Instructor: In lecture three,
we'll explore the topic of map layouts.
Given that this is an advanced GIS class,
it's more than likely you've all got experience
using a map for one purpose or another.
Maybe it was for work
or last week when you went snowshoeing.
You've also likely seen maps in newspapers,
popular literature, and scientific journals.
With the number of excellent Covid mapping resources
available via the web,
I'd be surprised if people aren't looking at maps
more frequently than in pre-Covid times.
These next three maps are from "The New York Times,"
beautiful in their simplicity, sobering in their reality.
Map options from this site include current hotspots,
total cases by country,
and cases per capita at the country scale.
This next example from the Harvard Global Health Institute
offers an added level of functionality,
allowing the user to mediate
among different geographical aggregations,
states, counties, and congressional districts,
as well as the ability to mouse over a geographic entity
and review relevant details.
In this example,
we're looking at what's gone on over the last two weeks
in Washington County, Vermont.
One aside here, if there was ever a time
to maintain a feature class and its attribution separately,
this is it.
Consider that we're 300 give or take days
into this pandemic,
if all the data were stored
in the feature class attribute table,
that means there would be 300 plus attributes and counting
in a single feature class.
Even with indexing,
this attribute table might bog your system down.
Storing data separately
and only activating the data when required
is a much more efficient way to process and serve the data.
Those examples represent dynamic maps
meant to be regularly updated and served via a web app
built using any number of commercial
or open source products.
We can use static maps
to convey relatively simple information,
such as the standard time zones in Antarctica,
or they can be used to communicate more complicated ideas
to encourage critical thought about the world around us.
In this example,
we observe the size of the African continent
in relation to other countries around the world.
This map uses an interesting approach
to modifying geometry known as a cartogram.
Essentially, this is a choropleth map.
Colors vary by the values in the dataset
except in this case,
the value is used to alter the geometry
in proportion to the values
of the other features in the dataset.
The cartogram shows a context analysis
of all tweets, including retweets,
made between President Trump's election in November 2016,
and the November 2020 election, when he lost his office.
The US was excluded from the analysis,
so that it would disappear from the map.
The cartogram provides a picture
of the former president's foreign policy focus
during his time in office.
I always find it interesting to look at maps
that make me think twice about what I'm seeing.
Here's a map that inverts the color scheme
from what we'd normally expect.
We see the bathymetry of the global sea floor
represented with a color scheme
more often applied to terrestrial locations and vice versa.
This next one is kinda fun.
We see six of the seven deadly sins
represented on a per capita basis
throughout the United States.
The darker the brown, the saintlier your region.
Find yourself in the magenta, you're living among devils.
Each sin was derived from a suite of different factors.
Once calculated, the six sins were summed
to compute the seventh deadly sin, pride,
since it is the root of all sin.
The map author has certainly taken
some creative license here in defining relevant concepts,
seeking data, and arranging its display.
That said, this effort represents
an attempt to classify the country
using a variety of geospatial data resources.
Most maps are not suitable for navigational purposes.
They're simply meant to convey information.
We just reviewed several examples of that type of mapping.
Other maps look like they might be useful
when you're out and about,
but may explicitly state
that they are not to be used for navigation.
The National Park Service map we'll see on the next slide
is an example of that.
However, maps like the USGS topo sheet that we see here
are held to a much stricter cardiographic standard,
so that they can be safely used for navigational purposes,
assuming the reader of the map knows what they're doing.
Here's a map of the Olympic Peninsula
created by the National Park Service.
There's lots of detail,
but perhaps not the quality we'd like
for navigation purposes.
I can recall several entertaining conversations
about the suitability of those maps for navigation
with park rangers.
Mostly, I was curious why they'd provide
a map as you enter the park
and then tell you not to use it for directions.
Of course, what they actually meant
was that this map is not suitable
for navigating off trail in the back country.
I can definitely second that.
In terms of map elements,
of course, we'd expect to see
the geographic features of interest
contained within the map,
but what else should we be looking for
within our overall map layout?
At a minimum, the list of required map elements includes,
a legend, title, north arrow, and a scale bar,
in addition to the map frame, of course.
The legend serves as the crosswalk or translation
between a map symbol, like a blue polygon,
and a concept, like a lake,
and is critical for interpreting
and understanding the map contents.
It's also helpful to include
additional detail as space allows,
information like the map creator
and the agency or organization they work for,
maybe a neatline, a box around the map
that includes geographic coordinates,
and lastly, details about data sources.
Here's an example from that Olympic National Park map
we saw on the last slide.
All those details are included
in the lower left corner of the map layout.
From the top of the information block down,
we see a north arrow, scale bar, and legend.
I've zoomed in here on one comment
included in the auxiliary information,
although it's likely I've zoomed in far enough
that the text is pixelated.
It reads, "Do not use this map for hiking.
"Get detailed topographic maps."
What's also nice here
is the inclusion of descriptive paragraphs
about the different parts of the park.
Again, nice detail to feature, if you have the space.
If we look at the bottom of the USGS topo quad sheet
from two slides earlier,
we notice that the map frame includes a neatline,
only the bottom edge is visible here,
details regarding the scale and declination of the map,
and an overview map,
showing where in Vermont the quad sheet is situated,
a legend, a map name, and the publishing authority.
Lots of detail crammed into a small space.
Let's redirect our focus to ArcGIS for the next few slides
before concluding the Module Two lectures
with a map layout demonstration in ArcGIS Pro.
From the insert ribbon,
click new layout to expose the lengthy list of options
for page sizes for your map.
Before we proceed though,
let's make sure we're all in sync with some terminology.
The map layout features one or more map frames,
each of which refer to the data and symbology of a map pane.
We use a map pane to organize and analyze data.
The map frame is one component
or required element of a map layout,
the final product we create
to convey the findings of an investigation.
It's the map that we want to publish to the web
or print to paper or otherwise share with outside parties.
After we've made our page size selection,
we select the map frame to insert into the map layout
from the insert ribbon map frame option.
Notice the list represents
every map pane in the active project.
Once you've made your map frame selection,
draw a rectangular container on the page
where you'd like the map to be drawn.
Don't worry about making it exact on your first crack.
You can always make adjustments
to both the size and location of the map frame
after it's been inserted into the map layout.
It's possible to insert multiple map panes,
which is a useful technique for including a location map
as a geographic reference for the map user.
We will look at an example of this
in the upcoming demonstration.
Once you finish drawing that box,
the data appears as it is symbolized
in the map pane that it is drawn from.
You'd still need to insert
a north arrow, scale bar, and legend,
but I think you get the idea here.
For what it's worth,
the insert ribbon includes the functionality
to accomplish all of that.
One more thing to mention here, if you select an element,
like the map frame or a scale bar or a legend,
a new ribbon item appears
at the right end of the list of ribbons.
In this case, I have the map frame selected,
and the ribbon that appears is labeled map frame format.
If I had the scale bar selected,
it would be named scale bar format.
To make adjustments to a map element,
select it in the map layout
and access the functionality of the format ribbon
that is exposed.
Let's close out this lecture with a look
at a map layout I created during a project with the USGS.
The area of interest was in eastern Utah.
I have my main map, the map of Utah,
situated on the right side of the page.
The green polygon represents the study area.
In the upper left corner,
I've got a reference map for folks
that don't know where Utah is located
within the United States.
This location map features
its own north arrow and scale bar.
Below that, I place the legend, scale bar,
and north arrow for the main map.
It's always dangerous business
to look back at old mapping work.
Hopefully, my skills have evolved and improved
since I created this map so long ago.
If I were to critique this layout now,
I'd recommend three changes.
First, I would synchronize
the colors of the Utah State boundary in the two maps,
either red or blue, but not both ways.
Second, I'd shrink the state of Utah map
and move the scale bar and north arrow for it
below the state outline.
Lastly, I'd add some details about the map
in that newly freed up space below the legend.
I'm sure there's more to tinker with here.
Again, it can be dangerous to your free time
to review old efforts at mapping.
That's it for slides.
Join me for the next video to learn more about
creating and editing map layouts in ArcGIS Pro.