Cartographic Skills - Module 1

Module 1 Lab:  Map Critique

The purpose of this lab was to assist the student in finding or developing their cartographic aesthetic and developing their cartographic style using cartographic design principles.  This lab was to teach the student to:

• Understand common map design principles
• Identify examples of good and poor map design
• Conduct thorough map evaluations, providing an evaluation overview and constructive critique for each example

Example of a well designed map:

 Fern Hollow Trail Map

Cartographer : White Oak Lake State Park

I consider the Fern Hollow Trail Map a well-designed map because it gives me all the information I want at a quick glance without a lot of clutter to get in the way.  The background could have been made more appealing, but the simplistic design makes it easier for the hiker to verify information on the move.  I like the way line type was used to depict the difference in the length of the trails and that the legend only included the information pertinent to the hiker.  Any other information that might be of interest to the hiker, such as campsites or cutoffs to shorten the hike, was depicted directly on the map, but in a very limited way.   Overall I found the layout of the map to be very well balanced.

This map is a (1) well-designed presentation of interesting data (anything to do with hiking is interesting), (2) communicating complex ideas (how one trail compares to another in length) with clarity, precision and efficiency.  It allows the hiker (3) the greatest number of ideas in the shortest time (by seeing the different length hikes in a quick glance at the different line types).  This map, therefore, meets at least three of the Map Design Principles of a well designed map.


Example of a poorly designed map:

North American English Dialects, Based on Pronunciation Patterns 

Cartographer Unknown

This is a very poorly designed map.  The cartographer tried to provide too much information for too large an area.  With everything compressed so much to fit it all in, the text is too small to read and the map too cluttered to make sense of.

If all the information is required the map should be broken down into several regions and multiple maps made.  Only that information pertinent to that particular region should be displayed.  The data should be reviewed for its relevance and cut down if possible.  The title should be placed without any breaks in it and sized larger.  The cartographer’s name should be listed somewhere and a scale and date should be added.

This was really the first time I've ever looked at a map not of my design and considered what I did or did not like about it.  The Fern Hollow Trail Map was very easy to critique.  The things I like about it stood out immediately.  The North American English Dialects, Based on Pronunciation Patters, on the other hand, was so muddled it took me a while to sort through what, specifically, caused me to want to avoid even looking at it.  After examining this map so closely I think I will always be careful not to try to cram too much information into one little map.