L06 Demo: Cartography Essentials

Coastal Flood Risk — New Brighton, Christchurch

⇧ N

Map Styling Lab

Experiment with classification methods, colour schemes, and map elements

Classification Method

Breaks: computed from contour data at load

Colour Scheme

Sequential blue: ideal for elevation data — darker = higher. Perceptually uniform and colourblind-safe.

Map Elements

Map Title Missing

Legend Missing

Scale Bar Missing

North Arrow Missing

The 7 required elements: title, legend, scale bar, north arrow, data source, CRS/projection, date. This panel toggles the first four — the map is still missing the other three.

Show / Hide Layers

Elevation Contours

Buildings

Roads

Classification determines how continuous data is grouped into map classes. The same data can look very different depending on the method used — this is a powerful (and potentially misleading) cartographic choice.

Guided Questions

Toggle between Natural Breaks, Equal Interval, Quantile, and Manual classification. Which method makes the low-lying coastal area appear most at risk? Why does the classification method change the visual story?

List the 7 required elements of a professional map. Check the map elements panel — which elements are present and which are missing? What else is this map missing?

Why is a rainbow colour scheme problematic for flood depth mapping? What colour scheme would you use instead, and why?

You're mapping "number of flooded buildings per suburb." Why is this misleading without normalisation? What should you map instead?

A colleague presents a flood risk map to a council meeting using red (high risk) to green (safe). What specific feedback would you give about the colour choice?