GIS Tutorial 1

Lecture 2 Map design

Outline

Choropleth maps Colors Vector GIS display GIS queries Map layers and scale thresholds Hyperlinks and map tips

GIS TUTORIAL 1 - Basic Workbook

Lecture 2

CHOROPLETH MAPS

Choropleth maps

Color-coded polygon maps Use monochromatic scales or saturated colors Represent numeric values (e.g. population, number of housing units, percentage of vacancies)

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Choropleth map example

Percentage of vacant housing units by county

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Classifying data
Process of placing data into groups (classes or bins) that have a similar characteristic or value

Break points
Breaks the total attribute range up into these intervals Keep the number of intervals as small as possible (5-7) Use a mathematical progression or formula instead of picking arbitrary values

Break points

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Classifications

Natural breaks (Jenks)

Picks breaks that best group similar values together naturally and maximizes the differences between classes Generally, there are relatively large jumps in value between classes and classes are uneven Based on a subjective decision and is the best choice for combining similar values Class ranges specific to the individual dataset, thus it is difficult to compare a map with another map

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Classifications

Quantiles
Places the same number of data values in each class Will never have empty classes or classes with too few or too many values Attractive in that this method produces distinct map patterns Analysts use because they provide information about the shape of the distribution. Example: 025%, 25%50%, 50%75%,75% 100%

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Classifications

Equal intervals
Divides a set of attribute values into groups that contain an equal range of values Best communicates with continuous set of data Easy to accomplish and read Not good for clustered data

Produces map with many features in one or two classes and some classes with no features

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Classifications
Use mathematical formulas when possible.

Exponential scales
Popular method of increasing intervals Use break values that are powers such as 2n or 3n Generally start out with zero as an additional class if that value appears in your data

Example: 0, 12, 34, 58, 916, and so forth

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Classifications
Use mathematical formulas when possible

Increasing interval widths

Long-tailed distributions Data distributions deviate from a bell-shaped curve and most often are skewed to the right with the right tail elongated Example: Keep doubling the interval of each category, 05, 515, 1535, 3575 have interval widths of 5, 10, 20, and 40.

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Original map (natural breaks)

U.S. population by state, 2000

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Equal interval scale

Not good because too many values fall into low classes

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Quantile scale
Shows that an increasing width (geometric) scale is needed

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Custom geometric scale

Experiment with exponential scales with powers of 2 or 3.

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Normalizing data
Divides one numeric attribute by another in order to minimize differences in values based on the size of areas or number of features in each area

Examples:
Dividing the number of vacant housing units by the total number of housing units yields the percentage of vacant units Dividing the population by area of the feature yields a population density

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Nonnormalized data
Number of vacant housing units by state, 2000

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Normalized data
Percentage vacant housing units by state, 2000

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Nonnormalized data
California population by county, 2007

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Normalized data
California population density, 2007

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Lecture 2

COLORS

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Color overview

Hue is the basic color Value is the amount of white or black in the color

Saturation refers to a color scale that ranges from a pure hue to gray or black

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Color wheel
Device that provides guidance in choosing colors

Use opposite colors to differentiate graphic features Three or four colors equally spaced around the wheel are good choices for differentiating graphic features Use adjacent colors for harmony, such as blue, blue green, and green or red, red orange, and orange
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Light vs. dark colors

Light colors associated with low values Dark colors associated with high values Human eye is drawn to dark colors

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Contrast
The greater the difference in value between an object and its background, the greater the contrast

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Monochromatic color scale

Series of colors of the same hue with color value varied from low to high Common for choropleth maps The darker the color in a monochromatic scale, the more important the graphic feature Use more light shades of a hue than dark shades in monochromatic scales
The human eye can better differentiate among light shades than dark shades

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Monochromatic map
Values too similar

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Monochromatic map
A better map, more contrast

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Dichromatic color scale

An exception to the typical monochromatic scale used in most choropleth maps Two monochromatic scales joined together with a low color value in the center, with color value increasing toward both ends Uses a natural middle point of a scale, such as 0 for some quantities (profits and losses, increases and decreases)

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Dichromatic map
Symmetric break points centered on 0 make it easy to interpret the map

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Color tips

Colors have meaning

Political and cultural

Cool colors
Calming Appear smaller Recede

Warm colors
Exciting Overpower cool colors

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Color tips

Do not use all of the colors of the color spectrum, as seen from a prism or in a rainbow, for color coding If you have relatively few points in a point layer, or if a user will normally be zoomed in to view parts of your map, use size instead of color value to symbolize a numeric attribute

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Color tips
If you have many polygons to symbolize, it is better to use polygon centroid points with color rather than polygon choropleth maps.

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Changing colors in ArcMap

Choose color, more colors

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Learn more about GIS colors

Website http://colorbrewer2.org/ Books

Brewer, Cynthia A. 2008. Designed Maps: A Sourcebook for GIS Users. Redlands: ESRI Press Brewer, Cynthia A. 2005. Designing Better Maps: A Guide for GIS Users. Redlands: ESRI Press

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Lecture 2

VECTOR GIS DISPLAY

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Points, lines, polygons

Point
x,y coordinates

Line
starting and ending point and may have additional shape vertices (points)

Polygon
three or more lines joined to form a closed area

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Feature attribute tables

Store characteristics for vector features Layers can be displayed using attributes

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Displaying points

Single symbols All CAD calls

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Displaying points

Same features, different points Based on attributes

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Displaying points

Industry specific (e.g. crime analysis) Good for large scale (zoomed in) maps

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Displaying points

Industry specific (e.g. schools)

Not good for multiple features at smaller scales Simple points better for analysis

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Displaying points

Quantities
Use exaggerated sizes

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Displaying lines
For analytical maps, most lines are ground features and should be light shades (e.g. gray or light brown)

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Displaying lines
Consider using dashed lines to signify less important line features and solid lines for the important ones

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Displaying polygons
Consider using no outline or dark gray for boundaries of most polygons
Dark gray makes the polygons prominent enough, but not so much that they compete for attention with more important graphic features

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Displaying polygons
Consider using texture for black and white copies

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Graphic hierarchy

Assign bright colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue) to important graphic elements Features are known as figure

All features in figure

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Graphic hierarchy

Assign drab colors to the graphic elements that provide orientation or context, especially shades of gray Features known as ground

Circles in figure, squares and lines in ground

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Graphic hierarchy

Place a strong boundary, such as a heavy black line, around polygons that are important to increase figure

Use a coarse, heavy cross-hatch or pattern to make some polygons important, placing them in figure

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Graphic hierarchy example

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Lecture 2

GIS QUERIES

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GIS queries

Powerful relationship between data table and vector-based graphicsunique to GIS Records from a feature attribute table are selected by using query criteria Query will automatically highlight the corresponding graphic features

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Simple attribute queries

Simple query criterion

<data attribute>< logical operator><value> NatureCode ='DRUGS' DATE >= '20040701'

% wild card
% symbol stands for zero, one, or more characters of any kind NAME like ' BUR%' Selects any crime with names starting with the letters BUR, including burglaries (BUR), business burglaries(BURBUS), and residential burglaries (BURRES)

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Simple attribute queries

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Compound attribute queries

Compound query criteria

Combine two or more simple queries with the logical connectives AND or OR "NATURE_COD" = 'DRUGS' AND "DATE" > 20040801 Selects records that satisfy both criteria simultaneously Result are drug crimes that were committed after August 1, 2004

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Compound attribute queries

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Lecture 2

LAYER GROUPS, SCALE THRESHOLDS

Layer groups

Organizes layers Groups and names logically

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Minimum scale threshold

When zoomed out beyond this scale, features will not be visible
Tracts not visible when zoomed to the USA

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Minimum scale threshold

Tracts displayed when zoomed in

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Maximum scale threshold

When zoomed in, features will not be visible

State population will disappear when zoomed in to a state

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Lecture 2

HYPERLINKS AND MAP TIPS

Hyperlinks

Links images, documents, Web pages, etc. to features on a map

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Map tips

Provide an additional way to find information about map features Pop up as you hover the mouse pointer over a feature

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Summary

Choropleth maps Colors Vector GIS display GIS queries Map layers and scale thresholds Hyperlinks and Map tips

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