GIS4007 - Module 2 - Typography

In this module, we explored map elements and focused primarily on typography in cartography. Typography is the art of arranging, designing, and using words in a map to allow better readability for the map user. This exercise aimed to strengthen our skills in labeling geographic features like cities, rivers, and regions with intention and clarity. Ultimately, it isn’t just about putting words on a map but more about making visual decisions that help communicate geography effectively.

For the map, we were given feature layers for rivers, swamps, populated places, and county seats in Florida, and tasked with creating label classes for each feature. Using ArcGIS, I used the base layer of Florida to add these feature classes to, them moved on to labeling these features. All of the details for the map work together to make a cohesive and understandable, though specifically, I made the county seats notably larger since they were of more importance and crowed the map less than the populated places. For the rivers I made it so the label follow the feature, curving along the river, indicating that it it is mostly likely a river, even without the symbology from the legend. Finally to achieve the optimal visual hierarchy, I added an inset map to the crowed urbanized South Eastern side by the Everglades to show all of the labels from the populated feature as they were over crowding each other when not given their own space.

This lab helped me see typography not just as decoration, but as an essential design skill that contributes to a map’s clarity and storytelling power. It was a bit of a puzzle balancing label placement with geographic accuracy, especially in crowded regions, but eventually with enough time trying different techniques, it comes together.