Digital Mapping: From Mercator to Mashups

Browse either Social Explorer or The Living Atlas data repositories. Think about your own interest and search
for topics that are related to it. Ultimately, your job is t to select two (2) different variables to map. Take your time and make them interesting.
Step Two: Create Maps
Using either Social Explorer or ArcGIS Online, create four (4) maps of the four (4) different variables you chose
above.
Deliverables:
Your final project has three components that you will submit. Details on each deliverable are available by
following the link for each or by clicking on the respective links at the Modules page.
a) Visual Component (due 16 April)
VT11: Final Project (draft visualizations) : Map Progress to Date. For this assignment, you will submit drafts of
your maps as a Voice Thread. You will then be asked to comment on others maps. Taking this feedback, you
will then proceed to
b) Written Component (due 22 April):
Lab #11: Final Project (Written Component) : In this assignment, you will present and analyze your maps in an
essay. See the assignment page for details.
c) Oral Component (due 26 April)
Lab #12: Final Project (Oral Component) : In this assignment you will take the final versions of the maps you
have created and “present” them via VoiceThread. For this assignment, you will create your own VT, upload
the maps you have created, and provide an oral analysis of your topic, your variables, your maps, and what
you learn from them.
Map Creation
You are free to choose the topics and data you explore in maps. Choose any two (2) measures from the maps
service of your choice.
Your tableau of maps is restricted however. You should organize your maps as follows:
analyzing 4 census variables at the national scale with variables set at the State level
analyzing 4 census variables of any state of your choice with variables set at the County Level
analyzing 4 census variables of any city of your choice with variables set at the Census Tract Level
analyzing 4 census variables at any smaller part of the city at the Block Group Level
Your mapping should reflect your cartographic thinking about:
scale (how zoomed in or out is your map? Is it at an appropriate scale?
color/shading: how are you illustrating the range of the variables you are mapping? I.e, what color scheme are
you using? How many color classes? What classification scheme? Why?
context: how do you use titles, and other visual queues to