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Lab 4 - Color & Choropleth

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In this lab, I examined how different methods of creating color ramps influence readability and interpretation in choropleth maps. Three sequential color ramps were created using the same base hue: a linear RGB progression, an adjusted RGB progression, and a ramp derived from ColorBrewer values. The linear progression used equal RGB intervals, which produced noticeable issues in the darker classes where color differences were harder to perceive. The adjusted progression addressed this problem by increasing the spacing between darker color values, resulting in smoother visual transitions across the ramp. The ColorBrewer-based ramp provided the most balanced and visually effective result, as it is designed to account for human color perception and contrast. Overall, this comparison showed that while manually constructed RGB ramps are helpful for understanding color theory, perceptually optimized ramps generally produce clearer and more effective thematic maps. OTHER DELIVERABLES FROM THI...
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Module 3: Terrain Visualization

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Module 3: Terrain Visualization For this map, I focused on clear visual hierarchy and readability so the landcover patterns in Yellowstone were easy to interpret at a glance. I used  a muted, natural color palette dominated by greens and tans to reflect real-world vegetation types while reserving bright blue for water so lakes immediately stand out. Terrain shading was kept subtle so it adds depth without overpowering the landcover classes. Typography was simple and clean, with a bold, readable title to establish context and smaller, consistent fonts for the legend and map elements. The legend was organized logically and placed with enough white space to avoid clutter, helping the map feel balanced and professional while still being accessible to a general audience.  
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Lab 2 - Coordinate Systems

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     Area of interest: Oregon Coordinate System: NAD 1983 Oregon Statewide Lambert (Meters) I chose this projection as it was designed to keep the entire state within one unit. State Plane projections are high accuracy but Oregon lies within multiple zones, UTM also does not cover the entire state within one zone. The statewide Lambert projection avoids both issues while minimizing distortion  
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Module 1: Map Design & Typography

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  Making a Busy Map Readable: Labeling Mexico’s Geography For Parts 4 and 5 of this assignment, the goal was to move beyond simply displaying data and focus on how map design choices affect readability , especially as more features and labels are added. The project started with a simple map of Mexico and its major rivers, then expanded to include states and cities, which made labeling strategy much more important. Part 4: Starting Simple In Part 4, the map focused on Mexico’s national boundary and major rivers. Rivers were symbolized using a standard blue line style and labeled dynamically so the text followed the curves of the rivers. Using italic text and halos helped keep river names readable against different background colors. Because the map was relatively simple at this stage, river labels were allowed to repeat along long features and remain visually prominent. Part 5: Adding More Without Adding Clutter Part 5 made the map more complex by adding states and cities. To p...
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Google Earth Lab

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  Exploring Southern Florida in 3D: My Google Earth Lab Experience For this lab in my Computer Cartography course, I worked with ArcGIS Pro and Google Earth Pro to create and share interactive geographic visualizations. The objective was to explore how GIS outputs can be transformed into accessible, engaging formats for broader audiences using tools like KMZ/KML files and recorded tours. The first part of the assignment focused on converting ArcGIS layers into KML format . I created a dot density map of population data for southern Florida, organized layers such as counties, hydrography features, and a custom legend overlay in Google Earth. It was an excellent exercise in managing geospatial data interoperability across platforms. The second part involved designing and recording a virtual tour of major cities in southern Florida , including Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Tampa. I added placemarks to each location, explored 3D building models (including photorealistic and LiDAR-bas...
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Isarithmic Mapping Lab

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  Isarithmic Mapping Lab – Visualizing Precipitation Patterns For this lab, I explored the creation of isarithmic maps using continuous raster data to visualize average annual precipitation across Washington State. The objective was to apply different symbology methods, including continuous tones, hypsometric tinting, and contour overlays, to effectively represent a continuous surface. I began by working with PRISM-interpolated precipitation data, which incorporates elevation and other physiographic factors to improve spatial accuracy. First, I created a continuous tone map using a stretched precipitation color ramp, blending precipitation values smoothly across the state. Then, I developed a hypsometric tint map by manually classifying the data into ten ranges, applying distinct color bands to highlight differences in precipitation levels. To enhance visual clarity, I overlaid contour lines corresponding to the classified intervals. Throughout the process, I applied key cartogr...
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Choropleth Mapping Lab

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  🎨 Mapping Europe: Population Density and Wine Consumption with ArcGIS Pro In this lab for my computer cartography course, we dove into the world of thematic mapping , specifically focusing on choropleth and proportional symbol mapping using ArcGIS Pro. The assignment centered around visualizing population density across Europe and overlaying wine consumption data using symbol-based mapping techniques. 🗺️ Objective The goal was to build a visually compelling and informative map that communicates population patterns and cultural trends through spatial data. We used a choropleth map to represent population density and then experimented with either graduated or proportional symbols to visualize wine consumption per capita . The combination highlights both the concentration of people and regional wine-drinking habits in an engaging visual format. 🧩 Methods & Techniques Software Used : ArcGIS Pro Key Tasks : Created a choropleth map using the POP_DENSIT attrib...
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