Cartography for Reports

From this lab on, you'll be expected to create documents that are publication quality. This includes your maps. Below are some tips that will make your reports excellent quality. These tips are based on the issues that students struggle the most with in this class and that I take points off for.

For your reports in general:

1. An abstract should have at least one sentence summarizing each section of the report (i.e. Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion and/or Conclusion).
2. All acronyms that are not in the dictionary should be defined on first use. Examples include "World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS 84)".
3. Citations should be of the form "(Author's Last Name Year)" or "(Author's Last Name Year, Author's Last Name Year)" for multiple authors. Then the bibliography entries start with the Last Name of the author so they are easy to find.
4. Reference organizations completely. Examples include “ArcMap 10.5.1 from Esri” (ESRI was an acronym but now it is a word), "MS-Word from Microsoft".
5. ArcGIS Desktop is a group of software applications/packages that include ArcMap.

For maps:

1. If you use a satellite image as the background, use one without any text. Also, make it lighter so the reader can easily see your thematic data. In ArcMap, right click on the layer and select "Properties -> Display -> Transparency". About 50% should work.
2. Add a scale bar and north array unless it is really obvious where north is and what the scale is.
3. Make sure the north arrow and scale bar are accurate.
4. All text should be whole and easily readable. Don't use backgrounds that include cut-off text.
5. Legends with a neat line need a "gap" (Right click on the legend, "Properties", "Frame" tab, set the
6. Legends do not need the title "Legend".
7. Do not add credits to the map.
8. If you use a background with credits in ArcMap, select "Insert -> Dynamic Text -> Service Level Credits" and then move the credits off the map. Then, add credits to the data providers to your report.
9. If your labels do not stand out on the background, add a halo. In ArcMap, right click on the layer and select "Properties -> Labels -> Symbol -> Edit Symbol -> Mask -> Halo".
10. If you cannot make labels look good in ArcMap, export your map and then load it into MS-PowerPoint or another software application that allows you to create great looking text.
11. Use pastels for fills: blue for water, natural earth tones for land, gray for urban.
12. Clear any selections before exporting your map (see "Selection -> Clear Selected Features").
13. See the web page on Creating Reports in MS-Word for more information