11 replies to this topic

[David Fletcher]

Hello,

This is a map I've been working on and believe is nearing completion. Its purpose is to show a client looking to open a business in Bakersfield the location of several real estate listings in relation to areas that meet certain demographic criteria. I would love to hear people's thoughts regarding the clarity and design of the map and how they might be improved.

I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

P.S. The resolution isn't the best, as it was necessary to shrink the image in order to upload it. So, I have also included a separate image of the legend.

 BakersfieldListingsMap2.1.jpg   462.58K   183 downloads
 Legend.JPG   76.75K   42 downloads

[Hans van der Maarel]

Here's my 2 cents:

The yellow 5-mile circles look like they're not too visible. You may want to either make them wider, or a different color.

Does the map have to be north-oriented? I think if you rotate it a few degrees counter-clockwise, so that hwy 58 is horizontal, the overall image becomes more esthetically pleasing. In that case, I'd ditch the north arrow. It's not necessary for the map's purpose.

Gather the listings, legend and scale bar into a single box on the lower right side. Plenty of room for it there, and then you won't have to put it on top of any of the 3-mile circles.

[Michael Schmeling]

The yellow 5-mile circles look like they're not too visible. You may want to either make them wider, or a different color.

This is true. Actually, I didn't even notice the yellow circles until Hans mentioned them.

[DaveB]

I also did not notice the yellow circles until they were pointed out.

You might also try labeling the listings right on the map and do away with the separate box. Not sure if that would work better or not in this case.

pet peeve: white text on a red background hurts my eyes.

[Hans van der Maarel]

I also did not notice the yellow circles until they were pointed out.

I only noticed them because I saw them in the legend, so I went looking for them.

[David Fletcher]

Thanks for all the pointers! I made some adjustments based on your advice and I'm very happy with the effect they've had on the map. Here is the latest version. More constructive criticism/advice is welcome.

Thanks again!

 BakersfieldListingsMap2.1.jpg   715.31K   58 downloads

[Clark Geomatics]

Your legend denotes the circles using rectangles - doesn't make much sense to me. I realise ArcMap doesn't give you much of an option, but I think it would improve your map if you showed the circles as circles - or, leave them off and attribute the circles on the map with a radius.

[Hans van der Maarel]

Much better, but now there's a bit of confusion between #5 and #7. Which is which? Move the label for the bottom one (7 I would assume) to be below the 2 points.

Also, your point symbols were rotated along with the overall map rotation. That's not supposed to happen of course. Rotate them back, or replace them with a circular symbol.

[razornole]

From a business point of view, I think that it would be very important to know where the exists are for the limited access highways. I would want to buy property as close to an exist as possible.

kru

[DaveB]

I would manually adjust all of the point labels. There are only 7, so it shouldn't take long.

You can use circles in the legend if you want. There are a few legend patch shapes provided in ArcMap, and you can also create your own from graphics you draw on the layout or from features in the map if you like. For more info on this see New Legend Patch Shapes.

[David Fletcher]

From a business point of view, I think that it would be very important to know where the exists are for the limited access highways. I would want to buy property as close to an exist as possible.

kru

That would be a great addition. I searched for the data, however, I haven't been able to find any. Do you, or does anyone else, know where California highway exits data might be found?

Also, here's the map with the latest adjustments, open to critique.
 BakersfieldListingsMap2.jpg   542.57K   61 downloads

[Dennis McClendon]

As for exits, Bakersfield can't have more than 20. Why not just place them by hand?

A better approach than putting the circles in the legend is just to label the circles themselves with type on a path saying T W O M I L E S. Same with the listings. The address should be a label just to the side, not a reference off in a box somewhere.

The cross-hatching is very distracting. I'd make the city limits a simple ocher line and then use solid, quiet, grayed colors for the income classes.