GIS5007 Module 1: Map Critique

 

    Module 1 of Computer Cartography (GIS5007/5006L) focused on allowing us the opportunity to think critically about maps and map design. By choosing our own “well-designed” and “poorly-designed” map from outside resources, we worked through an evaluation of each to determine what really made a “well-designed" and “poorly-designed" map. I found this to be a great exercise in being able to understand what really makes a map “good”.


A "well-designed" map: Mineral resources of Jefferson County, Florida 1989 ( FGS: Map series 129 ) - https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00015040/00001/citation

    This well-designed map (Mineral Resources of Jefferson County, Florida - 1989) conveys a clear purpose without overwhelming the audience with information. It is concise and to the point. It exemplifies Tufteism #1: Graphical excellence is the well-designed presentation of interesting data – a matter of substance, of statistics, and of design. This map is also effectively labeled to ensure no ambiguity in what it is depicting (Tufteism #7: Clear, detailed, and thorough labeling should be used to defeat graphical distortion and ambiguity), and further keeps items that are necessary in a way that doesn’t clutter the map (keep junk off the map, Tufteism #18).

    This map appeals to my aesthetic by 1. Lack of clutter, 2. Concise and easy to read/follow, 3. Professional and includes particular details (lat/long in the border, indicators of areas of interest, etc.). I can tell a lot of data went into this to be as accurate as it could be in relation to the intent of the purpose, and I would want my maps to be that way as well – professional, clearly depicting the intention of the map, as well as including details that makes it clear and accurate. 


A "poorly-designed" map: Forts and Historical Areas of Florida -https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00015268/00001/citation

    The “poorly-designed” map (Forts and Historical Areas of Florida (1513 – 1865)) includes Tufteism #8 (Write out an explanation of the data on the graphic itself. Label important events in the data) – it has, however, so many points of interests and associated labels as relates to the subject matter that this map has become cluttered and difficult to read well. The layout of the map could be changed to make the State of Florida bigger. In my untrained opinion, if the objective of the map was to indicate Forts and Historical Areas of Florida – it would be easier to see the points of interest if the overall map area of Florida was larger. There is a lot of written text, but it would be easier to understand what is happening if the written column was on a separate page as well (although I very much understand that likely was not the mapmaker’s decision-).

     While this map does not have a scalebar or several other essential map elements, it does have the State Song, State Bird, and State Flower… which seems like chart-junk to me (Tufteism #18: Forgo chart-junk). This map is already text heavy, so that piece of chart-junk should be removed. 

    This is a little thing… but I would fix the title font. The official webpage (https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00015268/00001/citation) seems to indicate that the whole title is “Forts and historical areas of Florida” and the subtitle would be “1513 – 1865”. The portion of the title “of Florida” is way too small in size. 




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