Police Stations: I used a color ramp for the different colors of the same symbol were used to identify the different types of police stations. I did 'borrow' a highway designation sign as a symbol because it looked like a police badge and I could color code the badge for the different station types.
Fire Stations: Two different fire station symbols were used to designate fire stations with Emergency Medical Services (EMS) available from those without EMS services.
EMS Services: For separate EMS operators separate colors were used to designate the different levels of service they could provide. In this case, the darker the symbol, the more capable the EMS Services that are available from Quick Reaction Services (QRS) to Basic Lifesaving Services (BLS), to Advanced Lifesaving Services (ALS). The exception to this taxonomy is a black symbol designating the offices of the Centre County Ambulance Association with no services available.
Roads: Separate symbols were used to designate Interstate Highways, State Roads and Local Roads. I turned off the labeling of the road names as this made the map much too cluttered with text. Labeling could be used in an interactive map if it were tied to the map scale such that as the scale of the map decreased road designations and street names could be shown. Local and State roads are shown in lighter grey color to allow the various Emergency Services organizations to appear higher in the visual hierarchy.
Schools and Jails: These 'at risk' facilities are coded with single symbols as I did not see a need to designate the type or name of these facilities. Further, I turned off the "jails" layer as it cluttered the area in Bellefonte at this scale. At a smaller scale, this layers could be turned back on. These school symbol is also designated in a lighter grey to all it to take a lower place in the visual hierarchy.
Airports and Streams: These layers are just labeled and not further identified by an attribute.
Forest Districts: The individual forest districts are uniquely identified by a subtle background color change and they are labeled using a grey color so that the names will fade more into the background of the map.
Township and Borough Names: These were labeled and an attempt was made to elevate their relative importance by making them stand out using bold type and a different and larger font.
Floodplane: This shapefile was provided without any projection information. This issue could be addressed in one of two ways. One could define the projection for the feature class either directly or by importing the projection data from one of the other files. The other feature class files use State Plane projections. Alternatively, one could add this floodplane feature class to the table of contents in ArcMAP after one of the other feature classes allowing ArcMAP to then change the projection "on the fly". In addition to defining the projection of this feature class, I used a category symbol that hopefully conveys flood waters.
The resulting screen shots of this development process are shown in Figure 1, Data View, and Figure 2, Layout View, below:
Figure 1: Screen Shot of Bellefonte Area Emergency Services Map Development (Data View)
Figure 2: Screen Shot of Bellefonte Area Emergency Services Map Development (Layout View)
In developing the large format map, I did provide legend information in largely unused areas of the map. I felt that this was important to display the symbology for reference purposes. Additionally, I provided a map scale, title, and a compass also in unused areas of the map.
The resulting large format (11" x 17") map is shown in Figure 3 below:
Figure : Bellefonte Area Emergency Services Map
Sources:
Wherley, Mark, Geography 486, Lesson 2; The Pennsylvania State University World Campus; accessed 16 January 2006.