Lab 6

Answers are from Ormsby Chapters 5 & 6

1. In your own words, describe how symbology can be influenced by scale.

When displaying quantitative data the scale that you use to display the information can show what is going on with the data, or mislead the reader to thinking something else is going on. This is especially true if graduated colors or symbols are used. If the scale is too small (too few symbols/colors) then it may hide what is really going on, and if it is too large (too many symbols/colors) the map may become confusing and hard to read.

2. What are two ways (one direct and one indirect) to access a layers symbol colors so that they can be changed?

One direct way to change the symbol color of a layer is to right click the symbol next to the layer, or double click the symbol. This opens the color palette/symbol selector and allows you to select the color that you want. The indirect way of changing a layers symbol color is to double click the layer. This opens the properties panel for the layer. Once in the properties panel click on the "Symbology" tab. Make sure "Features" is selected in the show box. Here you can click on the color to access the color palette/symbol selector and change your symbol color to what you want.

3. How would you access the graduated symbols classification option?

To access the graduated symbols classification option first double click the layer. This opens the properties panel for the layer. Once in the properties panel click on the "Symbology" tab. Make sure "Quantities" is selected in the show box, and click on graduated symbols. Next click on the classify button. This brings up the classification dialog box, and in here you can change the type of classification.

4. What are 5 other symbology styles (in addition to ‘Conservation’) that are available to customize your features?

Hazmat, environmental, weather, real estate, and transportation are five other symbology styles.

5. How could you permanently save layer symbology for use later on?

Right click the layer with the symbols that you want to save, and click "save as layer file." Then choose where you want to save the file to and what you want to call it, and then click save.

6. How can pyramids help raster data display faster?

Pyramids are a version of raster data, and are used to help improve the drawing speed of raster layers when you zoom in and out.

7. How could you quickly and temporarily change a layer name to aid display in the Table of Contents?

In the Table of Contents select the layer that you want to rename. The click it once more (not a double click) to be able to change the name in the Table of Contents. Another way to change the name of a layer is to double click the layer. This brings up the Layers Properties dialog box. Under the General tab you can rename the layer in the Layer Name text box.

8. What is normalization? Give an example of when it would be used.

Normalization is when you find a ration between two attributes by divide one by another. Displaying population density is one example of when you would want to do this.

9. How could dot density maps be misleading?

Dot density maps can be confusing because the dots are randomly placed on the map. If a reader is not familiar with reading dot density maps they may assume that the location of the dot has meaning when it really doesn't.