Tuesday, September 5, 2023

Intro to GIS - Module 2 - Cartography: Layout and Essential Map Elements

 



This map is the product of the second lab module for GIS5050L. This week's lab was more challenging and time-consuming than our introductory module. This week's module focused on how to create a map layout and add the essential map elements in order to create a professionally looking map that presents accurate data and is aesthetically pleasing to the viewer.

Before we began creating our map, we had to fill out our metadata table to ensure we knew how to document and find our metadata, especially if it is not readily available in the catalog pane. After this, we began the process of creating our two maps from our six shapefiles consisting of an inset map showing Escambia County in an overview of Florida followed by our more detailed map of Escambia County showing the location of the UWF campus.

Once we created our map frames for our layout it was time to add our shapefiles to the UWF Campus Location Map View and clip our data to create new layers that feature only the data we wanted for Escambia County. Next, for the cities we wanted displayed we executed a definition query followed by creating an expression that resulted in a new feature layer containing only the cities of Pensacola and Ferry Pass. In the final sections, we learned about editing symbology, choosing colors, labeling, and adding essential map elements such as titles, a legend, a north arrow, scale bars, data sources, and the cartographer's name.

Overall, I enjoyed this module even though it took me a long time to complete. I am happy with my finished product, but I think I could benefit from revisiting some sections to solidify my understanding of the content.

 


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