Module 2 Lab: Typography

What is typography for GIS? 

Typography is the understanding of designing and formatting map features and labels to improve the presentation of subject material. This is done through several ways such as (1) changing letter font into easier read font such as sans serif or Calibri, (2) changing the symbology to match the feature represented (stars for capitals, use blue lines to highlight river features), and (3) changing the position in where labels are located so it clearly labels the feature but also is readable.





My Map Customizations

The challenge for the lab exercise is to experiment with three types of customizations to better help my map achieve a clear, concise overview of Florida, but also maintain simplicity. 

(1) I adjusted the labeling of Major cities so that any duplicates would not be spotted. I also removed cities that were conflicting with the river features as although I could manually re-position and shift all attributes, there would have been too much crowding in certian areas to maintain the simple map I wanted to present. 

(2) I designated the Capital of Florida with a Star while other cities are represented with dots, like in many geography books or even maps a star is a proper symbol to represent a state capital. I also changed the labeling and bolded the font of the capital in an effort to set it apart from the other cities. For the cities, I was able to arrange the font to be the same, but it has a halo in the background, I thought it has a nice aesthetic to the layout of the map and pulled the labels out of the map a bit more for visibility. Unfortunately. the city Jacksonville and Gainsville when placing them was odd due to the locations of the rivers so I had to shift them so they were visible and not affecting the river labels.  

(3) For the rivers, due to an error in the attribute table labeling was challenging as the Suwanee River was misspelled in the attribute table. I attempted to keep the basic format of labeling rivers with Italics and positioned them parallel to the feature. I removed some rivers that were overlapping city labels and preventing overcrowding on the map. The river features Winlacechee, Suwannee, and Apalachicola were attempted to be moved and adjusted, but the river placement didn't fit the way I had originally plan and eventually I left them as is so that other features were not affected. 

Reflections

I would have loved to make Okefenokee Swamp a label with an insert map to zoom in on the area. I learned there a nature reservation there and could highlight the borders in the swamp areas and any connecting rivers that flow through the swamp. In my legend, there are two accounts of the Everglades in the legend and labeled on the map. I could opt for labeling in the map of the Everglades, but the large size of the polygon feature makes it look like an awkward blob of green on the map. A bit of warning when considering base maps, sometimes the labels in the base map can also affect your map labels. You can't remove basemap labels so choosing the right basemap or adding data to surround your map topic is another role in designing maps.  

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