CARTOmazing

This week we focused on learning projections and coordinate systems. This is the part that I tend to struggle teaching some of our field staff as I do not have full grasp on the subject itself. And that's why all maps are wrong because there is really no perfect projection as each projection comes with trade-offs in shape, land area, distance, direction and angle. For example, the Mercator is the widely known projection used in World maps and even Google Maps. It preserves direction (and that's why you use it for Google Maps) and shape but distorts distance and size (comparing Greenland to Africa). So the farther the country is to the equator the larger its size distortion. So if you'd like to have a map that correctly displays area, you would choose Gall-Peters or Equal-Area projection but it then distorts the country's shape. It really boils down on where you need to use it then those criteria will help you decide what projection to use. In part 5 of our lab exercise,...

For our first week laboratory assignment, we focused on map design principles and typography to better communicate our map to our viewers/audience. We tackled on 5 principles: visual contrast, legibility, figure-ground organization, hierarchal organization and balance. These principles provides a system to better understand each important elements or contents in a map. Map 1 is creating a recreation center map for Travis County in the City of Austin. I used a faint gray color for the base map (grayscale) so that the study area will be the center of focus. Then for the map elements I added, north bar, scale bar, legend, and a reference map. For the north bar and scale bar I used the simplest one so that it won’t grab too much attention on the main map. It satisfies the need for informing the viewer where the north is and the scale but not too much that it overflows the design. I also added a reference map that has the same color as the main map to show where Travis County is in the...