Cartographic Skills: Module 7

For this week's assignment, first we were to download data about the population changes in the United States over a ten-year span into ArcMap. From there, we were to classify the data and create a basic map which included a legend, scale, and north arrow, and then save it as an .ai document to be opened in Adobe Illustrator. On my first map I used a Natural Breaks classification.

Once in AI, the assignment was to add final touches to the map and doctor it up and give it a good layout.

The second part of the assignment was to take a copy of the finished product in AI and create a different classification scheme based on data provided in an Excel document. This time I chose a Quantile classification scheme.

Someone observing both of these maps can not only see the difference in population across the United States from 1990 to 2000, but they can also see the differences between data classified by Natural Breaks and data classified by a Quantile system.

Module 6: Data Classification (Cartographic Skills)

This week's lab was pretty interesting and was fairly easy to work through. In this lab, we were to use four different data classifications in four different maps (though all included within one full map) for African-American population distributions in Escambia County, FL.

The primary new thing I learned this week was how to change the data classification, which is done simply under the Symbology tab for a given layer's properties. This had to be done four different times, using Natural Break, Equal Interval, Quantile, and Standard Deviation classification for each of the four layers. Once this was one, it was just a matter of adding all of the essential map elements to the page. Any reader of this work should be able to tell the differences between each classification and use it to help choose which one they may need for any given data.

Week 6, Intro to GIS

This one was a rough go. Due to a very busy week (and me neglecting to get an early start on this lab), I wasn't able to begin this one until the final evening. Everything in this lab went fairly smoothly until I attempted to get the X and Y coordinate data correctly downloaded and placed on the .mxd. After reading the instructions over and over, and reading just about every post in the Classroom Discussion, it still wasn't working, and I eventually ran out of time. Below is the image of what I was able to get finished for the evening.

Cartography Module 5

For this week's lab, we were introduced to spatial statistic on ArcGIS Online. In these exercises, I was able to learn how to explore the spatial distribution of any given data. The image below is the histogram of the temperatures recorded from the weather stations across Europe. It's pretty interesting to see how quickly you can generate this information on ArcMap. In just a few steps you can find out anything you want on the spatial distribution of your data.

Intro to GIS Week 5 Lab

This one was not only pretty interesting, but I was also able to finally notice how much I've learned about using ArcMap. The part that gave me the most trouble, however, was creating a legend for each of the three maps. It was just pretty time-consuming to open the attribute table, select the attribute, and make each layer for each dataframe. But here's what my finished product turned out to be:

Cartography Week 4 Lab

This week's lab was fairly simple. I downloaded the data for the Florida Keys map and proceeded to label it and tailor it to my preferences. In this map, I gave all water bodies a blue background, used a dark blue font for the labels and also made them italicized. When labeling all of the other features, I gave each feature type it's own label font color. (For example, green for cities and red for names of the Keys.) 

Overall I enjoyed this lab. It was pretty straightforward and not too confusing. 

GIS 4043 Week 4

This one wouldn't have been so bad if the technology involved wasn't so full of glitches. For example, I created my ArcGIS Online account, but then was unable to sign in to it on ArcMap until I tried about fifty times, then it just decided to work. But it's pretty interesting how you can share your work on ArcGIS Online and see works that everyone else has shared. Overall, once I got the kinks worked out, it was fairly easy.

Cartographic Skills Module 3

This week's lab was pretty tedious for me. Having NO prior experience with Adobe Illustrator, I frequently got pretty frustrated on this one that at first seemed so simple. It really just became a matter of knowing how to arrange the layers/groups as I created them. It also took some tinkering around to figure out things like why I'd go to fill something with a color and it either wouldn't change or would just disappear, and why EVERYTHING disappeared when I made my neatline. Just took a little extra time.