Cartography Module 1 Blog Post

 This lab was a good way to get started with maps in my opinion because we got a lot of good examples of what we should and should not do when it comes time for us to make our own maps. I would say the most challenging part for this lab was verbalizing why the poor map was poorly made. The map I chose for a good map was the Easter Island map because it provided a lot of information about the island without overwhelming the audience and presented it in an appealing way.

This is my evaluation for the good map:

Answer the following questions for the well-designed map: Easter Island Map

General

▪         The purpose of the map is to map out Easter Island and the different roads, statues, and mountains that are on it.

▪         The affective objective of the map is to show what is on Easter Island.

▪         The expected audience is probably those with at least high school education.

Cartographic Design

▪         Is there appropriate visual emphasis on important themes? Yes

▪         Is the symbology for qualitative and quantitative data effectively applied? Yes

▪         Do the colors and symbols support the substantive and affective objectives? Yes

▪         Are the symbols and labels legible? Yes (a little busy in some places but overall good)

▪         Are the symbols intuitive and easy to decipher or do they have good explanation? Yes

▪         Is there appropriate use of graphics, images, text blocks, or other supporting information? Yes

Map Elements & Page layout

▪         Does the page look balanced—are the map and map elements aligned to the page and to each other? Yes

▪         Do all the map elements support the substantive and affective objectives? Yes

▪         Are the map elements placed logically on the page? Yes

▪         Does the map have appropriate borders? Yes

 

▪         Scale

Is the scale (map extent) appropriate to the map? Yes

Is the scale bar appropriately designed, positioned and sized? Yes (although I would have included a white background for it just to make it a little easier to see)

Are the scale units logical? Yes

 

▪         Legend

Have all the necessary symbols and details been included in the legend as they appear on the map (size, color, etc)? Yes

Is there a logical structure related to the function of the legend? Yes

Are the legend labels logical? Yes

 

▪         Titles and Subtitles

Are the titles and/or subtitles present and suitably descriptive (area mapped, subject, date, etc)? Yes

Are the titles and/or subtitles suitably positioned and sized? Yes

The map that I chose for a poorly made map was the Hurricanes map because all it was was a map that showed hurricane paths from the West coast of Africa to the East coast of North America. I felt as though the map was a good start to a map, but it was definitely not complete which made it a poor final map.

This is my evaluation for the poor map:

Answer the following questions for the poorly-designed map: Hurricanes Map

General

▪         What is the purpose (substantive objective) of the map? To show the hurricanes from a certain time period that hit North America

▪         What is the “look and feel” (affective objective) of the map? Not sure

▪         Who is the intended audience for the map (include expected educational level)? Not sure

Cartographic Design

▪         Is there appropriate visual emphasis on important themes? Yes

▪         Is the symbology for qualitative and quantitative data effectively applied? Yes

▪         Do the colors and symbols support the substantive and affective objectives? Yes

▪         Are the symbols and labels legible? None

▪         Are the symbols intuitive and easy to decipher or do they have good explanation? No

▪         Is there appropriate use of graphics, images, text blocks, or other supporting information? No

Map Elements & Page layout

▪         Does the page look balanced—are the map and map elements aligned to the page and to each other? Yes

▪         Do all the map elements support the substantive and affective objectives? Yes

▪         Are the map elements placed logically on the page? Yes

▪         Does the map have appropriate borders? No

 

▪         Scale

Is the scale (map extent) appropriate to the map? No

Is the scale bar appropriately designed, positioned and sized? None

Are the scale units logical? None

 

▪         Legend

Have all the necessary symbols and details been included in the legend as they appear on the map (size, color, etc)? None

Is there a logical structure related to the function of the legend? None

Are the legend labels logical? None

 

▪         Titles and Subtitles

Are the titles and/or subtitles present and suitably descriptive (area mapped, subject, date, etc)? None

Are the titles and/or subtitles suitably positioned and sized? None