Module 3 - Cartographic Design

 

Figure - Map of Schools in Ward 7

This week, we used Gestalt’s Principles of Organization along with the other cartographic design principles we have learned so far in the course to create a map showing the locations of schools in Ward 7. The main map displayed this information along with general contextual features such as roads, highways, parks, and other environmental elements. Additionally, there was an inset map to show where Ward 7 is located in the context of Washington, D.C., and the surrounding areas. In our map, we had to demonstrate hierarchy, use contrast to show the relative importance of features, apply figure, ground principles to make certain features appear closer to the viewer, and accomplish all of this while maintaining a balanced, harmonious map that effectively communicates its purpose to the end reader.

Different tools were used, such as the clipping tool to select only the schools within the Ward 7 boundary. We also referred back to last week’s lab, where we practiced labeling. In this lab, we labeled neighborhoods, road systems, and the Anacostia River. To make the map more visually engaging, I took an additional step and learned how to convert labels to graphics, particularly useful for creating the shield symbols commonly used for different road and highway systems.

Since there were so many principles to remember, along with the challenge of using ArcGIS Pro, which can be tricky, I decided to tackle all of the labeling first. I fine‑tuned the labels and placed them exactly where I wanted them before moving on to the other map elements, such as fonts, sizing, and layout adjustments. It took some time, but breaking the project into these separate tasks made the overall process far less daunting.

Here are some of my design decisions and the reasoning behind them. 

In designing my map of schools in Ward 7, I focused heavily on visual hierarchy, contrast, figure ground, and balance. To establish hierarchy, I used different‑sized pushpin symbols for the schools so viewers could easily distinguish elementary, middle, and high schools. Their dark red color helped them stand out as the most important features. For the roads and highways, I used standard gallery symbols but adjusted line thicknesses to show their relative importance without overwhelming the map.

I also applied hierarchy through typography. The title used the largest font, while elements like the north arrow and scale bar were kept subtle. Although I wanted a larger font for the school list, space limitations required me to keep it at 11‑point.

To create contrast, I relied on both color and symbol differences. The school symbols were dark and bold, while the ward boundary was intentionally much lighter than its surroundings to highlight the area of interest. I used the same approach in the inset map, making Ward 7 even lighter so it remained visible at a smaller scale. For labels, I used Corbel and Tahoma in medium gray, readable but not overpowering and used bold or italic styles only when according to cartographic principles.

 I made Ward 7 noticeably lighter than the surrounding areas so it would visually “pop” forward. The rest of the map used a cohesive, neutral palette of beiges and grays to keep the focus on the schools and major features.

Balancing the layout required some trial and error. Since heavy elements at the top can make a map feel top‑heavy, I placed the school list at the bottom. Although the legend and school list on the right side made the layout slightly right‑heavy, the bold title and inset map on the left helped counterbalance this. I also made use of the natural triangular spaces created by the map extent to place elements efficiently.

Along the way, I refined several technical details: reorganizing the street drawing order so major roads weren’t covered, experimenting with gradient strokes to add subtle depth to the county layer, converting highway labels to graphics for easier editing, and using 75% transparency behind the school list so it wouldn’t block the map beneath it.

Overall, these choices helped create a map that is visually clear, balanced, and easy for viewers to interpret.

Module 2 - Typography

 

Figure 1 - Map of the Important Features of the State of Florida

The purpose of this lab was to create a map that included essential map elements, follow basic mapping principles, and test our new labeling and annotation skills by creating a map of Florida with specific required features. The following considerations were applied when producing the final map.

Color Schemes and Feature Enhancements

For the county layers, I chose an earthy tan color that blended well with the rest of the map’s color scheme and followed standard GIS color guidelines, where land is represented with neutral tones. I also reduced the thickness of the state and county borders from the original 1 pt to 0.25 pt and changed them to a light gray instead of the original dark gray. This prevented them from distracting the reader or being confused with the river features. In contrast, I made the river features a thicker 1 pt line so they would stand out clearly on the map.

For the swamp and marsh areas, I opted for a green color to represent vegetation and applied a diagonal stripe pattern to give the polygons texture and help differentiate them from the rest of the map. I attempted to use the “swamp” pattern in ArcGIS Pro, but it appeared too sparse and did not look appropriate.

Labeling and Annotation

For areal features such as the Okefenokee Swamp, the polygon was too small to fit the label inside. Following best practices, I used a leader line to point to the center of the polygon. I could not place the text in the upper‑right corner because it conflicted with surrounding land areas and overlapped another state, so I oriented it on the bottom instead.

The city of Tallahassee is the state capital, so I assigned it a star point symbol, which is a common convention used in many state maps. To represent the rest of the major cities, I kept the red circle symbol used in the lab because it paired well with the overall color scheme and was simple and effective.

Because some river labels were repeated when the font size was reduced, and others did not align properly or even fell off the map, I converted all river labels to annotation.

Font Selections

Ordinal values help represent importance and hierarchy on a map, which is why I used the following font sizes. Since Tallahassee is the state capital and therefore the most important feature, it is in the largest font (12 pt), followed by major cities (11 pt), then the swamps (8 pt), and finally the rivers, which are the smallest features (6 pt). Because it is best practice to limit a map to two font types, the main map features were in Constantia, while the other map components,the title, legend, etc., were in Tahoma.

General Map Feature Selections

Although Florida is much taller than it is wide, the portrait layout did not allow me to enlarge the map as much as I wanted so I pursued the landscape layout and also provided usable space in the bottom‑left corner for displaying necessary map elements such as the legend.

For the background, I chose a light gray color that added subtle contrast, matched the rest of the color scheme, and helped the map stand out.

Finally, I added an inset map showing Florida’s location relative to the rest of the United States. I initially considered leaving it out to avoid violating the “minimize map crap” principle, but I thought about the intended audience, likely visitors or tourists,and decided that providing geographic context would be helpful. I used neutral colors to keep the inset simple and unobtrusive.

Important Items Along the Way

The lab assignment required only specific cities, rivers, and features, so all others had to be removed. To do this, I edited the attribute tables of each feature class and deleted the unwanted features. It is important to remember to save changes to the attribute table after making deletions otherwise the deleted features will reappear on your map.

To edit or move annotations, this version of ArcGIS Pro requires using the dropdown options in the Editor tool gallery. This is important as in older versions of ArcGIS Pro the “move” button is noticeable on the ribbon. 

I originally left the major city labels as they were, since they did not require major modification. However, I could not get the font size to change using the labeling properties. I am not sure why this occurred. To fix it, I converted the labels to annotation and manually adjusted the size of each major city name.

I also struggled with the river annotations because I could not easily place the labels in my ideal positions, and when I did, they still followed the original annotation geometry, which no longer aligned with the new placement. I attempted to use the “Follow This Feature” tool to align the annotations, but the tool was not working for me. As a last resort, I used the “Edit Vertices” tool, which allowed me to manually adjust the angle of each letter and word. It is not perfect, but it was better than leaving them unedited. I look forward to properly learning how to use the “Follow This Feature” tool in the future.

Module One- Introduction to Cartography and Map Design

Figure 1- Well Designed Map - SC Wildlife Zones

The map I selected is the Wildlife Map from the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, found in the R‑Drive. I chose it because, despite a few areas that could be improved, it is simple, easy to understand, and communicates its purpose effectively.

Purpose, Look, and Audience

The map’s purpose is to show the different game zones used for wildlife management in South Carolina, which is made clear through the title and legend. Its look and feel are simple, practical, and informative, presenting a lot of information in a way that anyone can quickly interpret. The intended audience is the general public—people interested in hunting, wildlife conservation, or anything requiring awareness of the state’s game zones. The educational level needed is minimal since the zones are color‑coded and clearly labeled.

Cartographic Design

The map emphasizes the main theme through its use of color. Only the game zones are colored, which makes them stand out against the white background. The symbology is simple but effective: each zone is represented by a different color, outlined with thick borders, and labeled with a number inside the zone. This makes it easy to identify each area without relying heavily on the legend.

Improvements: Some colors are too similar—especially between Zones 1 and 6, and Zones 2 and 5—which may confuse some viewers. Blue and lilac are also not ideal choices for land areas. A neutral background color instead of white would give the map a more finished look.

The symbols and labels are mostly legible, except for a few city names. The symbols are intuitive, and the thick borders and centered numbers make the zones easy to understand. The map also uses graphics and text blocks appropriately, including the official state seal and important information like the source and publication date.

Map Elements and Layout

The map is generally well balanced, and the creator used the landscape layout effectively to fit the shape of the state. The state fills most of the page, and the north arrow, scale bar, and text boxes are placed in a way that doesn’t distract from the main map. The legend is close to the state and sized appropriately. The only change I would make is swapping the north arrow and scale bar with the seal and text boxes to reduce clutter in the bottom‑left corner.

The map has appropriate borders, though slightly thicker ones would give it a more polished look.

Scale and Legend

The map extent is appropriate because it shows the entire state and includes enough detail to display the cities within each zone. The scale bar is simple, uses miles, and is placed near the state for easy reference.

The legend includes all necessary symbols and details and is organized logically from Zone 1 to Zone 6. The labels are clear, though adding “Game” before each zone name is redundant since the legend title already states that these are game zones.

Titles and Subtitles

The title is brief, descriptive, and clearly communicates the map’s purpose. It is the largest text on the page and is positioned well in the open space near the top right. The subtitles are smaller, non‑distracting, and easy to read.

Figure 2 - Poor Map Choice: "Bellevue"

 For this assignment, I chose a map from the R‑Drive that wasn’t obviously terrible at first glance. I wanted to challenge myself with something that looked acceptable to a non‑GIS viewer but still had real design issues. I even asked a non‑GIS friend to look at it, and her impressions matched mine.

Purpose, Look, and Audience

The map’s purpose isn’t clearly communicated. Although the legend suggests it is meant to show public facilities across Bellevue, the title doesn’t say this, and the layout doesn’t help clarify it. The overall look and feel of the map is overwhelming—there is so much going on visually that instead of helping the viewer understand where key facilities are, it creates confusion.

The intended audience seems to be everyday residents or visitors who need general location information, assuming they can read basic directional cues.

Cartographic Design

Some visual themes are emphasized well, such as the contrast between urban areas, green spaces, and surrounding water. These help give a sense of the city’s layout. But the map is so cluttered that even these distinctions start to blur.

The symbology for public facilities is mostly effective. Points are used for specific locations, and color‑coded areas represent broader features like parks. However, some color‑coded areas—like the dark and light gray regions—aren’t explained in the legend, leaving the viewer to guess their meaning.

The color scheme generally works: it’s earthy, not distracting, and highways stand out clearly from smaller streets. But the labels and symbols are hard to read because the font is tiny and the map is visually crowded. Some symbol colors blend into the background, making them difficult to distinguish.

The symbols themselves are intuitive—fire stations in red, schools with a flag symbol, police stations in blue, parks in green, water in blue. There are no extra graphics, but there is a text box in the bottom right corner that is nearly unreadable because it clashes with the map.

Map Elements and Layout

The page layout feels unbalanced. The title and legend are both on the left, making that side feel heavy, while the logo and text box on the right are too small to balance it out. The borders are inconsistent as well, with the bottom border thicker than the others.

Most map elements support the map’s goals, but the scale bar does not. It is shown in feet, which is unusual for a city map, and it is placed awkwardly under the north arrow, making it easy to miss. The north arrow itself is too large and ornate. Both elements could have been placed more thoughtfully.

Scale and Legend

The map extent is reasonable because it includes the whole city, though some might prefer a closer view that excludes surrounding water. Including the water does help show the city’s context, so either choice could be justified.

The legend is only partially complete. Several layers, like water, gray areas, purple areas, and smaller streets, are missing. The structure of the legend is logical, though, and the labels themselves are intuitive.

Titles and Subtitles

The title is not descriptive enough and doesn’t explain the map’s purpose. It is also too small, and the subtitles are even smaller and nearly impossible to read.

Story Map About Me!

 Hello everyone!

I’m Zenia, and I couldn’t be more excited to be here today!

I’m a grad student pursuing my GIS analyst degree, and my undergraduate degree is in Environmental Sciences from Grand Canyon University. School is one of my favorite things in life (weird, I know) but I genuinely enjoy learning new skills and exploring parts of the academic world I haven’t experienced before.

I fell in love with GIS during my undergrad and was thrilled to discover that UWF offered a master’s program. At the end of the program, I hope to secure a GIS job in the public sector and bring some much-needed skills. Once I complete my master’s, I hope to continue on to my PhD where I will use GIS as an additional tool to help government plan and support the most important life sustaining operations, agriculture.

If there were an easy way to describe me, it would be “different” … ha-ha. I bounce between being very extroverted and friendly in public, yet incredibly introverted at home and in my personal life. I enjoy nature, painting, reading, singing, and dancing.

I also feel incredibly lucky to be alive and grateful for the opportunities I’ve been given.

Check out my story map for more about me :)

Story Map Link - https://arcg.is/11bnfW5