G.Hudson Mastering GIS

During week 2 of the Cartography course we were introduced to typography, generalization and scale conversion. Typography refers to the art of arranging, using and designing type. This is important as type can influence the way information on a map is communicated to the reader. Generalization refers to the process of aggregating data on a map, in various ways, to reduce congestion, conflict and complication. This is also important in ensuring that the map produced is legible to the reader, in particular when reducing the scale of a map. As it relates to scale conversion, the importance of understanding scale conversion presents itself when a map may contain a scale that does not match the intended use of the map user/reader.  We also continued to learn about essential map elements, inclusive of a map title, scale bar, north arrow (orientation), legend, data source, author and production date. The map below, of Florida, includes the various essential map elements and labels in acco...

This week's assignment tasked students with critiquing two maps, a well-designed and a poorly designed map, based on what we learned this week about cartographic concepts. These concepts included the 20 Tuftisms, which were broken down into 6 commandments. The commandments include the following:  Map substantial information;  Don't lie with maps;  Effectively label maps;  Minimize map crap;  Map layout matters; and  Evaluate your map.  The map I chose as a well-designed map is "The Global Religious Composition Landscape".  At a first glance the map is esthetically pleasing to the eyes. The author utilized neutral colors for the background and brighter colors to highlight the various religions, while limiting the information present to the 7 predominant religions of the world to prevent overwhelming the reader. This map includes all of the important map elements, except for a scale bar/text, which is seemingly the only down fall. The labels are con...

Hi! As stated in my title, my name is Gabrielle. I am currently a part time student in the MSc. Geographic Information Science Administration program at the University of West Florida (UWF), but I'm also a full time employee at the Bahamas National Geographic Information Systems (BNGIS) Centre, in The Bahamas. My official position is GIS Analyst and GI Education Coordinator, however due to the small staff compliment we all wear many hats. Some of my responsibilities include maritime delimitation, disaster preparedness and response, training, mentoring, data collection and data management. I decided to pursue a masters level degree with the hope of increasing my knowledge in GIS, which will better prepare me for future opportunities at my current place of employment, or where ever the opportunity may present itself. The degree option at UWF seemed to perfectly match my goal of future advancement as it also includes a management aspect.  To learn a little more about me you can visit ...