Lab 2

Lab 2 was our introduction to Adobe Illustrater otherwise known as AI.  AI is an extremely powerful tool that is used after a map has been created in ArcGIS to do finishing touches as well as add other elements to a map.  For this lab we exported an ArcGIS file to an AI file which allowed us to tranfer it from ArcGIS to AI.  Once in AI we opened the file which consisted of the North arrow, the Legend, the Scale, and the map of Florida Cities.  I added the text as well as the background.  The objective of this lab was for us to become familiar with the power as well as some of the more common tools found in AI.  Everything in AI is grouped into layers which we had to edit in order to make the shapes, such as all of the parts of the legend, stay together and allow movement of the shapes simultaneously.  This was one of the harder topics for me to grasp because when I moved some shapes they disappered.  But undoing the action brought them back so I repeated this until I got the shapes situated how I wanted.  The only reason I added color to the text and the background is so I was more familiar with the color tool.  One interesting thing I found was that you needed to link the scale and the map because you can't create scales in AI so it was created in ArcGIS.  If you were to mess with the scale in AI it would become not a true scale.  So linking the map and scale is necessary especially if you need to change the size of the map itself.  By changing the map size it would also change the scale size proportionally.  Overall this lab took me from no experience with AI to being fairly comfortable in its operation.  Although, I am 100% sure that AI has way more power than I even know about.

Lab 1

In Module 1 we had to do the following:

• Find an example of a well designed map
• Explain why it is a well designed map using 2-3 mapping principles
• Find an example of a poorly designed map
• Explain why it is a poorly designed map using 2-3 mapping priniples

The following is what I found:

1.    Example of a well-designed map.

2.    One paragraph critique of your well-designed map—critique must be supported with 2-3 map design principles.

This map uses a very well thought out color scheme, the colors are well spaced apart before they are used again.  It makes it very easy to distinguish the borders between the countries.  The labeling of the countries is a very readable font and the labels are in appropriate places as to not interfere with other countries.  The message is conveyed without the need for a title or a legend.  It is obviously a map of the continents when they were formed in Pangaea using current country labels.  I believe that you could show this map to anyone who has a basic knowledge of the continents of the Earth and even if they couldn’t read English they would be able to figure out what the message of the map is. 

3.    Example of a poorly-designed map. 

    

4.    One paragraph critique of your poorly-designed map—critique must be supported with 2-3 map design principles.

There are many different problems with this map.  The first noticeable problem is with the legend.  The legend uses different sized circles to represent the population density of certain cities.  However, the author forgot to include the units when designing the legend so the reader has no clue what the actual numbers represent.  Secondly, the text used to label the cities is a good font because it is easy to read, nevertheless, the text should have been placed within the city instead of scattered randomly around the circles.  This shows poor map planning.  Also the text sometimes runs into the border of the circles which makes some of the text difficult to read.  Thirdly one of the biggest problems (pun intended) is the circles are too large because they cover too much of the actual map which makes the map very difficult to find certain cities.  Finally, where did the data come from?  There is no source notated so therefore, the reader has no clue what the validity of the data is.

Introduction

Hey Y'all, my name is Ben Powell and I am a Oceanography major just starting the GIS Certificate.  I hope that by obtaining the GIS Certificate it will set me apart within my field and the job market.  Currently I am in the Navy and will be departing active duty February 23rd of 2015 and I am counting down the days!  I have been stationed in Pensacola since November of 2009 and will have spent my whole career here in Pensacola.  It has been a very good place to be stationed because without being here I never would have rediscovered my passion for all things ocean.  I do networking for the Navy so I am fairly technical when it comes to computer things and am hoping that by using GIS it will allow me to blend Oceanography with computers.