Communicating GIS Lab 10

This week for the lab we worked with temporal mapping. For our end products we produced a video file that consisted of a map showing the changes in data over a certain time. Rather than using a comparative map side-by-side the video allows the map creator to chronologically display many maps of data one after the next for a certain length of time. This helps the user visualize the changes and see trends that may be hard to distinguish in the side-by-side comparison. In the first video we experimented with changing population on the major U.S. cities up to the year 2000.

For this video the screenshots show how at different times in the video the data displayed is different and the symbology and labels correspond to the time frame being displayed. These features are accomplished through dynamic and static labeling along with corresponding displayed symbology.

Year 1870

    

Year 1970

In the first image you can see the year label 1870 is darkened to represent the current data year. The symbology also reflects the graduated symbol population of the major U.S. cities for the year of 1870. Also at the top right of the map you can see we practiced adding the dynamic text with the "Year: 1870" displayed. In the second image you can see that the data is different based on the symbology for the population and the dynamic labels representing the year 1970 rather than 1870. These images are just two screenshots from the video file. When the video is played it shows the years of data in a chronological order and the populations seem to grow as the years progress. It is a very fancy representation of a large amount of trend data.

The second video map for the lab worked in the same way except the layout was slightly different. In the screenshots you can see the labels are in different locations representing a part of the whole data rather than a snapshot year. The data builds rather than changing. In this map the number and locations of volcanic eruptions is mapped with the year and magnitude of each.

In these images you can see the building data along with the representation of the years passed going around the globe. Again another inventive idea to represent compiling data in order to analyse trends.