Module 5 - Map Composition

The following map was created for the Map Composition module of the University of West Florida Online GIS certification course, Cartographic Skills (GIS 3015L). The map was created using Adobe Illustrator (CS4).




The goal of the assignment was to take various components of a typical thematic map and organize them in a cohesive and aesthetically effective manner to convey the map's information. The layout presented above accomplishes the goal by focusing on the thematic map which had to be enlarged to scale and then balanced to the other elements (insets, legend, scale bar, north arrow). It was quite a challenge to get the elements arranged correctly and I was only pleased with the composition after re-positioning the Florida inset in the bottom corner with the US map above it creating a "stacked building" effect on the left side that settles the viewers gravitational unease. Originally, the legend had a border as well, but I realized it really did not need it because it was in-kind part of the main map at that point. The insets were given a color fill to create contrast to the main map, as well as to each other to seal the deal. At that point, a defined diagonal framing of the main map was created that balanced the diagonal shape of the part of Florida being highlighted. I considered changing color schemes for the thematic map, but the compositional elements made it unnecessary. However, pretty much every element in the map was re-sized in some format (i.e. the scale was halved in thickness and a segment removed to shorten it to scale) and all the type was changed to Ariel and re-sized to various point sizes.

My best friends in Illustrator were the Layers frame which I used religiously to lock and hide objects and layers and the Direct Selection tool which made selecting the maps as one piece very easy. I had problems using the Scale tool until I realized it was easier to use when the image was enlarged.