Lab 5 - Proportional Symbol Mapping

In this week's lab assignment we explored the usage of proportional symbol mapping for quantitative data.

Specifically, in Part A, we first created a custom conic projection for the country of India by calculating the central meridian, and standard parallels 1 and 2. Then we were tasked to discuss our design choices in the production of an effective proportional symbol map depicting population of the largest cities in India. To do so, we had to consider symbol size, color, and outline width, as well as the effect of using Flannery's Appearance Compensation -- all while employing map design principles that organize the data in terms of hierarchy, legibility, and contrast.

Similarly, in Part B, we created another proportional symbol map depicting available jobs in the contiguous USA, in terms of gains and losses within an 8 year period --  which made us consider two variables instead of one. And finally, for both maps we created custom legend designs by converting legends' objects into graphics and manually designing a "nested" proportional symbol legend. My inspiration for the color schemes and design choices came from example maps provided in our lecture.