1. Geographic Communication Today Harvard Extension School ISMT-E155 Jeff Blossom, Instructor jblossom@cga.harvard.edu 5:30 – 6:15Follow up items, Play with ArcGIS Online 6:15 – 7:00“Lying” with maps, the power of maps, class takeaways 7:005 minute paper, Final project reminder / tips 1 Week 14 April 28, 2014

2. 5 minute paper from last week Read The Lost Art of Critical Map Reading: On the class website, week 13 page, Week 13 Five Minute Paper section, answer the following: – What is critical map reading? – Choose one of the maps shown in the article, and discuss how symbology, color, or type encode bias and implied meaning. – How critically did you read maps before taking this class? Has that changed?

3. Implies Texas is by far the least liked. But….colors not explained….only total votes for Texas listed…..implies an anti-Texas map maker.

4. Normalize by population, and a very different map results.

5. Emphasis on good / bad Font Correlations would be informative

6. Follow up Question from Jeff: When the convention is to use one hue with varying lightness for choropleth’s, why did you choose to go with multi-hue on this map? yellow-green-blue I forgot to ask this last week. I’m interested in your answer, and to share with the class, as we talk a lot about cartographic conventions, and when it makes sense to consciously not follow conventions!

8. Answer from Andy: As for that color ramp, I don't actually have a great answer. The color scheme is one from ColorBrewer, which has a lot of multihue schemes, but I don't really know the arguments behind those. A lot of times we just go with something from ColorBrewer that looks nice, knowing that all of those color schemes are supposedly proven to be good.

9. Visualizations from 422 South

10. Play with ArcGIS Online Download Solar_Analema.txt from the Week 14 website. Sign up for a 30 day free trial of ArcGIS online at: https://www.arcgis.com/home/signin.html (or login at this site if you’ve already created one). https://www.arcgis.com/home/signin.html Go to My Content Add Item > from my computer > browse to the solar_analema.csv file, and choose it > add a title and tags, and click ADD ITEM After a minute, under “Layers” the little arrow next to your layer and choose Time Settings (see screenshot, next slide).

12. Data was a subset of data used for this map

13. Click the box next to Enable time. Choose the time field as date and click OK. Click Open > Add to new map Click the play button to play the data through time. Click the time options button to adjust the playback

14. 14

15. 15 All maps distort reality: projection

17. Some cartographic line techniques that make maps more aesthetic, readable, and interpretable. 17

18. 18 Cartographer: What are you choosing to show?

19. 19 Map scale determines feature selection - what can be shown on maps 1:24,000 scale – major and minor roads, water detail.

20. 20 Map scale determines feature selection - what can be shown on maps 1:100,000 scale – highways, some major roads Area shown on previous slide

21. 21 Map scale determines feature selection - what can be shown on maps 1:1,000,000 scale – political boundaries, select highways Area shown on previous slide

22. 22 Distortion from reality A line printed to be 1/50 th of an inch wide on a 1:100,000 scale map is the graphic equivalent of 167 feet wide

23. 23 How can you be confident of a map’s accuracy? National Map Accuracy Standards Formalized in 1941 by the American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Accuracy standards based on the mapping scale used, such as: For a map at 1:24,000 scale the horizontal accuracy standard requires that the positions of 90 percent of all points tested must be accurate within 1/50th of an inch on the map. At 1:24,000 scale, 1/50th of an inch is 40 feet. The vertical accuracy standard requires that the elevation of 90 percent of all points tested must be correct within half of the contour interval. On a map with a contour interval of 40 feet, the map must correctly show 90 percent of all points tested within 20 feet of the actual elevation. "This map complies with National Map Accuracy Standards."

24. 24 Cartographic disinformation - A cold war tactic widely applied by the U.S.S.R. aimed to mislead enemies regarding the true location of cities, major streets, etc. Eventually died off due to expense of maintaining two sets of national maps, and satellite surveillance

25. 25 Map traps – deliberate falsifications added to a map. Spurred by competing highway map making companies. Falsifications repeated on competitors maps are proof of copyright infringement. Fictitious towns “goblu” and “beatosu” inserted on roadmap 

26. 26  An engineer’s map closely depicting reality may not be desirable for advertising purposes Cartographic fiction is employed to produce a more persuasive map that might entice more riders on the H,S,&N vs. the H,S,&Y railway. 

27. 27 “A good map tells a multitude of little white lies; it suppresses truth to help the user see what needs to be seen. Reality is in 3d, rich in detail, and far too factual to allow a complete yet uncluttered two- dimensional graphic scale model. Indeed, a map that did not generalize would be useless. But the value of a map depends on how well its generalized geometry and generalized content reflect a chosen aspect of reality”

28. “Maps became a way to define and advance the State as societies became more complex. Property control, centralized management, military strategies were all better performed with maps, and necessitated their use.” The Power of Maps, Denis Wood, 1992 28

29. Google’s 3 map policy video, August, 2010: http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/india-decides- 9-pm/google-s-multi-map-policy/159814 29

30. http://maps.google.com/ 4/28/2013 30

31. http://maps.google.co.in/maps 4/28/2014 31

32. http://ditu.google.cn/maps 4/28/2014 32

33. Counter-mapping, protest maps, the death of cartography 33

34. 34 Maps have a tendency to bring people together. Haiti, 2010

35. Takeaways from this class To learn about the fundamental principles and sub-disciplines of geography. To obtain an understanding of how the earth and geographic information are modeled in order to represent spatial phenomena that communicates both human and physical concepts and ideas. To understand and apply the cartographic principles of map projection, orientation, scale, layout, symbology, type, and color, to produce informative maps of publishable quality. To gain experience using a variety of geographic information software programs, to be able to effectively convert geographic information into maps, presentations, and video, and to develop an advanced proficiency using a software of choice. To understand the breadth and depth of the geospatial industry and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). 35

36. Takeaways from this class The confidence and skills required to make a map or visualization that effectively communicates a certain idea or concept. A deeper understanding of the power of maps, and the thinking and effort involved in making a quality map. An overall “geographic awareness” that will enhance your life. i.e. interacting with the geospatial revolution. Do takeaway all of the material from the class website! 36

37. Takeaways from this class Sites / newsletters to stay up to date with geospatial/GIS news: – GIS User: http://gisuser.comhttp://gisuser.com – Directions Magazine: http://www.directionsmag.com/http://www.directionsmag.com/ – ArcUser: http://www.esri.com/news/arcuser/index.htmlhttp://www.esri.com/news/arcuser/index.html – ArcNews: http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/ – Google lat / long blog: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/ – CGA newsletter: http://gis.harvard.edu/newsletterhttp://gis.harvard.edu/newsletter – Jeff’s email: jblossom@cga.harvard.edujblossom@cga.harvard.edu Further study opportunities and degree programs in GIS / Geospatial industry: – Harvard GIS class listing: http://gis.harvard.edu/traininghttp://gis.harvard.edu/training – Online GIS degrees: Penn State Florida State John HopkinsPenn StateFlorida StateJohn Hopkins – Local educational opportunities: Boston U. Tufts Clark Salem StateBoston U.TuftsClark Salem State 37

38. 5 minute paper None tonight! Your presence here counts as credit toward 5 minute paper #10 38

39. Next week Final project presentations: 39 Johnson, RobertMay 5th Rohmer, AshtonMay 5th Beck, AnthonyMay 5th Koob, KristenMay 5th Stomberg, TobeMay 5th