GIS3015 Cartographic Skills Student Spotlight- Map Composition Lab

GIS3015 Cartographic Skills, Instructor, Mrs. Trisha Holtzclaw

Map Composition Lab

This laboratory exercise was designed to reinforce the ideas of map composition discussed in class. We created a full-color map based on the given map elements. A key part of this weeks deliverables was to arrange the various map elements so they present the data in a cohesive, well-organized map that emphasizes good map design and organization.

Student Learning Outcomes:

• Demonstrate proper map design technique through appropriate placement of and distinction between main map and inset maps
• Demonstrate proper map design through appropriate placement of map elements
• Apply proper color choice to tie elements together into a cohesive whole
• Choose proper fonts and text size to show importance of various elements.

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT AWARDS

The following student was chosen for his exceptional work on the Map Composition Lab assignment:

Brandon Griswold

About Brandon: Brandon currently works as a GIS Specialist for an engineering firm in Bernards Township, New Jersey.  He is a proud dad of two boys (10 and 4) as well as a coach and cub scout leader. Brandon has spent a lot of his time in the recent months working with Hurricane Sandy data.  Very cool stuff and also related to a new project with Online GIS this summer! Welcome to the stage Brandon!

What we like: Brandon definitely went the extra mile this week in Adobe Illustrator. His had an excellent map design and his layout was very clear and easy to understand. He also added his own color-scheme, really making the map his own. Great job Brandon!

"For Week 5 in Cartographic Skills we looked at Map Composition and organization.  The focus was on the percentage of Hispanic population in Southern Florida.  The above map highlights these areas utilizing a monochrome color scheme from a lighter shade to a darker shade.  The goal in this is to allow the reader to easily recognize Hispanic population density.  Also utilizing feature-ground techniques I applied a lighter shade to the background.  This in turn caused the focus of the map to be accentuated. 

Adobe Illustrator was utilized entirely for this project and in this lesson we learned more about the AI program and the features and tools that are available to the user.  Primarily we learned about the different ways to change colors within AI."