Cartographic Skills: Week 8 Module

In this week's lab, we learned about different isarithmic mapping methods, such as continuous tone and hypsometric tinting, contour lines, and PRISM method. To show that we comprehended the topic at hand, we had to create a isarithmic map of Washington's Annual Precipitation. We created the map in ArcMap where we implemented both continuous tone and hypsometric tinting in presenting the precipitation data. The end result was presenting the Washington's Annual Precipitation using hypsometric tinting and contour lines. This method was the best suited for representing this data. 

This map shows a 30 year period of precipitation data in Washington state. To show the symbology of the map properly, the legend had to present the data horizontal instead of vertical. We changed the legend by using the legend's properties window, selecting the 'Item" tab and then selected 'Styles' which allowed me to change the presentation of the legend bar. An important tool that we used was the 'Int (Spatial Analyst Tool)' which changed the raster values from floating to integers. By using this tool, it will make the contour lines more clean cut.