School of Geography FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT Introduction to Cartography

What is Cartography? Art/science/technology of making maps Beauty vs. usefulness Cartographic design is a complex task Unlimited options (16 million colours, many kinds of lines and symbols) A good map makes it easy for a reader to acquire your intended information by: Depicting data effectively Reflecting the relative importance of features Reducing distraction

Cartographic Objectives Map Objectives (Why?) Highlight spatial relationships Illustrate analysis results Convey information Easier comprehension of complex events Design Objectives (How?) Fulfill communication objectives Assign meaningful symbology Fulfill map objectives Ensure truthful depiction of reality

Issues of Detail + Symbology How much detail should I include? Depends on generalisation and scale E.g. Small scale – not interested in detail What symbols should I use? Qualitative: Can vary colour, shape, texture, pattern Patterns: repetitive type of symbol used for areas (e.g. swamps) Consider effects of reduction, e.g. paper + photocopier Quantitative Shading / intensity Size of symbols

Colours/Special Effects How many should I use? A maximum of 12 different colours A maximum of 7 to 8 shades Employ patterns/textures/text if you need more categories Consider how the map will be disseminated Colour on screen (16.7 million) different from printer (256 colours) Avoid special effects: squares of black and white/lines – 50% - vibration effect same shading on two different backgrounds use of lines (diagonal, vertical) as they imply directionality

Limitations of the Eye

Examples of Special Effects Avoid use of these in your maps:

Legibility of Symbols + Text Size of symbols? Have to know what your map is being used for At which distance will the map be viewed? E.g. a wall map? Reading distance? At a smaller distance, the symbols can be smaller Text issues? Text colour vs background colour (to get a good contrast) Uppercase vs lowercase (use a combination ) No fancy fonts / avoid mixing font types Perfect vision? Not everyone has this – not too crowded, enough contrast between background and symbols, background + text

Cartographic Specifications Perception threshold = legibility of smallest detail Line thickness should not be less than.1 mm Points: 0.5 mm for points Separation threshold = distinction between adjacent features > 0.2mm e.g. road and rail road line Differentiation threshold = smallest difference between the nearest same size symbols, e.g. proportional symbols – can do this by artificially making symbols larger to increase the contrast

Visual Balance + Hierarchy Center of the map Visual weight Size, colour (value + intensity), how close things are to the edge (e.g. things on right have more visual weight) E.g. if put a large north arrow on the map, map is not good because the eye goes there first Gaps: should be avoided in the bottom but ok at the top (i.e. above the visual centre Do not want other elements to compete with the main map Make easy to use scale bars

Which is Most Balanced?

What About This One?

And One Final One….

Map Elements Title (avoid ‘Map of…’) Author and date of the data Map body Legend Scale bar / representative fraction Date of the map North arrow Projection Sources of the data, licensing Water Mark

Layout View in ArcMap Map content is contained in a data frame Layers, symbols and feature-based text (labels) Map elements Legends, scale bars, north arrows, graticules, et. Text, pictures, graphics added to the page ArcMap Data View vs Layout view Data view: used for exploring, displaying, querying and analysing spatial data Layout view: shows the virtual page upon which the map content and map elements are placed

Starting a Composition in Layout View

Page Layout Toolbar Draw layout items in Draft Mode Faster page navigation Can turn on all items or just an individual element Pause drawing button Use if you change feature symbols, label property, layer draw order, etc. Refresh Pause Layout View Data View

Active Data Frame Can only have one data frame active at once Active when bold in the table of contents + marquee around it in layout view To make a frame active: right-click  Activate OR click + Alt key OR click on the window in Layout View

Layout View in Draft Mode Can move elements around without the map redrawing

Page Layout Aids Rulers, guides and grids Snap graphic elements to layout aids Settings layout aids Tools  Options  Layout view tab

Adding Map Elements Scale bar - adjust division values or adjust width Use Legend Wizard Graphics, Pictures: Use graphics toolbar Can convert any element to a graphic Grids and Graticules (reference systems) Use where north is not constant across the map or map is not to scale Graticule (geographic) Measured grid (projected) Reference grid (index grid) Are a property of your data frame – Grids tab

Adding a Water Mark Always add a water mark Needed for maps at a scale of 1:10,000 or greater but best practice is use all the time Load these into ArcMap 2X and 5X watermark files Use the Georeferencing toolbar: View  Toolbars Put the watermark file into the drop down list Fit to display Ask your GIS team for more details

Map Templates Create maps from.mxt files Can use predefined ArcMap templates Create custom templates Use the LCC template Looking at this tomorrow!

Extent Rectangles Add an extent rectangle to an existing data frame Shows position of one data frame relative to another Extent rectangles are dynamic (will automatically update if changes if you zoom in on big map – extent rectangle changes) View  Data Frame Properties  Extent Rectangles tab

Mapping Resources Technology trends in GIS – Cartography GIS for Map, Chart and Data Production ESRI Mapping Center

Using Layout View in ArcMap Hands-on Exercise #4