topic Re: May 15, 2018: Cartography. MOOC Ask Me Anything (AMA) in Esri Training Questions

May 15, 2018: Cartography. MOOC Ask Me Anything (AMA)

CandaceLoya — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 10:10:48 GMT

Live Today! AMA Event on GeoNet

Tuesday, May 15, 9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. (PDT)

Join our Cartography. MOOC guests here on the GeoNet Community for a LIVE AMA (Ask Me Anything) event. The AMA will take place in this discussion thread on Tuesday, May 15, 2018, from 9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. (PDT).

*Click HERE to convert exact time for different countries.

This is an opportunity to ask our guests questions about the Cartography. MOOC course, about cartography in general, great maps, best practices or anything else that comes to mind.

AMA Guests

Ken Field

John Nelson‌

Wesley Jones‌

Nathan Shephard‌

Edie Punt‌

Craig Williams‌

How does the AMA work?
During the AMA, you can post your questions by clicking  the "Add Reply" button below and our guests will reply to your questions in comments. You are welcome to post questions ahead of the AMA and they will answer them during the AMA.

 Please note: You must be logged in to post questions and see responses. See instructions 
on How to Log into GeoNet for the AMA. 

AMA Tips and GeoNet Community Guidelines
When asking questions and comments during the AMA, remember to follow the GeoNet Community Guiding Principles‌: Be Helpful, Be Human, Be Smart.
This discussion page will not auto-refresh, so please remember to refresh this page to see new questions, comments and replies.       
                    
                    
                               
 Please note: The AMA will be live when you see a picture of our guests below.

We are live!

9:30 a.m. - And we're live! Go ahead and ask your questions!

9:45 a.m. - If you are just joining us, feel free to ask any question.

10:00 a.m. - We're halfway through, Great questions! Keep them coming!

10:15 a.m. - If you are just joining us, feel free to ask any question.

10:25 a.m. - Five minutes to go! Got any fun questions for our Guests?

10:30 a.m. - And that's a wrap! The live AMA has ended with our wonderful Cartography. MOOC Guests.

Thank you for your questions and participation.

The thread has shifted to a time-stamp view. To view the threads in their entirety, you can select the Actions above the right corner of the discussion thread and select View PDF.

Re: May 15, 2018: Cartography. MOOC Ask Me Anything (AMA)

Anonymous User — Wed, 09 May 2018 18:19:58 GMT

Hello,

I'm currently taking the MOOC Cartography course and it has been stressed when making choropleth maps (graduated colors for instance) you should not map totals with a choropleth map because the areas and base population data differ between areas, creating problems when comparing areas across the map. I'm still confused as to why. I'll give an example of my thought process.

I have data for Minnesota that tells the change in number of trees per county. I want to make a map choropleth map that shows this. My thinking is to show a map that has counties colored from a dark red when negative through a dark green when they're positive. I am not understanding why I need to normalize the data based on the area of the county. I mean, I understand if you were trying to show a percent change based on area or if you were wanting to know out of the total number of trees as a proportion of the county area but if you just want to give whole total numbers I'm not getting.

Can you please explain this? Thank you!

Re: May 15, 2018: Cartography. MOOC Ask Me Anything (AMA)

DerekHoshijo1 — Wed, 09 May 2018 22:55:42 GMT

Greetings All,

As GIS technology becomes easier to use and more ubiquitous, what advice can you give GIS professionals who feel a sense of displacement in the industry?

Enterprise GIS positions are becoming more available and tend to focus more on the programming side and integrating GIS capabilities into new ERP systems, how do we reconcile traditional GIS work with the more modern IT side? With more private organizations positioning GIS as part of the IT department, how do we co-exist in the plan, build, run world that limits the type of GIS work we do?

Industry professionals have oft touted learning to program or developing a speciality alongside our GIS skills. I found that the general thought is that it is easier to teach a traditional computer scientist geospatial concepts than it is to teach a GIS professional with programming background to develop an app. Data Scientists are increasingly able to run spatial analysis using R-packages and GDAL scripts. These can sometimes lead to massive CartoFails!

What advice can you give to those adapting to the changing work types where we don't get to use our Cartographic and more traditional GIS skills learned in this and other MOOCs? Help us put the 'G' back into IS!

Re: May 15, 2018: Cartography. MOOC Ask Me Anything (AMA)

ryanrudnicki — Thu, 10 May 2018 12:55:56 GMT

Halo,

I'm wowed by the brilliance of the colors in the thematic maps of this MOOC. They seem almost unreal. My reality is b/w maps. Here are two scenarios.

1. For some of us, in academia, for example, color printers are being removed and replaced with less expensive b/w printers. Hard copy maps, and they do still exist, therefore lose their "punch" in monochromatic graphical environment.

2. At a public hearing/meeting, my PowerPoint projected onto the meeting room screen displays thematic maps in brilliant colors. Reproduction budget only permits distribution of b/w print-outs to those in the audience. How can the "point" of the map be made emphatically in b/w so those taking maps with them will have as strong a visual impression at home as at the pubic presentation?

How would this MOOC be re-designed to accommodate generating hard copy that is only in black, white, & shades of gray? In other words, how could this course emphasize Ansel Adams rather than Jackson Pollock?

Re: May 15, 2018: Cartography. MOOC Ask Me Anything (AMA)

PavelVakhrushev — Thu, 10 May 2018 14:18:19 GMT

Hey! Thanks ESRI team for this interesting and informative international MOOC event.
So I have two main questions.

1 - What about prices for your products!? How much does Arcgis Online subscription cost? They are not displayed anywhere,
2 - Is it possible to find freelance cartography job related with ArcGIS and how to do that?

Re: May 15, 2018: Cartography. MOOC Ask Me Anything (AMA)

Jean_AnnRodine — Thu, 10 May 2018 21:15:23 GMT

WHERE IS THE AMA PAGE?

Been trying to find it for an hour to sign up.

1) Go to the AMA page. Refreshed the screen, then "AMA page" had a link. Clicked on it only for it to take me to December 2017 event.

WTF! - Where's the Form?

WTP - Where's the Page?

Can't following the rest of the instructions since I can't find the AMA page!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: May 15, 2018: Cartography. MOOC Ask Me Anything (AMA)

Anonymous User — Fri, 11 May 2018 16:44:31 GMT

How did you get into the business of cartography and maps? Has cartography always been of interest, or was it something you discovered later on in life?
What is your fondest cartography memory from your own work, or someone else's work that has inspired you?
What is your favorite map of all-time, historic or recent?
What piece of work that you created are you most proud of, and why (cartography or otherwise)?

Re: May 15, 2018: Cartography. MOOC Ask Me Anything (AMA)

FatimatAdebiyi — Sat, 12 May 2018 10:06:52 GMT

Thanks for including the AMA as part of the MOOC-Cartography.

My work involves creating maps for African countries e.g. Nigeria and Ghana. It is always challenging to create good maps that actually represent these countries due to insufficient data and base map in ArcGIS. Are there any resources that I could access that will make my work easier. For example, if I want to create a reference map of place called Elekuru in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria showing the locations of vegetable farmers in the area. Thanks.

Re: May 15, 2018: Cartography. MOOC Ask Me Anything (AMA)

CandaceLoya — Mon, 14 May 2018 21:31:39 GMT

Hi Jean Ann Rodine‌.

I am sorry you seem confused by the instructions provided. In the first paragraph of the instructions, it states, "The URL provided in your invitation (a MOOC announcement, an e-mail, a tweet, etc.) is the actual page where the discussion will occur on the date noted."

This particular discussion where you made your comment is the actual Cartography. MOOC AMA. No need to search for an AMA page within GeoNet. Simply bookmark or follow this discussion. See image to the right.

The Action menu is just below the pencil at next to your avatar at the top-right of the discussion. Click Follow, where you want to receive notifications, and/or Bookmark so you can find the discussion easier in the future.

Each time a comment or question is posted you will then receive a notification it has been updated with a new comment of change. If you are following the discussion thread the day of the event, you can refresh your screen and see new answers and questions posted during the event.

You can also find the link at the top of the Cartography. MOOC‌ page in the Announcement above the content just below the GeoNet navigation.

I hope this information helps and that you are able to join us on May 15th for the Cartography. MOOC AMA.

Delighted to be of service,

Candace Loya‌, GeoNet Community Content Manager

Re: May 15, 2018: Cartography. MOOC Ask Me Anything (AMA)

PatrickOlsen1 — Mon, 14 May 2018 23:33:04 GMT

Dent 6E... Slocum 3E... Field 1E... compare and contrast, with a focus on transferable skills to digital cartography.

Re: May 15, 2018: Cartography. MOOC Ask Me Anything (AMA)

PatrickOlsen1 — Mon, 14 May 2018 23:33:25 GMT

... and no, I'm not British.

Re: May 15, 2018: Cartography. MOOC Ask Me Anything (AMA)

LawrenceTucker — Tue, 15 May 2018 00:32:06 GMT

I have encountered some strange "zig zag" lines while working with an .mxd file and downloading some tax parcel property lines onto the map. I am creating a map of a small area of about 5 towns and have added a layer which is actually a polygon on top of the raster image of the area I am studying. The taxpar "lines" don't look like lines at all ,but rather appear like a sawblade edge. They also do get really fuzzy and pixelated when I zoom in.

Please help as this is a very important project for us.

thanks,

Larry

Re: May 15, 2018: Cartography. MOOC Ask Me Anything (AMA)

LinaHaggard — Tue, 15 May 2018 00:57:55 GMT

Hi,

Sometimes a map can be part of a product line, with its own design manual, such as an info board for national parks. The map is to fit with the overall message and design of the board. Colors, typefaces, icons and other elements to be used are already decided, maybe by a graphic design team. Including rules that no italic fonts are to be used on the map (nice for rivers), and no placenames in just capital letters (could be useful for mountain ranges). Have you worked in scenarios like this? With constraints that excludes common cartographic conventions? Do you have examples of maps that go against some common rules? A case of this is not best practice, but here it works?

Thanks for highlighting Daniel Huffman and his page Something About Maps! His tutorials will be very useful.

Re: May 15, 2018: Cartography. MOOC Ask Me Anything (AMA)

deleted-user-Q2MMZOFZpCOZ — Tue, 15 May 2018 03:59:13 GMT

Hello 🙂

I have really been enjoying the MOOC so far! I am looking forwards to the next section with 3D as well.

I have a few questions for you all:

1) What advice would you give to GIS analysts/ cartographers that want to start bumping up their game in the industry? (Blogging? Publishing? etc.) What would be good first steps?

2) For those of you that have done work in consulting or fast-paced/client-based industries, how to you balance creating beautiful and "good" cartography/ maps, vs. what the client insists they want but may fall in carto-fail territory?

3) I have seen a bunch of the work you all have done via blogs, twitter, Esri UC presentations, etc. and you all create such amazing, diverse and fun pieces (3D models of JKF's route, firefly, breweries of the world, historic collections, hand drawn/inking skills, and the incredible list goes on and on...ok ok sorry I'll stop being a total fan-girl here) I was hoping each of you could tell us which of the maps you have created is your favorite or the one you are most proud of?(and if there's time, what about it made it special to you?)

Thanks again for putting together this Mooc, it's been very fun and very educational!

Re: May 15, 2018: Cartography. MOOC Ask Me Anything (AMA)

Paul_JamesDoherty — Tue, 15 May 2018 07:36:02 GMT

Paul Doherty

Hello. I am struggling a bit with step 15 and 16 of Section 3 'Thematic Maps. I have successfully generated the tiling scheme from the Geoprocessing pane and receive the 'successfully published web layer' message also. However my problem arises when I sign in to ArcGis Online.

When searching my content my Map is not visible. I have tried this on numerous occasions but have had no luck

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!!

Re: May 15, 2018: Cartography. MOOC Ask Me Anything (AMA)

AlexMohr2 — Tue, 15 May 2018 13:22:15 GMT

How does one get into the profession of cartography? I am currently doing a GIS internship but I much prefer the cartographic side. There is no educational program specifically geared toward cartography where I live. I have taken what classes were offered and I do a lot of online training and MOOC's (THANKS for this great one!). What can I do next? How can students help themselves be better map makers?

Re: May 15, 2018: Cartography. MOOC Ask Me Anything (AMA)

suehawkins1 — Tue, 15 May 2018 14:20:42 GMT

Ryan, I happen to think that black white and grey maps can be really beautiful! They may take more planning and/or work, but to me, there's nothing more beautiful than a really well-done monochrome map. **I'm not saying I'm any good at making them... 😉

Re: May 15, 2018: Cartography. MOOC Ask Me Anything (AMA)

BrianAnderson9 — Tue, 15 May 2018 15:27:13 GMT

Bryan,

You say your data shows the "change in number of trees per county", that means this data is not a single total but a rate and is already normalized by county. The word "per" means "for each" (used to express a ratio or rate). So if the "change" is 32 trees per county then the rate is (32 trees)/(1 county), i.e., a fraction whose numerator is a count of trees and denominator is a count of county's. If you want to normalize by area, then the numerator would still be the physical count of trees, but now the denominator would be the area in whatever units you want to use (square feet, square miles, acres, whatever). Just make sure that each denominator has the same units. If county A has 235 acres then county B must also be converted to acres to normalize the data.

Hope this makes sense. If not I would be more than happy to try and re-explain.

Re: May 15, 2018: Cartography. MOOC Ask Me Anything (AMA)

JonGirand — Tue, 15 May 2018 15:37:12 GMT

Ken talked about Normalization problems in cartography. Here is a potential example. This morning's Wall Street Journal has a map showing the number of oil rigs in the various oil basin in the western US. The graphic data is not normalized so it appears there is a very large amount of drilling activity (463 rigs) in the Permian Basin, compared to the small activity (70 rigs) in the Cana Woodford Basin. However, if one compared the normalized drilling activity in the huge area of the Permian Basin covering west Texas and parts of Mexico and New Mexico with the very smallest Cana Woodford Basin using area as a divisor, one would see that the Cana Woodford Basin is one of the hottest drilling areas in the US.

Re: May 15, 2018: Cartography. MOOC Ask Me Anything (AMA)

BrianAnderson9 — Tue, 15 May 2018 15:56:10 GMT

Thank you Jon, this is a great example.

Just to go a step further, another way to normalize the data might be by looking at the number of pipe feet needed for drilling. So many rigs over so many feet of pipe. Or maybe the inverse, the number of pipe feet per the number of rigs. There are multiple ways to normalize data, not just dividing by area. It once again boils down to what it is you want to show or try to explain.