This cartographic design lab involved creating a map and inset map based on Gestalt's principles of cartographic design. The exercise was to create a map and inset map, the main map being the greater area of Washington D.C. and the inset map being Ward 7, a section of D.C. much like the boroughs of New York City. I was supplied with many feature layers of vector data from D.C. and was directed to use a selective exclusion/inclusion process to provide the desired outcome. I was to create a map that showed the greater D.C. area with sufficient detail for the desired map audience as well as an inset map of Ward 7 showing the location of different schools and their degree of learning in the area (also with sufficient supplemental features for the proposed reader). I deemed that this map would be used mostly by prospective homeowners of young families that would want to see both the locations and types of schools in different areas of Ward 7, as well as the major and minor roads and neighborhoods they neared. Based on the information provided, the requirements listed in the lab instructions, and the fundamentals of Gestalt's principles I created my final map layout shown below:
This map was created in ArcGIS pro using data from District of Columbia Open Data and is intended for educational purposes only. The data included involves interstates, sate highways, city streets, D.C. boundaries, Ward 7 boundaries, and schools locations. Other data supplied, such as park locations and neighborhood boundaries were not included in the final map as were deemed unnecessary or trivial for the end user during the selective inclusion/exclusion process. Some of these feature layers were used for labeling processes, however. For example, the feature layer for neighborhood boundaries in Ward 7 was used to select just 7 neighborhood names using SQL query, then those labels were converted to annotation to be able to be edited and displayed without the neighborhood boundary layer active or visible. School locations for Ward 7 were isolated using the Clip tool in ArcGIS pro and custom symbology based on unique values was used to display intellectual hierarchy. Some labels were created in Layout view using custom techniques, such as the Anacostia River which was made using the Curved Text feature. All displayed features were manipulated using Symbology in ArcGIS Pro based on Gestalt's principles.
There are a few key cartographic design principles from Gestalt I focused on in this map. These principles were visual hierarchy, contrast, figure-ground relationship, and balance. The intellectual hierarchy on the map is supposed to focus on the schools in Ward 7 within D.C. To achieve proper visual hierarchy, I implemented a few methods. For schools specifically, I used obvious differences in visual weight to differentiate between the degree of learning. For roads, I again used differences in visual weight to differentiate between the types of roads displayed, thickest being for interstates and thinnest for city streets. To achieve adequate contrast in my map I focused a great deal on color relationships. I wanted to use as few colors as possible to still be able to group like symbols and differentiate between unlike symbols. I used a blush color to provide contrast from the standard grey background I chose to give the map. Furthermore, I made the study area a much lighter grey than the background and lighter in saturation than the rest of D.C. I decided to only use two main colors with differences in hue, saturation, and lightness to communicate differences in data. The two colors are red and blue, as they are complimentary colors and provide visual difference as well as a visually appealing color scheme. Red information on the map symbolizes some of the less important information, while blue symbolizes the most important information to the reader. As far as differences in contrast for these grouped colors and datums, I again used contrast. For example, I utilized the RSV color system to select 3 distinct blue colors ranging from light to dark to again symbolize the intellectual hierarchy of the schools. I did this as well with the shades of red for roadways in Ward 7. Contrast was not only utilized in the map figure itself, but also in the background. I used a grey color to represent less valuable textual information and a solid black for more important information. I established an adequate figure-ground relationship largely by line weight and screening. For example, less important roads not included on the inset map are light grey. Larger roads have darker shades of grey up to black, however these features are important as someone travelling into the Ward 7 extent would likely have to use these roadways. Alternatively, I used a different color for roadways in the inset map extent, but only adjusted line weight to achieve a figure-ground relationship. The color for the roadways remained the same to establish the importance of the roadways both in the base map and the inset map. The shape of the base map and inset map made it difficult to achieve balance at first, but after some creative effort I found it possible. I chose a landscape-oriented layout to be able to maximize both space of the base map and the inset. Based on the shape of the base map and the fact that I wanted to the inset map to as legible as possible, I visually centered the extent locator for Ward 7 on the page instead of the center of the base map. I chose to place the inset map down and to the right of the basemap to draw the reader’s eyes naturally compared to the diagonal shape of D.C. This left me with available space both in the bottom left, top right, and top left of the page. The title made most sense in the top right, as the top left space was far too small. This space was perfect for the North arrow. I chose to place the legend and scale bar for the base map in the bottom left of the page, as there was ample space, and the information would also be visually related to the map image.
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