Sensible colours in your maps If you are creating maps then for goodness sake I was helping some undergraduates with some work the other day, and they decided to use the following colour scheme for representing river depth: Deep water: RedMedium-depth water: Bright greenShallow water: Pink Why did they do this? Well, either they were the default values used by the software they were using (unlikely), or they just chose randomly. Not a good idea. If you look you’ll find a huge amount of literature about this (I should put some references here but I can’t really be bothered at this time at night), and it really makes your maps a HUGE amount more useable if you’re using sensible colours. Deep water: Dark blueMedium-depth water: Medium-blueShallow water: Light blue Why is this sensible? Isn’t it hard work to come up with nice colour schemes for all of your maps? Plugins and extensions are available for a number of pieces of software to allow ColorBrewer colours to be easily used.
40 maps that explain the internet The internet increasingly pervades our lives, delivering information to us no matter where we are. It takes a complex system of cables, servers, towers, and other infrastructure, developed over decades, to allow us to stay in touch with our friends and family so effortlessly. Here are 40 maps that will help you better understand the internet — where it came from, how it works, and how it's used by people around the world. How the internet was created Before the internet, there was the ARPANET Before the internet, there was the ARPANETARPANET, the precursor to the modern internet, was an academic research project funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency, a branch of the military known for funding ambitious research projects without immediate commercial or military applications. The internet around the world Threats to the internet How internet access in Egypt was disrupted in 2008 How internet access in Egypt was disrupted in 2008Fiber optic cables are relatively fragile.
When Maps Shouldn’t Be Maps Often, when you get data that is organized by geography — say, for example, food stamp rates in every county, high school graduation rates in every state, election results in every House district, racial and ethnic distributions in each census tract — the impulse is since the data CAN be mapped, the best way to present the data MUST be a map. You plug the data into ArcView, join it up with a shapefile, export to Illustrator, clean up the styles and voilà! Instant graphic ready to be published. And in many cases, that’s the right call. For example, census maps of where whites, blacks, Hispanics and Asians live in New York City show clear geographic patterns, answering questions like “What areas of the city are more segregated?” Maps also a terrific way to let readers look up information about specific places. And obviously, when the story is completely based on the geography — “How far has the oil spill in the Gulf spread?” So, when should you use a form other than than a map? 1. 2.
Choosing the best way to indicate map scale By Aileen Buckley, Mapping Center Lead In a previous blog entry, I asked, “Do all maps need a scale bar and north arrow?” I answered, “No” and talked a little about direction indicators like north arrows, but I didn’t really go into any detail about scale bars. Here is a bit more on map scale indicators, like scale bars. Almost all maps are drawn to a scale, so it should be possible for these maps to indicate what the scale of the map is. Three primary scale indicators If the map is NOT drawn to scale (that is, the scale varies widely across the map), then it is even more important that you indicate that this is the case! All map scale indicators can be used 1) to determine the extent to which a geographic region has been reduced from its actual size and 2) to help the map reader determine distance on the map. Scale bars, also called bar scales, look like a small ruler on or near the map. A scale bar can be used like a small ruler to determine distances on maps. Design Uses
10 Things When Making a Map What makes a good map? When done well, a map is a vehicle for effective communication. There are many cartographic principles to help guide effective map making. Below are ten common considerations that all cartographers should incorporate as part of their map making process. 1. The extent of the geographic area mapped will affect a whole slew of cartographic choices from the map projection used to data and symbology choices. 2. There are two main reasons to include data on a map: to support the subject matter of the map and to provide orientation (e.g. streets, cities, points of interest). 3. The choices of symbology can make or break a map. Consider the intended audience of the map when selecting design choices. 4. While it may be tempting to label all features shown on a map, doing so can block underlying features, create a cluttered looking map, and create confusion. In the example below, the use of labels creates a lot of noise on the map. India national highway map. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Historia:Cartografia La cartografía: La aparición de los mapas se produjo antes de la historia, es decir, con anterioridad a la aparición del relato escrito, y se utilizaron para establecer distancias, recorridos, localizaciones... y así poder desplazarse de unos lugares a otros. En esta primera etapa dos son los tipos de mapas existentes: uno, el mapa instrumento, realizado con una finalidad informativa, utilitaria, como el de las islas Marshall, y otro, el mapa imagen, que representa un nuevo concepto más intelectual y que tiene un doble sentido, es un instrumento que tiene una utilidad inmediata pero, a su vez, es también una imagen, ya que en ellos aparecen la representación de la Tierra, conceptos cosmológicos o religiosos..., pero centrado principalmente en el mundo del autor que lo construye; un ejemplo, el mapa del mundo babilónico, mapa circular como corresponde al panorama natural del horizonte. Los mapas más antiguos que existen fueron realizados por los babilonios hacia el 2300 a.C.
The Art of the Basemap “Graphical elegance is often found in simplicity of design and complexity of data.” – Edward Tufte Data visualization is the art of quantitative story telling. The story of data about places is commonly told on maps. The purpose of a basemap is to provide the appropriate backdrop for telling a really compelling story. We’ll have more to say about cast and plot later, but first let’s talk about stage and setting. Take, for example, the following illustration of county voting data from the 2008 presidential election. 2008 presidential election results by county It is these very principles that we have also been able to bring to Tableau, one of Urban Mapping’s primary partners. Classic Basemap Style, available through Tableau (and Mapfluence) Gray style (depicted below), and Dark style (depicted below). Dark Basemap Style, available through Tableau (and Mapfluence) As it happens, we’re a sponsor of Tableau’s Customer Conference next week in Las Vegas, and we couldn’t be more excited. Like this:
Historia de la cartografía descargable Páginas de la segunda parte del Regimiento de Navegación de Andrés García de Céspedes en las que se transcribe el texto de Pedro Ruiz de Villegas; descargadas de la Biblioteca Virtual del Patrimonio Bibliográfico. Pedro Ruiz de Villegas, “astrólogo y cosmógrafo” castellano del siglo XVI, fue uno de los miembros de la delegación castellana enviada por el rey Carlos a la Junta de Badajoz de 1524 para discutir con Portugal la posición de la línea de demarcación del Tratado de Tordesillas y la ubicación de las islas Molucas. Ruiz de Villegas escribió tras la Junta un informe en el que trataba de demostrar que dichas islas se encontraban en el hemisferio de Castilla y no en el de Portugal. El interés de ese documento no es su conclusión, que era predecible, sino una larga lista de mapas, globos, tablas de coordenadas e itinerarios que Ruiz de Villegas afirma haber consultado para respaldar sus argumentos. Versión adaptada CAP.VIII. [8] Ignoro de quién puede tratarse. Transcripción exacta