Dr. Aileen Buckley discusses the importance of creating maps that engage, inform, and inspire users, highlighting their role in conveying information effectively. She emphasizes the significance of legibility, design considerations, and audience understanding in map-making. In the digital age, new tools and techniques offer greater accessibility and demand for clear, insightful maps that enhance user experience.

1. Dr. Aileen Buckley, Cartographer, Esri
Maps that Engage, Inform, and Inspire

2. Make maps that people are willing to look at long enough to learn something from,
and even prompt them to take action
The goal

3. Maps, not
data dumps

4. "Map showing the distribution of the slave population of the Southern states of the United States. Compiled from the census
of 1860. Drawn by E. Hergesheimer. Engr. by Th. Leonhardt." Library of Congress, American Memory Map Collections.

5. Francis Bicknell Carpenter’s portrait titled First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln, 1864, oil on canvas.

7. How visual perception works
You see something
The image is
sent to your brain
Your brain processes
the image
http://sketchingspirit.typepad.com/sketchingspirit/2011/06/denver-colorado-skyline.html

8. Let’s says that “seeing something” is
really “legibility”
The ability to be seen… …and recognized
https://www.flickr.com/photos/paul_heaston/8798290688/

9. Legibility depends on size and contrast
Map Use: Reading, Analysis, Interpretation, 8th edition, Figure 6.13
Field of view

10. Field of view

11. Too dark Too lightJust right
Map Use: Reading, Analysis, Interpretation, 8th edition, Figure 6.9
Legibility also depends on contrast

12. Map Use: Reading, Analysis, Interpretation, 8th edition, Figure 6.7
Visual contrast

13. The ability to be recognized depends on
many things
< 1 second
SEEING
1-2 seconds
PROCESSING
3-20+ seconds
COGNITION
(cognitioning, cogitating,???)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/paul_heaston/8798290688/

14. Perceptual challenges
Overstimulated by
visual clutter
Get stuck on
unimportant details that
should be filtered out
Hard to identify the
important things

15. https://www.csc2.ncsu.edu/faculty/healey/PP/
Find the red circle
< 1 second
PREATTENTIVE
PROCESSING
Typically less than 200 to 250 milliseconds
1-2 seconds
FOCUSED
ATTENTION
3-20+ seconds
COGNITION

16. https://www.csc2.ncsu.edu/faculty/healey/PP/
Find the red circle
< 1 second
PREATTENTIVE
PROCESSING
1-2 seconds
FOCUSED
ATTENTION
3-20+ seconds
COGNITION

17. < 1 second
PREATTENTIVE
PROCESSING
1-2 seconds
FOCUSED
ATTENTION
3-20+ seconds
COGNITION
Find the red circle
https://www.csc2.ncsu.edu/faculty/healey/PP/

18. < 1 second
PREATTENTIVE
PROCESSING
1-2 seconds
FOCUSED
ATTENTION
3-20+ seconds
COGNITION
Find the patterns in the red circles
https://www.csc2.ncsu.edu/faculty/healey/PP/

19. Fitting spatial knowledge into your
mental map
< 1 second
SEEING
1-2 seconds
PROCESSING
3-20+ seconds
COGNITION
(cognitioning, cogitating,???)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/paul_heaston/8798290688/

20. 20
Map Use: Reading, Analysis, Interpretation, 8th edition, Figure I.1

21. 21
Map Use: Reading, Analysis, Interpretation, 8th edition, Figure I.2

23. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40019013

24. Map Use: Reading, Analysis, Interpretation, 8th edition, Figure I.3

27. Map design matters
• Maps should inform or communicate
• Maps can involve high costs (time, effort)
• Maps are hard for many people to understand
• Maps can provide product or organization/agency credibility
• Maps must compete for peoples’ attention

28. Map design considerations
Intent Audience Format Strategy

29. Intent Audience Format Strategy

31. For the most part, audiences…
- Know less about the topic than you do
- Have a range of knowledge, interest, and expertise
- Appreciate simplicity and clarity (even technical audiences)
- Are willing to learn, but are busy and easily distracted
- Are intelligent, but not necessarily skilled in map use
Audience: Consider your readers

32. Format: Where and how
will your maps be seen?

35. Strategy: How do you want your
map to be received?
Aha!
Inform
Communicate
Inspire
Persuade
Based on your intent,
audience and format:

36. DEMO

37. Built-up Area

38. Per Capita Income

39. Population Density

40. Population Density

41. Per Capita Income

42. Per Capita Income

43. Per Capita Income

44. Race & Ethnicity

45. Race & Ethnicity

46. Race & Ethnicity

78. Original colors Modified from on-screen view

82. +Cartography Story
Maps have always told stories
new media = new languages…which can
take a while to learn

83. In the digital realm…
• The old rules still apply…mostly
• New tools and techniques are available
• More geographic information
• Greater accessibility
• New Viewing platforms
• New ways of presenting content
+Cartography Story

84. In the digital realm…
• The old rules still apply…mostly
• New tools and techniques are available = more demand for understanding
• More geographic information = new and larger audiences
• Greater accessibility
• New Viewing platforms
• New ways of presenting content
+Cartography Story
new media = new languages…which can
take a while to learn

85. The big difference in the digital age
Now we can guide the user experience
+Cartography
User
experience
Both should be conceived of and designed as a single unit
Apps &
user experiencesWeb maps

86. How do I end this talk?
I don’t—you do!

87. By making maps that…
…engage, …and inspire.…inform,