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Map Critique

 This week in Computer Cartography, we learned about the 20 golden rules, "Tufteisms", of map-making. Using these criteria I chose and analyzed two different maps, one good map and one bad map, and explained why they were good or bad. Below you can see the two maps that I analyzed. 

Map A, although very informative, was too busy and hard to read. The map below accurately depicted the data but the color scheme was too bright and would have benefited from light colors that would hurt the eyes less and allow one to read the streets more easily. Additionally, this map did not have any titles or scales; I had to research where/what this map was describing. This map does not follow rule #1 "Graphical excellence is the well-designed presentation of interesting data," or rule #7 "Clear, detailed, and thorough labeling should be used to defeat graphical distortion and ambiguity."

Map A: Bus routes for a city in England. 

Map B did a great job of depicting their data. The information is easy to distinguish and read. I can easily see what type of information is being presented. I really like that although they present the data by two categories, county and state, it doesn't overcrowd the map; following rule #18 Forgo chart junk. The elements define the borders of the map and work with color categories to bring the information across to the reader achieving rule # 5, "Graphical excellence requires telling the truth about the data."

Map B: Largest Ancestry Population in USA counties and states in 2000. 








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