Module 2 - Data Visualization and Cartography

 

 In this lab, we explored several key cartography features and terms that must be considered before creating a map. We addressed questions like what data is available, who the map’s users are, the size and orientation of the page, how to arrange elements, and the use of data frames. The map we created is a representation of the location of UWF main campus in Escambia County. We used Florida Counties, Escambia Boundary, Florida cities, Interstate, Major Rivers, and UWF main campus location shapefiles. We explored the metadata for these layers to understand how the data were acquired and to verify data accuracy.

The new layout included two map frames; a map frame to show an overview of Florida counties and another one to show UWF main campus location. First, we created two new maps using the data shapefiles. We used the Clip command to clip data to the study area and used Definition Query to perform a selection on the Florida Cities to single out the cities we want to display. Because Definition Query is not permanent, we used Select By Attribute tool to select the cities in Escambia County and then exported them to a new layer. The new layer only contained data we needed from the existing layer. We changed the symbology to better serve the purpose of the layout and used Full Extent, Zoom, or Pan commands to get a good map extent, then we set reference scale and created bookmarks.We inserted the map frame representing the overview map for Florida Counties and the map frame for UWF main campus location in the new layout. Finally, we finished the layout by inserting a Title, UWF logo, north arrow, scale bar, legend, creator name, and data source. We exported the layout to a PNG file.