Project Based GIS - How Maps Work

ENV 761 - Landscape GIS | Spring 2025 | Instructors: Peter Cada & John Fay |

Overview

ESRI has create an excellent video capturing the essentials of cartographic design. This video is available here:
https://mediaspace.esri.com/media/t/1_6gkyts9r

Relate the following in the context of cartography:
- as a language
- as compromise
- as art
- as an opportunity
- as imagery as well as maps
- as a series of decisions and consequences
Describe how cartography is similar to or different from other languages.
Explain how text is “linear “but maps are “parallel”. (Think about when someone asks you for directions when you have a map and when you don’t)
Discuss how cartography is a process; what elements are in that process
What constraints go into the process of cartographic design
Explain how the map hierarchy organizes elements in a map
What techniques are available to promote or demote items in a map’s hierarchy
How does project come into play within cartography? What are the tradeoffs among different projections? How does scale play into your decision?
How would we categorize different types of symbols?
What properties of symbols can we manipulate to display information? (Size, color, shape, complexity)
What are the various generalization techniques displayed in the Generalization Wheel
What different color schemes are used in maps? (Qualitative, Sequential, Divergent, Spectral)
What elements of typography can we use in our maps?
What decisions go into the layout of map? What components comprise a map’s layout?