Map Critique

This week in Cartographic Skills, I was introduced to the history of maps. The principles involved in creating maps seems to have stayed the same, a good map is a good map, it doesn't matter how old. This assignment allowed me to focus on finding a map that meets these design principles as well as finding a map at the other end of the spectrum, one that doesn't follow these design principles.

I chose this first map to represent a well designed map. The question here is clear, what are the geological classifications of Florida? This map then does a great job of answering that question. Simply but efficiently it conveys the 5 different classes and displays them excellently. The colors were chosen properly, they are each contrasting so you don't get confused between certain sets. The map is not overloaded with unnecessary data. The map is legible, nowhere on the map is there a font that is difficult to read. The map is balanced and organized with little to no wasted space.

The moment I saw this map, it was the winning candidate for my example of a poorly designed map. The space is not used effectively at all, and the circles are just atrocious. If I was forced to use the varying sized circles I would at least do them in a different color to create some contrast, that way the viewer isn't having to work so hard to understand the map. Since there are only 4 classes of data here, it would have been much simpler and less chaotic to just implement a color per class, just like in the first map I have displayed. The map is missing a few crucial elements, such as a north arrow, scale bar, author name, date, and data source.

20 Tufteisms from The Visual Display of Quantitative Information1. Graphical excellence is the well-designed presentation of interesting data – a matter of substance, of statistics, and of design.
2. Graphical excellence consists of complex ideas communicated with clarity, precision, and efficiency.
3. Graphical excellence is that which gives to the viewer the greatest number of ideas in the shortest time with the least ink in the smallest space.
4. Graphical excellence is nearly always multivariate.
5. Graphical excellence requires telling the truth about the data.
6. The representation of numbers, as physically measured on the surface of the graphic itself, should be directly proportional to the numerical quantities represented.
7. Clear, detailed, and thorough labeling should be used to defeat graphical distortion and ambiguity. 8. Write out explanation of the data on the graphic itself. Label important events in the data.
9. Show data variation, not design variation.
10. In time-series displays of money, deflated and standardized units of monetary measurement are nearly always better than nominal units.
11. The number of information-carrying (variable) dimensions depicted should not exceed the        number of dimensions in the data.
12. Graphics must not quote data out of context.
13. Above all else, show the data.
14. Maximize the data-ink ratio.
15. Erase non-data-ink.
16. Erase redundant data-ink.
17. Revise and edit.
18. Forgo chartjunk.
19. If the nature of the data suggests the shape of the graphic, follow that suggestion. Otherwise, move toward horizontal graphics about 50 percent wider than tall.
20. The revelation of the complex.