Critique on Suicide Rate Map of U.S.

This map represents suicide rates in the United States from 2002 to 2006, per 100,000 population for ages ten and older. The statistics are age-adjusted to the 2000 population, and I am not exactly sure what that means, since it is not explicitly explained on the CDC site. I think it means those who were less than ten years old in 2000 were not counted though. Also, counties and cities that had fewer than twenty suicides in the study period were not counted, due to being statistically unreliable.

The map appears to be done in some sort of equal area projection, but I do not know this for sure. The use of color is perfect in this chloropleth map, with some sort of off white showing the lowest suicide rates and red showing the highest, with a sensible gradient through yellow and orange. The classes appear to be broken by natural breaks (Jenks), because there are no round numbers in the legend. But these breaks do show trends well on the map.

My only major complaint about the map is that it is somewhat small to be able to differentiate between the counties, and the CDC site does not have a link to a map that is bigger than 556 x 451. Although one can see broad national trends with the map, if someone wanted to look more closely at a region, particularly a region in the eastern part of the U.S., where the counties are far smaller than in the western part, he or she would have to use a different map. It may be unreasonable to use a national map to look at state data, but it seems reasonable that someone may want to still use a national map to look at a region such as New England or the Mid-Atlantic.

The map shows a trend of extremely high suicide rates in the western part of the U.S. and in Alaska and relatively high suicide rates in central Florida and along a belt that runs in a somewhat straight line from western Virginia to northeast Texas. I will not go into the reasons for this, because doing so would go drastically beyond the scope of this map critique. Regardless, these trends should raise a red flag to these regions to ramp up their mental health and public safety departments with more trained personnel and better suicide prevention programs, among other things.

Critique on Map of Nunavut

This map shows Nunavut, a territory of Canada that separated from the Northwest Territories in the 1990s, as a result of an agreement made between the Canadian government and the indigenous peoples who make the majority of the territory. I cannot immediately tell the projection of the map on sight, and there is nowhere that I can find it listed. There are other maps on the site that do have more detailed descriptions about their maps though, such as listed projections. The map’s main focus is to show where various towns in Nunavut are located, anyway. (And “towns” is most definitely the most accurate description of these places, considering the entirety of Nunavut has a population of just over thirty thousand, with the capital, Iqaluit, having the largest population of the towns, at just over six thousand.)

As for how the towns are labeled, they seem labeled in a way generally consistent with good map creating convention. Most towns are listed with the name listed directly above the dot representing the town, which is almost as good as having the label up and to the right. Then, labels are shifted around, according to space constraints. Although I understand that the map creator probably wanted to send the message that the area was cold, I dislike how the color of Nunavut was in a bluish shade, considering how much of the area is bordered by water, which was also colored blue. I think a very dark color, such as red, dark green, or something along those lines would have been considerably better to see things.

(Source: http://athropolis.com/map-nunavut.htm)

Critique on Two Final Fantasy VII Chocobo Maps

Both of these maps represent where to find chocobos, a large bird in the video game Final Fantasy VII. Knowledge of all the locations of the various types of chocobos and chocobo items is important for one of the biggest side quests in the game. The game world is simply known as “the Planet.” Although both of these maps are of a fantasy world, they seem to be done in the same projection, a cylindrical projection, possibly similar to Mercator. I know this, because I have played the game many times, and in game, the world map can be shown as both a flat map and a globe. The distortion of the flat map in comparison to the globe is similar to that of cylindrical projection maps I see of Earth. Also, both maps seem to have a bit of graphic editing, although the map from ffcompendium.com has simply enough to show a few locations on the map, possibly done in Microsoft Paint, while the map from cavesofnarshe.com has much more advanced editing, likely done in Adobe Photoshop.

The map from cavesofnarshe.com is more comprehensive about having all the locations where the player can catch different types of chobobos than the map from ffcompendium.com. Although both maps tell the reader where to find the chocobos that are suitable for breeding, the map from cavesofnarshe.com also shows the places where to find chocobos that are not suitable for breeding. In Final Fantasy VII, chocobos have other uses than simply for breeding. For example, particularly for a new player, it would be beneficial to know where chobobos are around the Midgar-Kalm area, the area near the Chocobo Farm in the cavesofnarshe.com map, because there is a nasty monster that the player can move around without having to fight, if the player has a chocobo to ride.

The map from ffcompendium.com is better about showing where to find chocobo breeding items though. In particular, it shows where you can steal the Zeio and Carob Nuts, which are vital for breeding higher-end chocobos later in the game. Even though cavesofnarshe.com provides a walkthrough about where to find these items, the locations are not specifically shown on the map.

Sources:

Critique of Map of Dante’s Inferno

Map of Dante’s Inferno

This is a map of the version of Hell described by Dante’s Inferno, designed by David Carroll and Daniel Heald and drawn by the latter. According to the site this map was posted on, this was drawn about fifteen years ago for the magazine Tabula Rasa. Most of the symbols on the map seem to show the consequences one would have to endure for the various actions that would cause one to go to Hell. The physical area that is represented is a cross section of the Earth from the surface to the underground, where Jerusalem is used to as the top focal point and Satan, in the center of gravity, is the bottom focal point. Clearly, there is no sense of north or south on this map due to its stylistic nature. From the top to the bottom, the map shows layers of Hell, where the people who committed worse sins would be forced to reside closer to Satan. In regard to picture quality, this is a scan from what seems like a pencil sketch, so the image is grainy. The editor explains on the page that the original has far better picture quality.

This map accompanied an article explaining the changes in the past few centuries regarding our perception of Hell. During Dante’s time, there was a belief that Hell was somewhere under Jerusalem, and the temperature fluctuated inside Hell to account for Hell going through the center of Earth and ending somewhere near the South Pole. Over time, our perception of Hell evolved into the one we have today of a simple fire pit. Also, Hell used to have a much more elaborate system of compartments with different environments for different residents, according to the circumstances in which those who went to Hell got there. Now, Hell is simply an all-encompassing fire pit for those who are condemned.

Map source: http://www.tabula-rasa.info/Horror/Inferno.html