GIS 5007 Module 5: Choropleth and Proportional Symbol Mapping

 

    Module 5 of Computer Cartography focused on making a choropleth map depicting population density (pop./sq km) of European countries and making the choice between using proportional or graduated symbols to depict the wine consumed in liters/per capita of those areas (data from 2012) using ArcGIS Pro. I chose to use graduated symbols as I wanted to show the data as a range of values, and I chose a Blue-Purple (Continuous) gradient color scheme because I felt it looked more like wine. I also checked if it was colorblind safe in ColorBrewer. From lecture, several studies have indicated there is also a blue color preference amongst the population. I realize yellow may have been a good alternative choice considering it implies warmth/cheerfulness – which people might feel when they drink wine, or if they drink to celebrate.

    I choose to class the data in Natural Breaks (Jenks) because it has the more accurate representation of the data visually. Equal interval didn’t consider the natural clustering of the data like Natural Breaks does, and I felt using Equal Interval could be deceptive to the audience considering the breadth of the data. Quantile looked more active visually, but gave the impression several areas were more densely populated than is accurate.

Map depicting wine consumption (liters per capita) and the population density (pop./sq km) of Europe (2012)

    In the map depicted above, the bigger the circle, the higher the amount of wine (liters per capita) is consumed in that area. The darker the area, the more densely populated it is.

    I had the most trouble getting this map to be less cluttered visually, while still maintaining details that reflected the data accurately. To help with that, I utilized making labels into annotations to better control the placement of text, and created an inset map of the most clustered area.


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