Lab 3: Cartographic Fundamentals: Essentials in map creation, description, and interpretation

Introduction

Lab 3 worked to refine cartographic skills and proper map interpretation methods.  The fundamental map elements required in each map were emphasized: title, watermark, data sources, locator map, scale bar, and north arrow.

Map Creations & Interpretations

Displayed below are five different maps that were created using ArcMap and Powerpoint. 

Figure 1 gives a map of the data collected from labs 1 and 2.  The data was processed through a spline interpolation method to be displayed on the map.  In analyzing the map, there is an elevated plane in the northwest corner.  There is a hill arising out of a valley in the northeast corner.  In the southeast corner, there is a ridge semicircular in shape.  These three features lie in a higher elevation range, closer to the maximum height of 0.11 cm than any other features in the sandbox.  The elevated plateau in the northwest corner has the greatest elevation.  In the southwest corner there is a depression feature with the lowest elevation of all of the features in the sandbox.  The elevation of this feature lies close to -11.72 cm below the sea level of the sandbox.  The 360° three-dimensional rotation of the terrain highlights that the land surrounding these features is slightly uneven but lies in the mid elevations and remains relatively flat.  The locator map displays the University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire campus where the data was collected.  The sandbox was located east of the Philips Science Hall.  Figure 2 gives the statistics for the sandbox data set. All data points fell in the range of -11.72 to 0.11 cm.  The mean of the data set was -5.23 cm with a standard deviation of 1.97 cm.  The flat terrain covering the greatest portion of the map lying around the created features most likely lies at -5.23 cm. The max of the range lies in the northeast and the min lies in the southeast.  

Figure 1. Sandbox terrain data collected in labs 1 and 2 displayed using the spline interpolation method. 

Figure 2. Statistics calculated for the spline created from the sandbox survey sampled data points.  All statistical data is give in the unit of centimeters. 

The map in Figure 3 is of the grave sites at the Hadlyville Cemetery located in Eau Claire County in Wisconsin.  Each grave site has been labeled according to last name.  Notice, that family members have been buried close to their other family members in the cemetery. Four Petersen family members reside in the center of the cemetery.  The Sessions family grave site lies on the north east corner of the cemetery.  The map displays that couples were buried together as well.  The Chases and Hadleys are buried both in pairs on the south side of the cemetery closest to the farm field.  Generally grave sites are most concentrated in the northeast and southwest corners of the cemetery close to the tree line of the forest.      

Figure 3. The grave sites of the Hadlyville Cemetery by last name. 

The map in Figure 4 is of the grave sites of the Hadlyville Cemetery located in Eau Claire County in Wisconsin.  Each grave site has been labeled according to the year of death of each occupant.  It can be seen that this data is missing for several grave sites.  The majority of these grave sites are located on the eastern portion of the cemetery.  It can be seen that there is no real organization as to the location of grave sites related to the year of death.  The graves tend to be randomly scattered in terms of year of death.  The most recent death was in 2006 and is located in the northeast corner of the cemetery.  The earliest year of death at this cemetery was in 1859 and is located in western portion of the cemetery in the middle.  Most of the grave sites are from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.   

Figure 4. The grave sites of the Halyville Cemetery labeled by year of death.  

The map in Figure 5 is of the grave sites of the Hadlyville Cemetery located in Eau Claire County in Wisconsin.  Each grave site has been symbolized according to the status of whether the grave is standing or not.  The status of several graves is unknown.  The majority of the graves are standing.  Only four of the grave sites with known status are not standing.  The locations of these grave sites are in the eastern and western southern corners of the cemetery located along the tree line of the forest along the eastern and western sides of the cemetery and in the middle of the cemetery.   

Figure 5. The grave sites of the Halyville Cemetery by whether the grave is standing.  

The map in Figure 6 is of the grave sites of the Hadlyville Cemetery located in Eau Claire County in Wisconsin.  Each grave site has been symbolized according to a range of year of death of each occupant.  Using this symbology it ca be seen that there is so system to location of burial related to year of death.  In the southeast corner of the cemetery only older graves exist, but other with other grave sites the years of death are scattered throughout the cemetery.  

Figure 6.  The grave sites of the Halyville Cemetery symbolized by year of death.  

Conclusions: 

Creating a properly constructed map is crucial for accurate map interpretation.  The symbology and attributes of a map have a large effect on the information that can be extracted from a map.