Cartographic Design

     This lab gave a bit more freedom with the aesthetics of mapping all of the necessary information.  As a result, I'm satisfied with the finished product but would have still liked to have spent a bit more time polishing up some loose ends.  The goal of the map is the represent the public schools within Ward 7 of Washington D.C.  Layers representing the roadways (large and small), environment, boundaries, and schools were provided.  The task primarily was to establish cartographic principles (i.e. balance, contrast, figure-ground) in a sufficient way without too much direction.

     I was pleased with myself at how I hit the ground running immediately once I sat down with enough time to perform this lab.  I've experimented with halos in the past, and they were crucial in this map.  Because of the dark hue of the imagery basemap used, I needed the halo effect on the majority of labels and text so they weren't drowned out completely.  The first thing I can think of that gave me a hard time with the labels was keeping them from spilling over the Washington D.C. border.  I did remember how to prevent duplicate label which was essential with so many surface streets in this map.

     I also couldn't find a great basemap to use for the inset map, so I went without one.  Instead, I used a light gray background and only showed the area of Washington D.C. and labeled the extent.  When zooming out to see the general area in the Northeast Corridor was too far for such a small basemap, and only showing this immediate region with an imagery basemap would be too foreign for a map reader not familiar with the Washington D.C./Baltimore area.