Shin Huoy's GIS Portfolio

This map was produced as part of my final project for the course. I had the freedom to choose the theme of the map and type of map. I had to find data from reliable sources and include all the map elements to create a complete map.

 

I decided to create a map of earthquake occurrences in the world from 1994-2014. I obtained my data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and combined the earthquake data with death toll data. I then imported the data into ArcMap and plotted the points according to their geographical coordinates. Using the 'graduated symbols' function, I was able to class the circles into different size according to their magnitudes. I then exported the map from ArcMap into Adobe Illustrator, where I focused on the map design.

 

I wanted to focus only on earthquakes of significant magnitude, which I defined as magnitude of 7.0 and above on the Richter scale, in order to prevent the map from being overly cluttered. I created a bi-variate map, with the two variables being earthquake magnitude and death tolls. The magnitudes are represented in terms of circle sizes, while death toll is represented by circle colors. I chose to use graduated symbols instead of proportionate symbols as the magnitude difference from 7 to 10 is not easily decipherable to the eye. I also experimented with different circle sizes to obtain a balance where the circles are of an appropriate size and will not obscure each other too much.

 

I wanted to prompt the map readers to consider the pattern of death tolls of earthquakes in the world. I highlighted the significantly deadly earthquakes with more than a thousand deaths and the countries of their occurrence. In the supporting text, I noted how many of these countries are in the developing world, demonstrating differential earthquake vulnerabilities of countries.

 

The map below is my completed map. It has gone through many revisions to achieve the most efficient and effective map.