This module's lab exercise may just have been the most challenging I have experienced in my GIS journey so far. The exercise focused on mapping the entirety of Europe thematically based on two datums. The goal of this exercise was to take a shapefile for Europe and prepare the data such that the countries within Europe are symbolized as a choropleth based on population density. What's more, I also needed to symbolize wine consumption (L per capita) per country using graduated or proportional symbols, based on what I determined to be the best method. The result required a final layout made in ArcGIS Pro displaying this map of Europe, with an inset showing areas of the continent that were too clustered to display in a large scene.
After much arduous tweaking and trial & error, my final map layout is as follows:
This map layout was made in ArcGIS Pro using two different map frames made from the same data shapefile. The choropleth of population density values was made in Symbology using 5 classes and the Natural Breaks method. Natural Breaks was chosen as it most accurately represented both outliers and countries with values in similar ranges. With this method it is easy to see trends in regions of Europe. Data Exclusion query statements were used within Symbology to exclude some countries that are too small to be seen effectively. The color scheme is sequential as the data is unipolar. The graduated symbols that represent wine consumption for each country were created in an interesting manner and required more preparation than the choropleth. First I had to convert the original shapefile to point features using the Feature to Point tool in ArcGIS Pro. Using Edit functions, I was able to place these points where I deemed best. Next I used Symbology to represent these points as graduated symbols. Similar tot he choropleth, certain countries were omitted from symbolization for the same reasons aforementioned. I chose graduated symbols instead of proportional symbols because they provide points that represent a range instead of one solid value. I believe this to be better for a thematic map of this scale as it allows trends and generalizations to be seen quicker and easier. The inset map represents a cluster of countries in South Central Europe that would have created too much clutter if represented in the zoomed out main map frame. Thus, the labels and graduated symbols were omitted from the main map frame and only symbolized in the inset. The symbols are still scaled accurately. There is a subtext below the map title briefly explaining what the map represents, as well as what projection the map uses. This map is in Albers Europe Equal Area Conic, which allows enumerations to be true to size relative to one another. Labels were created for each country using the label functions in ArcGIS Pro and then converting the labels to annotation to better manipulate placement, size and also to provide leader lines to country centroids. Various important bodies of water around Europe were labeled using a curved text function in the Layout view with appropriate typography to better aid readers in Europe's location and orientation.
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