5 replies to this topic

[gis_mayotte]

Hello everyone,

This is my first map posted on this forum. I would therefore get some feedback if possible.
First some information about the order for this map : it's intended to illustrate a 20 p. document on Mayotte and Reunion island at a promotional exhibition at the Paris Townhall this summer 2012.
So it will reach a large audience and will be aimed at people who know little about french overseas in this region.

I used Illustrator + Mapublisher 8.2.
The data : shapefiles and one raster
Sources : GADM database, www.gadm.org, version 2.0, Déc. 2011) - Maritime borders : http://www.un.org/Depts/los/LEGISLATIONAND...gionslist.htm); source coordinates : UTM84-38S.

Thank you,

Attached Files

•  Mayotte__et_la_R__union_dans_l__Oc__an_Indien.jpg   324.57K   127 downloads

[frax]

Hi, neat map - looks like a good start!

I would try to move the focus more to Reunion on Mayotte by having more detail on those islands (included shaded relief, or possibly muted satellite imagery) and less detail on the other parts of the map - e.g. using only one plain tone for Africa. I had to hunt for a bit to find the locations of these two islands too, it would probably be good to have some line between the inset maps and the main map. I don't think bathymetry is needed too.

I find the flags a bit distracting, and they steal some of the attention, maybe it could just be written in text instead?

The coastlines for the Maldives don't work very well, are they a heavier stroke, or do they have more detail than some of the other places... ?

[rudy]

Good start. A couple of comments:
- there seems to be inconsistency in the text for country names. Mozambique, for instance, seems to be bolded, while Kenya isn't
- placement of city names could be improved by moving the names entirely in the water or on land instead of crossing the shoreline as they are. Also, put text in an upper left, upper right, lower left, lower right position relative to the point instead of below or above it
- the white grid lines appear to be running over the text and continue through the insets. If they are to reflect latitude and longitude lines they should stop at the insets (but are they just an artifact of the image creation?)
- on the main map you've got some features showing up on land but for the insets there is none. As a result, there doesn't seem much to look at on the inset maps which may be one of the focal points of the map. Any way you could add some content to the islands to make them a little more interesting to look at?
-the lake color on the islands is different from that on the main map
- if the focus is to be the 2 islands, why not enlarge the insets, add more content to them and shrink the Indian Ocean map and use it more as a locator map?
- shoreline appears grey - how about making it blue?
- shoreline thickness also appears inconsistent - compare the Maldives to Africa
- add a few subdivisions to the scales bars

Hope this helps. Nice map.

[fdb]

Hello everybody,

The shaded relief in Mayotte and la Réunion felt.

Nice map, good luck !

François.

[Laura Miles]

I think I wondered the same as Francois, why don't Mayotte and la Reunion have shaded relief? At first I thought maybe they were representing reefs or something. Otherwise, nice map!

[M.Denil]

The transparent sea around the island maps; allowing the general ocean floor topography and an EEZ line to continue through the inset map frame makes it very difficult to conceptually separate the insets from the main map.
Only my familiarity with the area allows me to understand that these islands are not bigger than Madagascar.

This is reinforced by your use of the same brown frame to indicate the insets locations and the insets themselves. Since both are just brown outline boxes on the Indian Ocean ocean floor hill shade, one is not made aware of the separateness of the insets.

Yes, lose the flags. Use small all-caps text for sovereignty labels instead.

In fact, I suggest making larger, more detailed maps of the islands and a much smaller, simpler location map.

M.Denil