Mod4 - Cartographic Design

Public Schools in Ward 7, Washington, D.C.

This week's lesson and revolved around cartographic design. The objective was to create a map of the Public Schools in the Ward 7 of Washington D.C. area.

Ward 7 Public Schools of Washington, D.C.

In order to highlight the schools, several important cartographic design principles had to be included based on Gestalt's Principles.

First principle to be considered was Visual Hierarchy which involves adding symbols and map elements to the map ranked according to their importance. An example would be minimizing the minor streets in an area and highlighting major roads for visual reference - using color shade, line width etc.

The second principle required implementing adequate contrast to the map. This ensures visual variance or contrast within the map.

The third principle is Figure Ground which creates an appearance that certain object appears closer to the map user accentuating their importance.

Balance is the forth principle that must be adhere to. This involves creating a map with features that does not compete for spacial and visual real estate but complement each other.

The primary objective of this lab was to highlight the Public Schools in Ward 7 of Washington D.C. The map is rendered in such a manner that the objects - Public Schools in Ward 7 are easily identified as the focus of the map using color of map features, size, background color, and other essential map elements to attain these objectives.

While creating this map the ran into a couple stumbling blocks, chief among the problems was label roads and color choices. I had to edit the attribute table of roads by adding a new column and editing the column to contain abbreviated interstate road name numbers. I spent a copious amount of time trying different colors that will adhere to the fundamental principles of Gestalt's Principles before settling for this final output.

This lab is fun, challenging and I am happy with the amount f time I put into it.