Module 1 - Map Critique

This week, in the first Computer Cartography lab, was about map critique.

From this module's lecture and lab we learned about the Tufteisms (map design principles) of maps. These boil down to if the map is effective in providing its information or cluttered and confusing. We then applied these principles by looking at a varying amount of maps, some designed well some designed poorly from module 1. In doing so, I found two maps that I chose for this lab assignment. Firstly we will go over the Well Designed map.

Overall, the Easter Island map is a map that I believe embodies many qualities in a map that I like. It embodies the Tufteisms of having minimal map crap, substantial map information, and layout of the map matters. The first quality, minimal map crap, is Tufteisms 16 which is removing irrelevant data. On this map there is minimal data and every symbol and quality is relevant and succinct, thus I believe it fits this Tufteisms. The second quality, substantial map information, I believe is Tufteisms 4 which is graphical relevance is multivariate. As on this map, there is the island and the historical ruins to see but also the elevation and where it is located, which helps in it being multivariate. Lastly, the final quality, the layout of the map matter, is Tufteisms 19 which is the layout matters tuft. This map’s layout is effective in being readable as well as organized, so it is impossible to be confused, thus it succeeds in its tuft. That is what I believe in this map.   

Next we have the poorly designed map.

Overall, the Wildlife and Game map is very poorly designed in my view. It fails in a few map qualities of effective map labels, minimizing map crap, and its map layout. The first quality, effective map labels, is Tufteisms 7 is where this map fails in its clear detail and ambiguity. The map itself is far too bloated with detail about too many animals, and it fails to be clear where they are with the amount of detail given. It is the over abundance of information that makes it fail in this Tufteisms. The second map quality is minimizing map crap, is Tufteisms 11 where the map fails with the variable (animals) exceeding their dimensions. As on the map all the animal points on the map are of differing sizes and do not provide enough information on the map itself to say where they are. In the animal legend boxes they do but the information is so tiny it gets lost and fails in its Tufteisms. Lastly, the final quality, the layout of the map matter, is Tufteisms 19 where the maps fails in the shape of its graphic. The map is unbalanced, and all the animal legend parts are unbalanced as well. It also effects the outline of the map and makes it feel more cluttered than it already is, failing in this Tufteisms as well. 

    In closing, I believe this lab was perfect in helping me learn what I want out of a map. I prefer a map to be more structured and to the point than disorganized. I hope as I go further into this class I can improve my maps.