Tuesday, January 27, 2015

GIS 4303 Week 3

This week in Introduction to GIS we learned about adjusting symbology, difference between raster and vector data, and cartographic design.  The lab taught us how to design a map to display the message we want to communicate.

One of the maps created was to display the various roads, railroads, and rivers in Mexico with the urban areas.  The symbology was adjusted to show a clear and less cluttered map.  On this map, it was also more beneficial to label the cities of Mexico so the viewer could identify the urban area. Labeling the map also helps the viewer see which cities are in the center of Mexico.  Adding a new data layer to create an inset map was very helpful for the viewer to see the large map is the center of Mexico.

This lab really showed the importance of labels and symbology.  It was interesting to see how much a map changes and can be impacted by these properties.  Maps can easily show misguided information if you select poor choices in color or symbology.

I was happy to learn more tools to improve my maps while working on the last three processes of map design.

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