Module 1: Map Critique

 Map Critique

Our First Cartography Lesson was on Map Design were we briefly went over Cartographic History, the Six Map Commandments and the Twenty Tufteisms. 

After viewing all the maps included in the Repository drive and evaluating them - I decided to use Maps from elsewhere to complete the Lab. 

Well-Designed 

For my well-designed map example I picked a map that was posted a month ago in the GIS Reddit. 

Well-Designed Map

This map appeals to my aesthetic -specifically the left side of the map. Which is ultimately why I picked it for my well-designed map. Ever since I saw the post a month ago – It’s something I’ve mentally referred to as a “goal”. I like ideas that slightly go against expected practice. While I’m sure it’s not the first to do so – it’s the first I’ve seen that overlaps a border. I also like the overall color choice and how most of the labels are easy to read. I believe it follows Commandments 1 and 2. The author also practiced Commandment 6 by posting it online for feedback. 

The Center and Right side of the map could be improved upon with labels, explanations, and fixing the border. (I personally think only one map overlapping makes a stronger statement than having all the maps break the border.)

While this map doesn’t meet all the commandments and is missing some basic elements like a legend and scale bar – I believe with the feedback the author was provided – this map will be beautiful and easier to read/understand. 

Original Reddit Post

Poorly-Designed

For my poorly-designed map I asked AI to draw a GIS Map of Florida with County Boundaries. 

Poorly-Designed Map

As I was searching around the internet for more examples of bad maps – I saw where someone asked AI to draw a map and well – it was bad. So, I decided to do the same thing. I asked AI to draw a GIS map of Florida with County Boundaries.  While the overall output is visually appealing– the county boundaries are wrong, the “legend” is cut off, there are no discernable labels, no scale, random maps/pieces of land included with no context, and no title. Every area could be improved upon with a human doing the work. 

As AI becomes more prevalent - a lot of industries are worried "robots" will be taking their jobs. While I think AI is good for some coding and programming - I do not believe its at the point of taking anyone's design based job.