Cartographic Fundamentals

In this lab, the fundamental requirements of mapmaking are explored and explained. There are a few essentials one must include in a map in order to make it decipherable. Elements such as the north arrow, scale bar, title, watermark, locator map, and legend are very important for understanding what the map is portraying, but metadata is also as important. Each of the following maps includes the necessary elements as well as the data and metadata explaining how the maps became what they are.

Part One: Creating a map
To create a map of the sandbox terrain, coordinate points were collected by creating a grid with string and tacks and then measuring elevation with a meter stick (see Sandbox Survey I and II for details). The map shown below (Fig. 1) features an aerial view of a hillshade display which adds shadows from taking into account the sun's relative position. It also features the terrain from four different oblique angles to show the geographical features at different viewpoints. The mean depth was -2.7 cm, and the minimum was - 13.5 cm, and the maximum was 4.9 cm.

Figure 1. The Sandbox Survey from 5 different views. Left: aerial view with hill shade effect. Scale bar represents length of sandbox, north arrow indicates true north. Depth is measured in centimeters, with negative values being below sea level and positive values above sea level. Top Right: oblique view from northwest corner. Second Down on Right: oblique view from northeast corner. Third down on Right: oblique view from southeast corner. Bottom Right: oblique view from southwest corner. 

The ridge can be found in the western area, it is the blue ovular shape. The hill is also blue and can be found in the northeast corner of the map. The depression is the round, yellow and orange and pink area near the hill in the northeast part of the map. The valley is the long yellow region in the southern portion of the map. The plain is the large pink area that stretches across the middle of the map.

Part Two: Creating a map using data with Attributes
To create maps using data with attributes, data provided by the UWEC Geography Dept was brought into ArcMap. The data used was collected from Hadleyville cemetery in Eleva, Wisconsin on September 14th, 2016 using a DJI Phantom quadcopter at 50 meters high. The data was used to create four maps, each of which displays a different attribute for the cemetery. Each map used the WGS 1984 projection.

A nominal map labeling the YOD for each grave

Figure 2. A map representing each grave at Hadleyville cemetery with the year of death labeled. Graves are represent by a grey triangle. Graves without a date next to them are unknown. A locator map indicates where the cemetery is found in Wisconsin. 

To create this map (Fig. 2), the labels were turned on and set to "YOD" so that the year of death would be shown next to each grave. The font color was set to white to make it easily seen. The north arrow was inserted, and a scale bar set to meters. A locator map of the state of Wisconsin was provided including Eau Claire County and a symbol where Hadleyville Cemetery is located within. The scale for the locator map was also set to meters to maintain homogeneity.

A nominal map providing the last name on the grave

Figure 3. A map showing the Hadleyville cemetery with last names labeled next to graves. Graves are represented by grey triangles. A locator map indicates where this cemetery is found in Wisconsin.

To create this map (Fig. 3), the "YOD" label setting was changed to "Last_Name". It shows the last name of the deceased next to each grave. Everything else on the map was kept constant with the first map (Fig. 2).

A nominal map that has color coding for if a grave is standing or not

Figure 4. A map showing whether each grave is standing, not standing, or unknown. A locator map indicates where this cemetery is found in Wisconsin.

To create this map (Fig. 4), the labels were removed and the symbology for the Graves feature class was changed to Unique Values based on the Standing attribute field. This provided a different color for each of 3 categories: standing, not standing, and unknown. The locator map, north arrow, and scale were all kept constant with previous maps (Fig. 2 and 3).

A numeric ranking map that has different sizes of points related to the YOD

Figure 5. A map representing each grave by year of death. Older graves have smaller symbols. A locator map indicates where this cemetery is found in Wisconsin.

This map (Fig. 5) was created by changing the symbology to Quantities > graduated symbols, so that symbols increased in size as the year of death got closer to the present time. They were split into 5 classes. Once again, the locator map, scale bars, and north arrow were all kept constant.

*Note: Statistical metadata is missing for these maps because they are not raster files

The goal of this lab was to incorporate all of the fundamental elements of a map and portray proper usage of those elements. They include the north arrow, legend, scale bar, title, locator map, and watermark. Without all of these elements, the document is not considered a map, so it is vital that these not be forgotten when creating a map.