The Heart of the Florida Keys (GIS 3015/3015L- Cartographic Skills)

In module 3, we were tasked with creating a map of Marathon, Florida while exercising the newly learned cartographic concepts which included labeling and use of type. The map shown is the island mass of Marathon with it's cities, airport, state park, country club, island keys, and nearby water features labeled. An inset map has been included to show the island's relation to southern Florida.

The software used was AcrMap to create the main and inset map along with north arrow and scale bar placement. From here, the rest was done with Adobe Illustrator. The labels were all customized to be distinguishable. The Keys have a halo effect around them while the water features have a wave effect to them. A light drop shadow was added to give depth to the island mass.

With this lesson, I did some research into what kind of effects or tricks could be done in AI, most notably the halo effect around the text. In ArcMap, this effect can be selected within the text options while AI required a further process. I also took more time to explore some more of the program and familiarize myself with it. Obviously I won't become a professional overnight, so every minute spent with it is an improvement.