GIS3015 - Module 7 - Choropleth Mapping

Choropleth and Graduated Symbol Map of European Continent

In Module 7 we learned how to create a Choropleth map and the importance of understanding the data you are trying to present.   The first part of the lab had us take an in depth look at the attribute table.   The provided data set was for the continent of Europe.   We focused on two fields, population density and wine consumption.  First, we had to choose how to display the differences in population density across the continent.   I chose to use a multi-hued sequential color scheme on Color Brewer and copied the RGB values to create a color ramp.   Secondly, we had to choose how to classify the data.  After, viewing the various standard data classification methods,  I chose the Natural Breaks method to sort the data into 5 classes.  This method grouped similar data point values together while also providing enough data points in each break.

Next, we looked at the wine consumption data using two different types of symbols, proportional and graduated.  Differences in discrete data, like counts, can be presented using visually variable sized symbols.  Proportional symbols are unclassed and Graduated symbols are classed.  I chose to use graduated symbols to best display wine consumption across the different European countries.  I felt graduated symbols made the wine consumption data less difficult to interpret.   I chose the Manual data classification method to classify the wine consumption data using 5 symbols.   This method enabled similar data point values to be grouped together as well as providing enough data points in each class to make adequate data interpretations.   The outlier of this data field was Vatican City, which had the highest percentage of wine consumption.  This data point was in a class by itself and it makes sense to show the map reader that it is an outlier as Mass is held daily and thus wine is consumed regularly.  Areas with typically lower population density in general were not wine consumers with the exception of Latvia.  Not surprisingly, countries closer to the Mediterranean Sea and the wine producing countries of France and Italy had higher wine consumption.

This lab was a challenge, especially the fine tuning requirements needed to be performed in Adobe Illustrator.   I also learned how to create different legend styles in ArcMap.