Week 4: Haiti Earthquake Maps

After reviewing a variety of maps specifically related to the Haiti Earthquake (and emergency response to the disaster), I must give credit to Sean Cupolo for finding what I believe to be the most readable and informative map document available for this work. Since I did not find any other map that measured up to this one, I will add my own input to Sean's already rather comprehensive assetment of this map and its inherent value.

This map is aesthetically pleasing, readable, and has smooth features (i.e. the arrows) that draw one's focus to the map as a whole. Subsequently, the eyes are drawn to the legends that provide a variety of information pertinent to the cause. The symbology used in legends and the color scheme of the map layers (especially the base layers) are effective and serve their purpose well.

When evaluating the various maps, I asked some of my students about their own opinion. The primary comment was that, "It's a nice map", and "It's busy (packed with information), but that is what you would want for a map that you would draw for this purpose (i.e. having lots of valuable information in a one page document)". I agreed with these assessments. I also looked quite a bit at the ESRI map and, while it is very rich in color, and certainly a "cutting edge" presentation, I don't find it to be particularly useful, especially for this purpose.

Sean, this is a great map, and I don't know if I would have found it myself!