Chapter 5: In this chapter the book really explained how to define a map and how to show the information on the page. The three main things that I got from this was showing a clear boundary, a dataset to show your information and visual appeal which makes it easier for the reader to understand the information on the map. By initially creating a boundary you are then able to find what you are trying to portray whether it is showing information through a data set or physically separating areas based on aerial visuals. In order to show data or try to show the people an issue in the area there needs to be clear data that counteracts the claim of the map. The book uses land cover as an example for one of their maps, you can either separate this the different land uses by acquiring data with locations of areas or if you know the area you can separate and boundary off areas as you see fit. The map using the data would be more precise but I believe one that is separated by humans would have more effect on the people. I say this because the information would be through human experience and they are able to see the use of the land including whether it is a healthy area or not. The data would not be able to do this because it would just be in numbers and locations, there is no human interaction with the data or thought put into their separation. So by creating boundaries around the outside of the map you are able to identify an area then by using data or general knowledge you can create a map to put purpose to the information being portrayed inside.
Chapter 6: I would say this chapter is almost the first chapter that really explains some of the features you can use in ARC. The chapter explained the process of finding a location and what information needs to be available for the software to accurately measure an area. The main point from this part is the fact that you need to have two separate layers one being the source layer and one being the surrounding layer. This means the source layer is the map that you are physically creating and the surrounding layer is the map that you are going to measure off of. The book says that by being able to measure distance you can find the square footage of an area, the distance from point A to point B and you can even create routes for cars and transportation by using this surrounding layer. The surrounding layer is something like google earth, an image that does not have the best resolution which is why the source layer will have the better resolution. Because the google earth map is linked to the correct coordinates when you measure on the source map the measurements will be precise. By being able to have this supporting layer underneath the map that you are creating you are also able to have an image surrounding the study area so people can find landmarks that they know of when creating the map.
Chapter 7: This chapter was really about the different ways you can show data on your maps and how to show data over time and or any changing data. I would say the most important part of this chapter would be the fact that you can show several time periods in one map because you are able to link the data to the map. Being able to create time scale maps you are then able to show people in a short video or gif what is going on in a certain area like, population change, hurricane surge times and even wildfire spread over a several day period. This is a great way to inform the people because you can show them what has been happening in the last couple of years and or even show them the danger they could be in during a natural disaster. There are also ways that you can create singular point time maps which can show things like 911 call locations and their timestamps. These point maps are also very helpful when tracking oil spills, wildfires and really any danger that spreads due to the fact that points would be put on a map for the time the spread reaches that location. These maps can show anything from population change to land use change to vegetation change. All of this information would be linked to data which allows the maps to also show graphs and tables as needed. These tables and graphs can show the change to people in numbers so instead of just showing them with images which can broaden the audience of the map.
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