Final Project Map

Show & Tell

                                                Final Project Critique/Draft

Lab 10

Lab 9: Dot Density

Final Project Proposal-Virginia Wineries/Vineyards

For this project, I would like to create a map that showcases the major wineries in the State of Virginia as wine tourism contributes positive economic impact to Virginia. I would like to either make a map that shows the top Virginia wineries by volume or sales, or just just the top 30 using a proportional symbol map. The wine industry in the Mid-Atlantic Region provides an enormous amount of data about existing and new wineries, their sales and production levels, and the markets they cater too, so finding adequate data shouldn't be an issue when creating the map. Organizing the data using a single variable such as volume or number of cases shipped per month should make it easy to plot on a state map by county. The reason I want to do this type of map is because I work for the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control and we receive a significant portion of Virginia wine as our weekly delivery, so I thought it would be interesting to map out where it comes from in the state before it reaches the ABC warehouse. The audience for this map would be VA ABC customers and those who order wine in bulk on a regular basis or who are involved in the statewide distribution of wine from the Commonwealth.
Data: 
Virginia ABC, the Dept. of Agriculture, and the Virginia Wine Board all keep aggregate data on yearly and monthly production and well as shipping, quality, and sales data. VA ABC maintains a list of licensed wineries throughout the state, the Agriculture Department keeps track of the health and quality of existing wineries, and the Virginia Wine Board collects data on total sales and production volume in and out of state.
Base Map: 
The base map I will use will either be a state map with existing county boundaries, or a map with regional boundaries that differentiate the different climates needed per type of wine. Any basic map of the state that is labeled by county and maybe major cities should be sufficient to add on to and clear to understand for an audience. Anything with additional data or labeling may confuse the viewer because of overcrowding and clarity will be lost. I expect to have no more than 20-30 symbols placed on the map depending on how I organize the data.

                                                Lab 7: Proportional Symbol

Lab 5: Grayscale Choropleth Maps of the 50 States

Natural Breaks

Equal Interval

                                                        Lab 3: Typography

                                                             

Lab #2: Mollweide Graticule

The map is similar to a Hober-Dyer projection that showcases the  commodities that major nations export and trade throughout the world. The projection makes it simple to understand because the scale is clear and makes it easy to view all the listed products. The projection focuses not so much on accuracy of country shape or size as it does on what each country represents and ease of view for the user to understand.

http://visual.ly/world-commodities-map

Lab #1: Sphere, Geoid, Ellipsoid, and Natural Surface

This  map of the New York City Subway System, as developed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, shows the depth and reach that the MTA provides in NYC for commuters and tourists alike. Being familiar with New York myself, having the subway at your disposal is great. What is even greater is a detailed and system-wide map of all the routes and the boroughs they provide service too. Having a colored map in rich detail that somewhat simplifies the navigation of NYC by train is a wonderful tool to have. Although this map is large scale and only encompasses a single metropolitan area, the detail and reach of the MTA Subway  is immense and shows an interesting transportation link in comparison to the road network  of New York City. The map is able to cleanly represent the range of lines by color, number, and letter without cluttering the image and the legend clearly defines what each symbol means. Although daunting at first, this subway map is able to provide the average user with a quick and easy tool to navigate through the Big Apple with ease.
http://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/New_York_City_Subway_Route_Map_by_Michael_Calcagno