Top 10 Maps

Top 5 Student Lab Maps

(In no particular order)

 From Danielle: This map is very clean and crisp. The color choices work together well and the shifted symbol box adds a little something to the layout.

From Eric:  While it's not the most uplifting topic, it's a well done map. The symbol and font are both appropriate. The simpleness allows readers to focus on the data.

From James: This map definitely conveys that SMERG is BAD! The polluted city background adds a great touch. 

From Jared: I like the background and overall theme of the map. The font and color blocking work well together. 

From Rebecca:  This is a very well done bivariate map. The color ramp is easy to read, but my favorite part is the background. 

Top 5 Weekly Blog Maps

(in no particular order)

From Cory: Zoom in, if you can, the map was created using text and creates a casual feel.  

From Jennifer: What a beautiful map! The colors are so vibrant-- it reminds of me a Lite Brite.

From Thomas: At first glance, this doesn't even look like a map- it looks more like something organic. The colored contours are quite intense; I like it. 

From Nicole: The color of the dots are so vibrant- they work really well against the muted background. The projection helps show the zone of hurricane ranges. 

From Jon: This map is quite simply, but the data makes it amusing. The map shows where there are more bars or grocery stores. The yellow/orange is more grocery stores. 

Final Project

Above is the finished product for my final project. I chose to make a map of my neighborhood. There were a few challenges along the way: base map files, elevation, scale, and those darn trees! The two base map files I used were parcel and road edge line files imported from ArcGIS. Even though they came from the same data source- the edges did not line up; this resulted in me spending hours meticulously moving each road edge to line up with the parcel edges. Originally I intended to show the elevation within the neighborhood. Unfortunately, what I perceive as decent elevation changes is not enough for ArcGIS's interpolation tools to show any change within my neighborhood. So you'll just have to take my word for it: the neighborhood is not flat. Basically, wherever you see trees is where there are steep slopes. Do you see my inset map? I wanted to make that the larger map and show some of the nearby amenities. After some debating (with myself) and some helpful feedback from my peers, I arrived at the final layout instead. Those trees crashed my computer many times, I'll leave it at that.

   Overall, I'm quite pleased with how the map turned out.