GIS3015 Module 8 Lab: Proportional Symbol Mapping

The Proportional Symbol Mapping lab walked students through the development of two maps about wine consumption in Europe utilizing proportional symbols. The first map used data for all of Europe with a couple of exceptions and was created after joining the data from Excel with the shapefile in ArcMap. The second map built on the same information, but focused on only seven western Europe nations. Completing the exercise included combining the geographical features of several countries into one feature for each of those countries by the use of the Dissolve tool in Geoprocessing, reprojecting the shapefile, and then adding the wine consumption data. The consumption data was reviewed for discrepancies or omissions that might cause issues, and then was saved as a .csv before it was added to ArcMap through Joins and Relates. After viewing results of using the data as received from the Wine Institute, the quantities were then reduced using the third root with the field calculator in the attribute table and then used for the map. Initially I preferred the open look of hollow symbols for these results, but eventually decided to go with filled circles. I'm still on the fence about both options. What I knew unquestionably from the beginning was that I would use wine-based colors for the maps, reflecting one of my favorites ~ Cabernet Sauvignon. (Initially I had selected the hollow circles to enable the countries' borders to remain visible, and also to give a nod to another European favorite, Champagne.) Unaware at the start that a legend was deliberately not part of this lab, I have a gaping space on my first map and a bit of a queasy feeling about turning in an incomplete map. I stayed true to the instructions for the lab, but I'll fess up to spending some time trying to figure out how to produce a legend for this type of map. That will have to wait for a future project! This first map was completed exclusively in ArcMap.

Wine Consumption in Europe ~ 2010

The second map was begun in ArcMap and completed in Adobe Illustrator. I'll confess right here that I am so looking forward to the day when Illustrator actually feels like an efficient pathway to an awesome map. For now, I spend a lot of time consulting resources and wandering around the menus. The symbolization was a lot of fun, combining the circles and wine bottles and adding labels. Unfortunately, something which I still have not identified (but probably having to do with manipulating files in directory in preparation for uploading), caused all my wine bottles to disappear from the face of my map after I had exported a jpeg. I couldn't figure out where they went or how to get them back, so that part of my .ai document had to be redone. Another thing that was a bit frustrating was having a color scheme started in ArcMap and then opening the exported file in Illustrator to find significant color differences.  The worst was discovering that the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean were lavender instead of the blue I had selected.  Maybe it has been an especially cold year in that region as well, but I changed the color rather than retain the lavender look.

Wine Consumption in Western Europe ~ 2010

With the information shown directly below each country's name, I think the second map is easier to read and use. However, that type of symbology does take up a lot of space, so it wouldn't be appropriate for maps with a lot of data. Now that this project is finished, I do believe I'll go relax with a nice red.