Cartography: States of Mexico, Urban Areas of Mexico, Elevation of Mexico-Week 3 Lab

This week's lab focused on GIS Cartography. First, we learned how to explore ArcCatalog and how to organize spatial datasets. ArcCatalog catagorizes datasets through local files and geodatabases from the Web. Three deliverable maps were created and using ArcCatalog to make new .mxd files was easy and efficient. I created a new shapefile by exporting the data from Americas_Admin, using this layer’s source data as the coordinate system, and saving as S:\Cartography\Data\Mex_States.shp.  I created this layer and added to my map and removed the Americas_Admin layer and saved as GISCarto_map1.mxd. We focused on the Table of Contents and the 4 different views you can choose when working on a map. They are Order, Source, Visibility, and Selection. Map 1 displayed the Mexican States ranked by color in population groups. Map 2 displayed the Urban Areas with population greater than 1,000,000 which are located in Central Mexico. Map 3 displayed the elevation of the topography of Mexico. Producing each map was relatively simple-there was alot of time spend changing the symbology, such as font size, color, symbols, and placement properties. One thing that was a new learned outcome was how to convert labels to annotations. This is a useful tool when you are creating multiple maps and need to manipulate labels. For instance, for Map 2, I had to display the Urban Areas in Mexico with population>1,000,000. Annotations were created for these because in Map 3, the elevation map, all I had to do was delete all layers but the World Countries, add the elev_raster layer, and in Data View and while using the Selector Tool, I was able to click on each city label and delete them. As always, there was emphasis on adding the map essentials. This week we learned how to create a legend that is more complex than previous labs.  I inserted Legend and edited the Legend Properties. I unchecked “Show” in the General Tab so it would not list Legend. From Map Layers, I only added States of Mexico over to Legend Items. In the Frame tab, I chose 1.0 Border and added a Gap of 4 to X and Y. I chose a background color of white and added a Gap of 4 to X and Y on that as well. I changed the name of POP_ADMIN to Population. We also learned how to create dynamic texts to add the title, author, and date. This is done through Map Properties and typing in the information. Then, when you add each element, it automatically populates on the map. I must note that creating the annotations created a situation when making Map 3. The elevation color ramp would not populate until in Data Layout, I removed the annotations from the map, and then switched to Layout View and moved the Elevation layer to the top. This is an example of why understanding the different TOC views is important. While making Map 3, I learned the different between Classified Symbology and Stretched Symbology. Classified symbology assembles pixels together in a specific number of classes. Stretched symbology allows you to define a range of values and attaches a color ramp to display them. A stretched color ramp was chosen to accurately depict the elevation levels of Mexico. By the end of the lab, I learned how to access data files quickly and create multiple maps without doing each one step by step. The complexity of the process increases a little each week!