Mod7 - Choropleth

Choropleth and Proportional Symbol Mapping

Hi, this week I learned how to create a Choropleth map. My most important take away from this week's lab is the of understanding the data I am trying to present, hence, the need to always review and understand the attribute tables' contents and how they relate to each other.

The first part of the lab involves having an in depth look at the attribute table, which contains the provided data sets for the continent of Europe. Population density and wine consumption are the two primary focus. 

After reviewing the attribute tables' contents, I proceeded to choose how to display the differences in population density across the continent. I chose to use a multi-hued sequential color scheme on Color Brewer and copied the RGB values to create a color ramp. Secondly, I classify the data, opting for the Quantile classification method. The quantile classification method best visually represent the population density of the continent. The Quantile scheme allowed all classes to be visibly represented on the map without any monotone colors confusing viewers/map users as to which class a country belong to. I also group the population density data into five class.

Furthermore, I assessed the wine consumption data for how to best display the data sets. Armed with the fact that: "Proportional and Graduated Symbol mapping are methods of mapping that use visual variables of different size to represent differences in the phenomena, and knowing that Graduated Symbols are best used for data that is classed and Proportional Symbols are best used for unclassified data." I used Graduated Symbols to represent the wine consumption throughout Europe, because Graduated Symbols work best with classed data as opposed to Proportional symbols which work best for raw and unclassified data.

On the color choices, I chose a color scheme that ranges from light yellow/orange to dark red/orange such that my data are represented in sequential order, such as the increase in population density. The lighter colors represented lower data values such as lower population density and the darker colors represented high data values such as higher population densities.

The most challenging part of creating this map was using Adobe Illustrator to create the five different bottles that symbolizes the rate of wine consumption. I found out very quickly that my Illustrator skills became rusty after months of not using the application.

Lastly and most importantly, I learned to always review the content of the attribute table.