Illuminated Contours
Illuminated Contours use light and dark lines to give the impression of light coming from a source. Tanaka developed the illuminated contour technique in 1950. It was adapted for GIS by Kennelly and Kimerling in 2001. These contour lines were created with the model accessed here: Illuminated Contours Model. A similar model is available for download on the ESRI website. |
Network Flow Map with quantitative data
Network flow maps are generally made with vector data. In this instance, traffic volumes per road segment - Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) - provided by the Oregon DOT, are symbolized with graduated symbols. Specifically, AADT is classified into 10 classes with symbol sizes ranging from 0.01 to 36. Transparency is set to 30. In this particular example, two copies of the flow map are used. Definition queries specify only Interstates in one layer and all other roads in the other layer. Each layer is symbolized in a different color. An ESRI Cartography Tool called Feature Outline Mask is used to create an outline around the Interstates, offering better definition and separation where the two layers overlap. After creation, the feature mask is further processed by a Data Management tool under Generalization called Dissolve, which results in a single outline polygon. The state boundary is accentuated by a set of buffers that are displayed with a gray fill and increasing levels of transparency. |
Cartogram
Cartograms offer an alternative to choropleths. In this example, relative national population densities tell a more obvious story in the cartogram than would be told in a choropleth, because research shows that readers of choropleth maps associate the size of an area on a map with its importance, at least in a small way, despite the area's position on a color ramp. Similarly, cartograms are useful for non-area-related proportions, such as doctors/population, where the underlying analysis areas can lead to unintended and misleading interpretations. Despite their advantages, cartograms are less popular with mappers than choropleths. This cartogram is made with ScapeToad cartogram software. ScapeToad imports and exports shapefiles and also exports in the SVG format. |
Hexagonal Binning of point data
Binning by way of tessellated squares, triangles or hexagons is a way to aggregate point data without being confined to pre-determined units of analysis such as census tracts. Binning can improve analysis of point attributes by mitigating issues associated with the Modified Aerial Unit Problem. It is especially useful when the phenomenon being mapped has no intrinsic relationship to available analysis areas, which are often some type of political boundary. Tessellations are also used by field researchers to lay out grids for data collection. A tool for creating tessellated hexagons in ArcGIS was created by Tim Whiteaker at the University of Texas at Austin. It is available for download HERE . Square (fishnet) grids can be created in ArcGIS 10.3 in the Data Management Toolbox under Feature Class. In this map, 53,749 individual noise complaints to the NYC 311 public information line are aggregated into 28,336 hexagonal bins by counts per bin and by type of complaint. |
Free form personal geography
This personal geography highlights the parks in Queens County, NY that are important to me. The background is a watercolor that I created; I traced the park polygons from a basemap in ArcMap, and added a translucent green color and thin, bright blue border; The drawings started as photographs, which I converted to line drawings and cropped with Adobe Photoshop Elements; The fonts are: script - Pacifico; narrative and title - Arima; Queens label - Bodoni MT The pieces are assembled in Inkscape. |
Illuminated Choropleth
Illuminated choropleth maps simulate a 3-D appearance, supplementing a color ramp with an apparent height component. Here, five colors are used to symbolize 15 classes. As demonstrated easily in the northeastern part of the map, the height component differentiates between the three classes of pale color. This presentation -
An equal interval classification scheme is used here, creating an equal range of values per class. Adding a height component is an effective way to convey more information about data classes, and cartographers continue to develop methods that will effectively add information while not hiding other information. |
Basemap Topography
A beautiful basemap enhances any work. This basemap of the Catskill Region of New York State is supported by three layers of elevation data. Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) for the region were downloaded from the USGS National Map and combined with the mosaic tool. This rich topographic modeling was achieved by layering together two composite hillshades and a DEM with varying levels of transparency. The streams were modeled with ArcGIS hydrology tools, then converted to vectors and classified. They were symbolized on classes, to achieve line thickness according to flow level. Custom labeling with annotation tools achieve maximum legibility. |
Georeferenced historic map
The Queens Archives in the main branch of the Queens Library is an unparalleled source of historic maps and documents. This map shows northeast Queens in 1800 as a farming community that was already starting to grow. The settlements of Jamaica and Flushing, precursors to population and economic hubs in 2015, are already established. Roads and rail are already laid down. Streams and ponds flow free, some hosting mills and docks. This map was georeferenced in ArcGIS against an aerial basemap. Shapefiles of contemporary features are overlain both to test the georeferencing and to see what has changed and what has endured. |
Zoning Basemap
This zoning map leaves off all landmarks, such as the two rail lines and one Parkway that cross this area. The colors are standard NYC zoning colors. The background topography gives a sense of the hilly terrain. Zoning categories are condensed, to give a general overview of density and of the large proportion of residential zoning. The Special Natural Area District is an overlay district with its own set of regulations for protecting and preserving the large trees, habitat patches, rock outcrops, steep slopes and small surface streams that have remained in this bucolic section of NYC. |