Cartography Student Spotlight: Final Week!

GIS3015 Cartographic Skills, Instructor, Mrs. Penelope Bishop

Flow Line Mapping

In the "Flow Maps" laboratory assignment you will be creating an Immigration map using the most recent immigration data available from the US Department of Homeland Security. You will be mapping Immigration into the United States by country of birth for the Year 2007.

Student Learning Outcomes:

• Assess design issues for flow line mapping
• Construct a flow map utilizing proper design techniques
• Apply style and visual effects in Adobe Illustrator

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT AWARDS

The following students were chosen for their exception work on the Flow Line Mapping assignment:

Erin Marie Ganzenmuller 

About Erin: Erin grew up in Ohio then joined the Air Force where she was first stationed in Omaha, Nebraska and was deployed to Iraq for seven months. She currently lives in the Panhandle of Florida brought here by her husbands' orders, but she still misses the midwest(when there is a bit less snow on the ground).

While in the military, Erin worked in Intelligence. However, military life and Intelligence didn't quite suite her so she decided to pursue other options. For a few months she worked at Fontenelle Forest where she had the wonderful opportunity of teaching children about nature, taking care of the resident rehabilitated wildlife on site, hiking through their trails (even in the snow), and meeting their wonderful staff of passionate naturalists.

Erin's husband then got orders to Hurlburt Field a couple of years ago. They live here with their cat, Charlie, and two dogs, Toto and Zoey. Erin enjoys traveling, learning new things, hanging out with my husband and critters, keeping up on shows like The Walking Dead, and napping. Erin has also recently started particapitating in Geochacing, and find it a fun GIS related hobby.

Erin is currently enrolled in University of West Florida's Undergraduate GIS Certificate program as well as with American Military University, pursuing an Associate Degree in Human Resources. She holds an undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies and a certificate in Hazardous Waste Management from AMU. She really likes school. And Starbucks. And memes...

What we like: Throughout the completion of this project Erin exercised extreme craftsmanship and demonstrated her comfort in Adobe Illustrator.  To execute this module, students could either maintain the continents in place with each other or move them around; with the latter being a bit more challenging.  Of course, Erin went for it!  She employed a great color scheme and laid everything out with close attention to design, allowing her flowlines to truly stand out on the map!  For all those information buffs out there, Erin included all relevant map information such as the projection, which is very important to include in a map of such scale.  Overall great work Erin!

Dot Mapping

In the “Dot Mapping” lab, we will explore Dot Density maps and their construction.  Working from an original MS Excel sheet, we will represent the 2000 population density of South Florida.  Dots will be further modified in their weight, size, and placement in respect to other layers and cartographic design principles.

Student Learning Outcomes:

• Assess design issues for dot density mapping
• Utilization of the Excel to Table tool
• Construction of a dot density map using ArcGIS
• Editing of Dot weights and size
• Managing Dot Placement

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT AWARDS

The following students were chosen for their exception work on the Dot Mapping assignment:

Stewart Boyd 

About Stewart: Stewart is currently working as a licensed professional engineer in Terre Haute, Indiana. He uses maps on a daily basis for everything from mineral reserve analysis, groundwater tracking, geologic modeling, to the delineation of wetlands and streams, and etc.  Stewart primarily uses AutoCAD Map for his daily activities, and AutoCAD has been integrating GIS into its functions.  The GIS databases provided online, primarily through government websites, have made his job a lot easier on a day-to-day basis. Stewart is taking these courses to make certain he has a good understanding of the resources available and hopefully to become more efficient in his day to day duties. And by the way, he really likes making maps! Welcome back to the spotlight, Stewart!

What we like: This exercise was a bit challenging as Arc performance with the masking tool could be glitchy, but Stewart battled on and created this masterpiece!  His map is deceivingly simple at first glance, yet contains a wealth of information--that is not easy to achieve!  By implementing a grey scale he was able to include all relevant geographic information without overwhelming the eyes.  The inset map helps the viewer understand the map's overall location and the road features and major cites help viewers understand population density associations.  Very polished map, well done!

Good luck on finals!  Check back in a few weeks for summer spotlights!