North Brazil's Climate Map

Source: http://mapsof.net/brazil/static-maps/gif/brazil-norte-climate-map/full-size

This map, just like the other maps, has no map title. So I relied on its website to understand this one. I also used the Google Translate to understand its legend. 

According to its website, this is a map of North Brazil's Climate. Yes, there is a legend but this map is still difficult to interpret if the map reader is not knowledgeable of Climatology. In addition, its legend is written in Spanish. Therefore, this map would only be useful for people who can understand both Spanish and Climatological terms. Furthermore, legend for the lines indicating temperatures is not included. The reader might be confused of these lines.

On the other hand, it has used good colors. Areas opted not to be included are colored gray. Also, it might be helpful if some areas are labeled or, maybe, a map inset is included to help the map reader recognize these areas.

All in all, this map would be better if the cartographer has included the map title (and also, a translation of it), a direction, and the sources, too. I would give this a rating of 6.

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Precipitation and Temperature Map of Australia

Sources: - http://www.bestcountryreports.com/Precipitation_Map_Australia.html

              - http://www.bestcountryreports.com/Temperature_Map_Australia.html

The blue map is the Precipitation Map of Australia while the red one is the Temperature Map. These are choropleth maps which show the annual mean amount of precipitation and annual mean temperature in Australia, respectively.

Colors used in these maps match the message they want to interpret (blue for the amount of precipitation; red for the temperature). In the Precipitation Map, It used a blue monochromatic color to show the relative intensities of the precipitation in the areas. The lightest blue signifies the lowest amount of precipitation in inch/year, while the darkest blue signifies the otherwise. In the temperature map, it used a red to green dichromatic color to show the variation of temperature from the hottest to the coldest. In this case, the green signifies the coldest annual mean temperature. Colors also do not clash or clutter. 

Place names are labeled on some significant places on or near the coasts. Territories and water bodies are also labeled to guide the map reader.

Important elements of the map are provided. The title, legend, scale and direction are all placed in a box below the map but the spaces are still balanced and appropriate. The two maps' layouts are both excellent.  Significant data are all sufficient. 

I would give these two maps a rating of 10.

*Ratings: 1-lowest    10-highest

Map of Major Ethnic Groups in Central Asia

 

Source: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/thematic.html

This is the best map that I am criticizing so far because it has able to put all the important elements needed. First of all it has provided  a map title from which the map reader would base his interpretation of this map. Legends that are needed for interpreting the colors and and points are also provided. An extra charts are also provided at the side of the map to clarify and show percentages of ethnic groups in the whole population.

The only problem that I could see in this map is too many points that are cluttered in certain areas. The purpose of those points is to exactly locate the ethnic groups in the map. However, these points made some labels unreadable. 

Labels of places are also too small making them hard to be read. Some of them also overlap with lines. 

The colors used in this map are good. They do not clutter or clash.

Totally, it is a very good map though it has not included a direction. If I would to rate this, I would give this a rating of 9.5.

*Ratings: 1-lowest    10-highest

A 'Map of Canada and the US'

 Source: http://www.kuederle.com/Canada/Map.php

Here is a map of North America. It has labels on some states and cities of United States and Canada. Honestly, I could not understand the intended message or purpose that this map wants to relay.

Firstly, the map has no legend. If only it has provided a legend, it would easily be understood. According to its web page, it is a map of Canada and the US, but still lacks of information.

It used good combination of colors. They are not too strong and complement one another. However, these colors are useless because their uses are not indicated.

One thing I noticed about this map is that it labeled only a few places. Surely, these labels signify or suggest something. Nonetheless, I can say that the labeling is good. There are no overlaps and labels are clears and are readable.

Overall, this map would be a good map if the cartographer has included the important elements such as map title, legend, direction and scale. If these elements are just included, we could have understood the message of this map which seems to be somehow important. Rating: 6.

*Ratings: 1-lowest    10-highest

A "Dark" Africa

Source: http://www.africaguide.com/afmap.htm

Here is an African map from Africaguide.com. It is an attractive map because it's black, which is not common. But this map really is a good map? Or it just want to be attractive and not map reader-friendly?

Map of countries or continents with black background or ocean is not common and I want to note the cartographer's creativeness for this map, but black color for the ocean? I didn't think it's a good idea because firstly, I think, water bodies should always be in blue because it has already registered in the most people's minds that water bodies are always represented with the blue color. What if the map reader didn't know the location of Africa? He could have been fooled by this map. Fortunately, the labels have saved the cartographer for his inappropriate creativeness. The names of the oceans, seas and others have helped the map reader what this entire black is. Colors of countries are consistent. All of them are in dark color.

On the other hand, this map has a little trouble with place labels. Some texts coincides with the countries' border lines making them unreadable. For instance, Burundi it looks like "Barundi", while Lesotho looks like "Uesotho." For maps, if points or areas are too small to put the complete name of the place inside, it would be better to just write the labels outside of the whole area or continent and just draw a straight line from the label to the point it pertains to.

Data are just appropriate if this map is just intended for the location and relative sizes of the countries. Nevertheless, it could not be used for other purposes.

Overall, this map lacks of elements such as map title, legend, scale, direction, sources, and map inset which serves as a guide to locate Africa in a world map. How could this map be a guide for Africa if it lacks too many and important elements? It is just an attractive map indeed. Rating: 6.

*Ratings: 1-lowest    10-highest

A Map of Soil Moisture Regimes of the Contiguous US

Source: http://soils.usda.gov/use/thematic/moist_regimes.html 

This is a map of the Soil Moisture Regimes of US from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This is a good map indeed. 

It used different colors instead of monochromatic or dichromatic because its colors stand for different types of soil moisture and colors are just appropriate for the type of soil moisture. For instance, in this map, blue stands for an Aquic type of soil moisture and in real life, we, most of the time, pick the color blue for water bodies.

For the layout, the elements of this map are distributed appropriately or are balanced. Sizes of the elements are just right and spaces between them are balanced.


Overall, this map have served its intended purpose. I think, it could easily be understood by a map reader who is not knowledgeable of US. It has a map title which gives the map reader an idea about the map, a legend which helps to interpret the map, and a scale to help us picture the true size of the entire US. It also included a map projection. Sources and publisher are also indicated at the bottom. However, a direction was not included in this map. But I think, despite the absence of the direction, this map would still be readable for an ordinary person. Rating: 9.5

*Ratings: 1-lowest    10-highest

The Ethnic Map of Europe (1914)

Source: http://teachers.ausd.net/socialsci/ethnicmapeur1914.htm

This map of Europe is a Thematic map which shows the distribution of ethnic groups in Europe in 1914. At the first glance, I couldn't identify the use and the message that it conveys. When I saw the word "French", I said that this map wants to show the distribution of languages in Europe. So to end up my confusion, I decided to look at the web page of this map. And yes, I found out that it is the distribution of Ethnic groups in Europe 1914. Also, in its web page, there's no other description about this map.

The color contrasts among each Ethnic group is good. It clearly shows the distinction and emphasis among each of them. Areas with mix ethnic groups have stripe colors. The color helps in identifying the ethnic groups across borders. About the texts, some of them are too small and overlays some of the lines which made them hard to be read.

All in all, a map reader with no knowledge about Europe or its ethnic groups would not understand this map. First and foremost, it has no title, which is the most important element of a map. Secondly, it has no direction, scale, and sources. And lastly, it has no legend which could have helped a lot in understanding this map. Rating: 6.

*Ratings: 1-lowest    10-highest