Cartographic Skills: Week 2 Lab Assignment

In this week's lab assignment, we had to use Adobe Illustrator to complete the finishing touches on our map of Florida. We learned how to use the basic tools in Adobe Illustrator to add and change some of the map elements on our maps. We also learned how to use scripts to help improve the function of Adobe Illustrator. Other features were added to the map, such as, the state's animal, bird and flower.

I first started out in ArcMap to insert the scale bar, legend, and the north arrow before I did any work in Illustrator. I had to make sure that the scale bar was set to scale with the rest of the map to be accurate. After exporting the map as AI file type, I moved to using Adobe Illustrator to finish the rest. I immediately started to add layers to my artboard to help me manipulate the map better. I added images of the state animal, bird and flower to my map. I sourced my images from the internet which I then copied and pasted onto the artboard in Illustrator. After pasting the images into Illustrator, I utilized the selection tool to resize and moved the images to fit the map appropriately. I utilized was the text tool which I used to label the map and to subtitled the images I had added. I selected the text tool and then I clicked on the area where I wanted the text to appear then typed in the labels for map. After typing in the labels, I used the selection tool again to help me resize and moved the text.