Module One: Map Critique

      This South Carolina Wildlife Management Area Game Zones map is an example of a well-designed map.  The map is effectively labeled (commandment 3) with county boundaries as minor, thin lines and game zones with thick color-coordinated lines.  Clearly the emphasis of this map was placed on demarcating the game zones, which can be easily referenced by the user.  Further, there are large, bold numbers to make using and memorizing the game zones easier.

      This map also minimizes superfluous “map crap” (commandment 4).  All relevant information – e.g. north arrow, scale, production date – is present, small, and balanced (commandment 5 – map layout matters).  If further information is wanted by the user, they may even use the website provided.  Overall, an informative and functional map.

This US 1999 Capital Population map is an example of a poorly-design map.  First, the title is somewhat ambiguous as to the functional purpose of this map and is thus an ineffective label (commandment 3).  To continue with commandment 3 violations, the legend does not specify what the values actually mean – are they millions of citizens?  Also, using circles of varying size to represent population size is not only confusing, but it is visually unappealing. In one case, an entire state (AZ) is completely covered by the circle.  This violates (commandment 1) in that it is hard for the user to get any information at all from this map.  This is clearly not a useful map.