Gis based information

1. Cartographic
Designing/Modeling and
Layouts
■ A – Cartography
■ B – Elements of Map Composition
■ C – Cartographic Elements
■ D – Symbolization

2. Cartography
■ 1. Maps and their Uses
■ 2. Efficiency and Mapping
A

3. Maps and their Use
■ Mapping is a communication tool
■ A picture worth one thousand words
• Convey a message to a public through a medium.
• Some forms of communication are better than others.
• All maps are not equal, even if some are representing the same
features.
• Cartographic quality.
• Maps are using visual communication tools.
1
Map
Data/Information Message
Cartography Map reading

4. Maps and their Use
■ Recording and Storing Information
• Institutions use maps to store large amounts of information.
• Location of resources.
• Location of people.
• Parcels.
• Property.
• Infrastructure.
• Utilities.
• Etc…
1

5. Maps and their Use
■ Analyzing Distributions and Patterns
• Maps can be used to analyze spatial distributions.
• Visualization helps conceptualization of patterns and processes.
1

6. Maps and their Use
■ Presenting and Communicating
• Express concepts and ideas that are verbally
difficult and complex to portray.
• Demonstrate.
• Convince.
• Persuade.
• Inform/Misinform.
1

7. Efficiency and Mapping
■ Cartography
• Science / art / technique of map production.
• Uses a set of defined graphical elements to communicate a
message.
■ Graphical elements specific to cartography
• Coordinate systems.
• Map projections.
• Scale.
• Symbology
■ Legend
• Explaining the meaning of graphical symbols.
• With the large diffusion of maps, some symbols do not require
explanation anymore.
2

8. Efficiency and Mapping
■ Symbolic abstraction
• Encoding real-world geographic features.
• How much to simplify?
• How to symbolize?
2

9. Efficiency and Mapping
■ Designing a Good Map
• A good map conveys well its intended message.
■ What is the goal of the map?
• What the reader should gain from the map or how the reader
should respond.
• Motives vary greatly.
• Convey accurate information about spatial relationships.
• Sway public debate.
• The motive will have a great bearing on the content of the map
(the information included) and its form (the cartographic
strategies employed).
2

10. Efficiency and Mapping
■ Who is the reader?
• Map design is not the same according to the intended public.
• Identify the type of reader being addressed.
• Important to have an idea about what the audience is likely to
know about the subject matter of the map.
• Map literacy:
• How much background the readers have in using maps.
• A map intended for specialists who have a background in cartography
might be organized far differently than one intended for use in a public
debate.
2

11. Efficiency and Mapping
■ Where it will be used?
• Usage depend on the type of medium the map will be published
in (book, magazine, news, web site, etc.).
• Some maps are used only once and then discarded.
• Others are intended to used for reference for decades or
centuries.
■ What data is available?
• Some maps use reliable sources while others have sketchy
information.
• Decisions about map design are tempered greatly by source
materials themselves.
■ What resources and equipment are available?
• Underline the time and the costs for map production.
2

12. Elements of Map Composition
■ 1. Format of Final Production
■ 2. Generalization, Simplification and Abstraction
■ 3. Common Elements
■ 4. Balancing Elements
■ 5. Map Layouts
B

13. Format and Final Production
■ Final format
• Size and the media will
determine the map-making
process.
• Size influence the level of detail
and the quantity of information.
• Media determines the availability
of colors, patterns and lettering.
1
B&W Insert
in an article
3”
5”
Poster
24”
24”

14. Generalization, Simplification and Abstraction
■ Cartography is a process of abstraction
• Features are generalized and simplified.
• Not all elements are relevant to the message a map convey.
• The reader must have his/her attention of the message portrayed
by the map.
■ Detail
• Too much details undermine the message of the map.
• The amount of detail is related to the scale of the map.
• A small scale map must be generalized.
• A large scale map can contain more details at the expense of
generalization.
2

15. Generalization, Simplification and Abstraction
2

16. Generalization, Simplification and Abstraction
2

17. Common Elements
■ Basic set of elements
• Title.
• Scale.
• Legend.
• Body of map.
• North arrow.
• Production Date.
• Projection Used.
• Sources.
• Most elements are found on all maps, but some are more
context sensitive.
3

18. Map Elements
The United States of America
Alaska
Lambert Conformal Conic Projection
Source: U.S. Dept. of State
0 4
1 2 3
hundreds of kilometers
0 4 0 4
Washington,D.C.
National Capital
Legend
Scale
Credits
Place name
Inset
Background
Neat line Title
Hawaii
3

19. Balancing Elements
■ Concept
• Each map element has its own importance.
• The cartographer must organize them according to priority.
• Important elements should be in prominent positions within the
map.
• Important elements should have an according size; a larger area.
■ A general rule:
• The most important elements should be on the top left.
• The least important elements should be on the bottom right.
4

20. Balancing the Importance of Elements
4
Most important
information
Least important
information
Visual Center

21. Balancing Elements
■ Placement
• Importance should also be given to the placement of elements
within the map frame.
• Distribute evenly to avoid crowding and blank areas.
4

22. Map Layout
■ Rules
• Only experimentation tells which layout is the best.
• It used to be a costly and long experience.
• Today, GIS packages enable to do this easily.
5

23. Map Layout
■ Relevance of the elements on the map
• Each one should be justified.
• Those of less importance should be simplified.
• Those of importance should be explained.
• Simple design are more readable.
• Too much detail and complexity will confuse the reader.
• The rules are generally vague, so it is to the cartographer to
develop his/her “style”.
5

24. Cartographic Elements
■ 1. Distance and Scale
■ 2. Direction
■ 3. Legend
■ 4. Sources
■ 5. Context Sensitive Elements
■ 6. Effective Communication Elements
C

25. Distance and Scale
■ Distance or scale
• Must always be indicated or
implied.
• Except in the case where the
audience is very familiar with
the map and the distance
portrayed.
• Verbal, numeric and graphic
scale.
• Graphic form is often preferred:
• Map are drafted at a different
scale than they are printed.
• If verbal and numeric scales are
used, the cartographer must
make sure that the map is
printed at the precise scale
indicated.
1
1 cm equals 10km
1:50,000
Verbal
Numeric
Graphic

26. Direction
■ Conventional North
• The top of the map is the True North, that is the direction of the
North Pole.
• If the top of the map is not the true north, an arrow indicating the
direction of the true north should be placed on the map.
■ Magnetic North
• Changing according to the geophysical conditions of the earth’s
crust and core.
• Navigation maps both contain the magnetic north and the true
north.
• Compass readings show the magnetic north and adjustments
are made to find the true north.
2
Adjustment to be made (declination)

27. Direction - Some Examples
Where is north on
this map?
Where is north on
this map?
2

28. Legend
■ Nature and placement
• List of symbols used on the map and their significance.
• Symbols on the map should look exactly the same on the
legend.
• The choice of symbols is open, but they should portray a good
abstraction.
• Some conventions are difficult to escape from.
• Often, legends are not necessary if textual annotations are put
directly on the map.
• Legend should be placed on an empty part of a map to create
some balance.
3

29. Legend
3

30. Sources
■ Sources
• Since a map is an information medium, it must be referenced.
• Source for the base map.
• Source for the information portrayed on the map (mostly for
thematic maps).
• Possibility to verify information and the way it was interpreted.
• Age, accuracy and reliability of data is important.
• Also relevant to indicate how the data was processed, grouped,
generalized and categorized.
• Only consider cities of more than 20,000.
• Classes are equidistant.
4

31. Context Sensitive Elements
■ Title
• One of the most essential feature.
• Its design should be related to the audience.
• Captions usually take the place of titles in maps for books and
journals.
• Should be comprehensive:
• Avoid things such as “Map of…”.
• Avoid long descriptions.
• “A map of the population growth in Canada between 1980 and
1990 displayed by province” with “Canada population growth by
province, 1980-1990”.
• “Colonies controlled or ruled by Spain on the eve of the Spanish-
American War” with “The Spanish empire in 1898”
5

32. Context Sensitive Elements
■ Projection
• Influences the representation of area, distance and direction.
• An experienced cartographer can identify the projection simply
by looking at the map.
• Choose the appropriate projection for the mapping context.
• Some projections are incompatible with some representations.
• The projection used should be indicated on the map if precision
is important.
• For several thematic maps, projection is factual.
• Projection is mandatory for maps to be used in the digitizing
process.
• Projection is indicated on all topographic maps.
5

33. Context Sensitive Elements
■ Cartographer
• Name (initials) of the person(s) responsible for the map
production.
• Could also be a corporate identity.
• Seal of approval since the cartographer is linked to his(her)
output.
■ Production date
• Several map are time sensitive.
• The reader must thus know when the map was produced to
understand its context.
• Illustrates how old is the information, and thus its accuracy.
• For some maps, the year is all what is needed.
• For maps, such as weather maps, the time precision can go up
to the minute.
5

34. Effective Communication Elements
■ Neatlines
• Used to frame a map and to clearly indicate where it begins and
ends.
• Also used to clip some area out of a locator, inset or index map.
• Some maps do not need neatlines, notably when they are well-
known maps.
6
Northeastern United States

35. Effective Communication Elements
■ Locator
• Some maps show a location unfamiliar to the reader.
• It is useful to put a locator map portraying where is location in
relation to a wider area.
■ Inset
• Information on a specific part of a map may be too dense.
• Useful in this context to put an inset map to zoom in.
■ Index map
• Limit to the amount of information that can be put on a map.
• Useful to place labels and other information on an index map.
6

36. Effective Communication Elements
- Locator, Inset and Index Maps
6

37. Effective Communication Elements
- Locator, Inset and Index Maps
6

38. Symbolization
■ 1. Visual Resources
■ 2. Symbolization Strategies
■ 3. Typography
■ 4. Foreground and Background
■ 5. Category Ranges
D

39. Visual Resources
■ Visual resources
• Used to draw attention on map
features.
• Wide range of resources.
• Varies according to the nature of
the information being mapped.
■ Modification of visual elements
• Can be modified by color and
geometry.
■ Color modifications
• Hue.
• Texture.
• Intensity.
■ Geometric modifications
• Shape.
• Size.
• Orientation.
1
Hue Texture Intensity
Shape Size Orientation
COLOR
GEOMETRY

40. Visual Resources
■ Visual resources and
geographical features
• Different geographical attributes
can be represented.
N
10 km
Location
Direction
Distance
Movement
Function
Process
Correlation
1

41. Visual Resources
Cartographer's Conception
Point
representation
Line
representation
Area
representation
Volumetric
representation
Real
World
Phenomena
Point
objects
Line
objects
Area
objects
Volumetric
objects
Tree
Q
X
Airport
Chemical spill

Open-pit
mine R
Highway
Tel.
poles
Phone
line
Right of way
Animals
Animal range
Stream Watershed
Administrative division
Housing
density
Road
density
Forest
cover
Proportional symbol
Mountain
range
Valley
1

42. Symbolization Strategies
■ Three levels of measurement
• Nominal (qualitative) data.
• Ordinal data.
• Ratio (quantitative) data.
■ Nominal Data
• Information is grouped in
categories on the basis of
qualitative considerations.
2
Q
Town
Airport
Road
Boundary
River
Swamp
Desert
Forrest
Points
Lines
Polygons

43. Symbolization Strategies
■ Ordinal Data
• Grouped by rank on the basis of
some quantitative measure.
Large
Medium
Small
Highway
Road
Street
Affected area
Risk area
Points
Lines
Polygons
2

44. Symbolization Strategies
■ Ratio Data
• Information that can be arranged
along a quantitative scale.
5 10 15
Each dot represents
500 persons
Proportional symbols
Flow
Contour
30 40 50
100
20
Population density
Points
Lines
Polygons
2

45. Typography
■ Definition
• Placement and appearance of textual information.
• Very difficult task.
• The cartographer must be concerned about the content and the
form.
• The content is the relevance and clarity of text.
• Avoid confusion and misinterpretations.
• Avoid redundancies.
• Avoid abbreviations.
• The form is the appearance of the text on the map.
3

46. Typography
■ Font
• Refers to the shape and pattern of letters.
• Hundred of fonts are available today, but stick to the basics.
• Two major categories:
• Serifand Sans Serif.
• Sans Serif fonts are easier to read, but readers put more attention on Serif fonts
(in theory).
• Other variances are Bold and Italic.
• Both used to make text stand out.
•Fontsize used to play with prominence of the text.
• As well as UPPER CASE, lower case and Mixed Case.
• The same information usually has the same font and font size.
3

47. Typography
■ Labeling points
• Avoid lettering across boundaries.
• Four places relative to a point where you can put text.
• They are not equally advantageous: 1 (best choice), 2, 3 and
then 4 (last choice).
• Since points do not have an orientation, text should be
horizontal.
3

48. Typography
■ Lettering Lines and Areas
• Text should follow the orientation (direction) of the line.
• It links the text more clearly to the graphic element and thus
avoid confusion.
• Text should occupy the area and its orientation.
3

49. Foreground and Background
■ Context
• Brings the most important
information in the foreground.
• Secondary information should be
in the background.
• The combination of the foreground
and the background must be
readable, and even enhance
readability.
• Requires the usage of color, value
or patterning.
• Creates some 3-D effect and a
visual hierarchy.
• It helps the reader sorting things
out.
4
Less important
(background)
Some
importance
Important
Most Important (foreground)

50. Foreground and Background
4

51. Category Ranges
■ Context
• Information being mapped is in
categories.
• Use a symbolization that express
gradients.
• Elements that can be played with are
the gray scale, the pattern (its
density), hue and intensity.
• Too many categories will confuse the
reader (3 - 7 categories).
5
Gray Scale
Pattern
Hue
Intensity