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Jim Kompanek
Introduction
The primary purpose of this week's lesson was to create a production-quality layout of a large-scale reference map. This included the use of custom colors, symbolization, and typography. Many of the design choices were refined versions of decisions made in the previous week. For detailed descriptions of the design choices and logic, see the week 1 write up and draft map. Changes made to the original map design are noted below.
Design Choices & Symbology
As mentioned above, many of the fundamental design choices were determined during the first week of this lesson. One of the most important aspects of cartography, one that was repeated multiple times during the lesson, is the importance of relevant data. It is important to assemble a map for the task at hand and to not add extraneous layers or excess symbology simply because it is available. Several layers which were included during week 1 were removed because they did not seem applicable to an Emergency Management Map. In addition to the forest districts, the jails and floodplain layers were removed. The relevancy of these features is questionable for the given task.
Numerous other design changes were also made (Figure 2). In many cases, this included modifying the symbolization to simplify the map. For example, in week 1, the EMS layer of the map was initially symbolized based on "ALS, ALS/BLS, BLS, and QRS" qualifications. It is unclear what these categories mean and it is unclear if these different capabilities are entirely relevant. As such, a single symbol was chosen for the EMS layer. The floodplain layer was also not included in the final version of the map. Although, it could be argued that this layer could be important to an emergency responder, flood risk did not seem to be entirely within the scope of this project.
For the layers used in the map which included nominal levels of measurement, these were symbolized with color hue and/or shape. Different layers consisted of unique shapes and whether each layer was symbolized with a single or multiple symbols, depended on the relevancy of the distinction. For example, symbolizing schools with different shapes did not seem entirely necessary for this project but distinguishing between EMS capable and EMS incapable fire units did. The railway layer was symbolized based on arrangement and categorized by whether the rail line was still active.
As mentioned in week 1, the visual hierarchy of the layers was based on the importance of each feature. The Centre County layer provided the background for the map, with a light pastel yellow chosen as the primary color, with the Bellefonte Borough a complimenting green. The roads, creeks, and railroad lines were generally subdued colors, as they provided geographic reference and were not the primary focus of the map. The point features were considered the primary focus of the map and consisted of the most prominent colors and shapes.
Figure 1. Emergency Management Map of Bellefonte (Click on image for full size graphic)
Labeling
For the purpose of this project, both dynamic and manual labels were used. In most instances, dynamic labels were poorly placed, and required some modification. In the case of the streams layer, it was necessary to convert the labels to annotations. The automatic placement was generally acceptable but slight modification (and deletion) was necessary. For other layers, such as the roads layer, it was necessary to manually place (with the label tool) labels in logical areas. When the roads labels were automatically generated, it resulted in a cluttered mess. It was also necessary to adjust automatically placed labels (by converting to annotation) in areas where features were clustered, as the close proximity resulted in very poorly placed labels. Dynamic labeling is generally more useful for large datasets, where it would be extremely time consuming and tedious to manually place each label. Annotations provide a useful medium between the difficulty of manually placing individual labels and the poor placement of automatic ones.
This document is published in fulfillment of an assignment by a student enrolled in an educational offering of The Pennsylvania State University. The student, named above, retains all rights to the document and responsibility for its accuracy and originality.
