Time Period Data Is Relevant	Spatial Horizontal Coordinate System	Data Summary / Description
mex_rivers	Shapefile	N/A	2007, 2002	Degree (0.0174532925199433)	Mexico Rivers and Streams represent the major rivers and streams in Mexico.
mex_elev	File System Raster	N/A	N/A	Degree (0.0174532925199433)	Digital elevation model of Mexico.

If a certain piece of metadata is not available for one of the files, that cell will be labeled “N/A.” You are not required to find information for such cells.

Working data folder filepath:   e.g. S:\abc1\IntroGIS\Lab3

Working MXD(s):  e.g. S:\abc1\IntroGIS\Lab3\myMaps\Example1.mxd

Output folder filepath:  e.g. S:\abc1\IntroGIS\Lab3\mydata 

Data you’ve created:
(File path should be the same as Output folder, above. If not, be sure to include the new output folder. Always include the file name, type/extension, and a brief description) 

·        e.g. abc1_roadsclipEC.shp – all roads within Escambia county

·        e.g. abc1_majorstreets.shp – only major roads selection

·         

PART II: Lab Questions / Answers
Answer all questions and explain your answers!

Q1: How many columns and rows does the mex_elev raster have?

The max_elev raster has 3800 columns and 2180 rows.

Q2: Can you edit the properties or data type of an existing field?

Yes; TYPE, AUTHORITY, TOLL and KILOMETERS and be edited.

Q3: How many administrative divisions are selected?

31 separate administrative divisions have been selected.

Q4: Describe the difference between classified and stretched symbology schemes for raster datasets.

‘Classified’ symbology assigns specific colors to different values, where the ‘stretched’ is a spectrum of a single color.

Cartographic Skills Lab II - Statistics

Amadeusz Zajac

GiS 3015: Cartographic Skills

Module 2 Lab

Polynomial Trendline

California:

Polynomial Trendline Equation:  y = 12.792x² - 50819x + 5E+07
R² = 0.9975

Florida:

Polynomial Trendline Equation: y = 0.2452x² - 767.37x + 569151
R² = 1

New York:

Polynomial Trendline Equation: y = 2.0052x² - 8003.3x + 8E+06
R² = 0.9978

Texas:

Polynomial Trendline Equation: y = 0.3388x² - 1080.7x + 826194
R² = 1

The polynomial patterns on this graph are great for showing not only the increase of the population in a given US state over time, but also to express the acceleration/deceleration of the change. The number of a given year can therefore be calculated according to the change in the increase, as opposed to according to the average of the few pieces of data we know.

As taken from the Module 2 lab:

California:

Estimated 2050 population using polynomial: 81963

Florida:

Estimated 2050 population using polynomial: 26495.5

New York:

Estimated 2050 population using polynomial: 44201.2

Texas:

Estimated 2050 population using polynomial: 34566

_____________________________________________________________

-I Experienced a lot of difficulty converting some of the polynomial formulas into decipherable numbers but thanks to the classmates on discussion threads I managed to convert them by right-clicking on the formula, and going into “Format Trendline Label” and switching from “general” to “number”. This option would not work until the trendline was deleted and re-done, most likely because putting a label (such as "California") in one of the formula windows fooled the program into thinking the two were related.

Intro to GiS Lab II - Own Your Map

PART II: Lab Questions / Answers

What keyboard shortcut zooms to the full extent of the map?

The "Insert" key.

How can you activate a dataframe?

Right-click on the header and drop down to "Activate". 

What are the various ways to change a map layer's title (in the Legend as well as TOC)?

One way is to go to "File" and to "Map Document Properties" and change the title text box, the second way is to right click the title directly on the map and overwrite with new title.

How much time did it take you to complete this lab?

It took me about 3 hours.

PART III: Process Summary Details

After importing all files to the proper data frames, I selected all colors and boundaries by right-clicking. I spent quite a bit of time getting the hang of properly zooming and centering the layers on the map, as I accidently zoomed in my Esc border file. I finally managed to center it properly, and learned to destinguish between the  two separate zooming options. I selected "Print Preview" in "File" and chose the horizontal option, as it was better suited for my map. Afterwards, I inserted all of the necessery factors, such as a north arrow, a legend, a scale, and my name, date and source. I placed them in suitable areas around the map and saved the work as an mpx, and exported the finished product as a jpeg.

Cartographic Skills Lab I - Map Critique

Good Map



This map is clear in its intent, which is well defined in the title at the top of the page. The legend and scale are well placed, and the north arrow not necessary. All the colors in the legend clearly vary from one another, and are still clearly legible through state and county border lines. The section of the key explaining the "Other" ancestry, provides individual descriptions by a given specific location and adds more detail for the purpose of the map. Aside from the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico are included, each with its own scale to clearly show the ancestry distributions in smaller and more distant parts of the country.

Bad Map

This map of Iraq, despite having a well placed legend and scale seems to have some design flaws which make it difficult to interpret. First and foremost it is difficult to see what the overall purpose of this map is, as the title only states: "Iraq". If the primary intent was to demonstrate the spread of the Suni, Shia and Kurd populations, than the placement of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers seems unnecessary. The slop makes this one an eye sore, as every line and word written on the map has traces of white around it, giving the map a very unprofessional look. Because the legend is not clearly labeled, the words "SAUDI ARABIA" look rather awkward and appear out of place.