Cartography involves an interesting mix of science and art. Geographers and cartographers conduct research about how people perceive and understand spatial information on maps in order to find the best way to represent information. This research lies at the heart of good cartographic design practices. The Cartography class helps students learn fundamentals of cartographic design so that they can make maps that both communicate well and look good.

Cartography used to be done with pen and ink and one mistake could mean having to start over again. These days, the tools have changed, but the fundamentals of cartographic design have not. Computer technology has given us all the ability to make sophisticated-looking maps fairly easily. However, as students in Geo 225 Cartography are learning this semester, even the coolest looking map is useless if it does not communicate its central message well. Furthermore the multitude of options that the computer makes available for color, layout, and text styles means that making good design choices can be difficult.

Students primarily use Adobe Illustrator software to draw their maps. Base map data can be obtained through scanning in and tracing existing maps on paper or by importing a base map from a GIS into Illustrator. One of the most interesting assignments students had this semester was a cartogram of children in poverty. In a cartogram, the area of the state is made proportional to the data being mapped. The challenge is to preserve the general shape of the states as well as their contiguity. In addition to cartograms, students also learn how to make choropleth maps (which use different shade of color to represent data), dot maps, proportional symbol maps, and a final project of their own choice.