North Carolina: Household Income and Education

Veterans Of West Virginia

Final Project Topic Proposal

Title: 

Washington, D.C.: The Next Great American TechHub.

The top 15 Start-ups in the D.C. Metro Area.

Info: With over 800 local startups and the home of the world’s biggest VC firm, many believe D.C. is on its way to being the next Silicon Valley.

Why:  I chose this topic because I am the founder and of T & T Industries Inc., a local tech startup located in Northern Virginia.  I understand how difficult the initial networking and fundraising stages can be when you don’t know where to begin.  This map will provide a glimpse into the tech-startup industry in the D.C. Metro area, and hopefully motivate up and coming entrepreneurs.  

Audience: Students, Local Entrepreneurs, Other Startups, Local General Public.

Type of Map:  I plan on the map being a reference style map identifying the locations

 of the entities being mapped. I will also use graduated symbols to show the amount of funding raised by each. 

Scope of Map: Northern Virginia, Washington D.C., Western Maryland.

Data Specs: The data used will be geographic location and fundraising.  The information will be gathered from www.dc.areastartups.com, and http://www.crunchbase.com/.  I am not able to verify the fundraising/capital, but the location of each entity should be fairly accurate by using googlemaps for verification.

Basemap Needed: Full tri-state map of Virginia, D.C., Maryland.

Expected Production Steps:  I plan on breaking the process down into four major steps.

Step #1: I first plan on finding and selecting the appropriate base map, then cropping the boundary to the size needed, and readjusting as needed.  In this step I will also select the symbol used for the items being mapped.
Step #2: In this step I will begin mapping the data and determining the appropriate size symbol for each phenomenon and how the data should be grouped/ordered.
Step #3:  Next I will choose my background, colors, gradient, etc.
Step #4:  Finally I will insert the title, legend, neat line, scale, data source, name, etc.

Once completed I will review the map and make any necessary changes to ensure it is balanced and easy to understand/interpret.

Possible Challenges:  I believe there may be some issue with selecting a good border of the states, and making sure it works with the proper scale.  The data is spread from Reston, Va to Silver Spring Maryland, and because D.C. is so small it may be hard to include all of the locations and still maintain neatness and readability. 

Also, I would like to include the names of the entities on the map, however, if it becomes too cluttered I will use numbers to identify each location and their names will be listed to the side along with the corresponding numbers.

Isoline Map

Maryland's Median Household Income by County

Show me the Alpacas...in color.

There are often differences that can be easily noticed when comparing a digital copy of map, to a copy of the same map that has been printed.  For instance, when I printed this map and compared it to the digital image seen above, there were two key differences.  Although these differences may not seem major they may create a distraction, and may make the map hard to understand or interpret.  

The first difference is the color that I chose for the 1.68-2.39% category.  When the map is viewed in digital form I think the color for that group is too bold, and it almost seems to jump out at the viewer, causing it catch more attention than the other colors. I also feel that it sort of appears to be out of place in the color scale chosen, especially when compared to the color used for the 0.09-1.41% category.  However when the map is printed the first color is much more subtle, and blends with the other colors very well. 

The second difference is the legibility of the text.  I personally think that the text may be difficult for some viewers to read when the map is viewed in digital form due to the varying thickness of the font, and the way it curves.  However, when the map is printed the text is legible and easy to read.

Because of these differences it is very important that cartographers keep in mind the purpose and audience of their map, and to make sure that the map maintains balance when it is viewed in its final form.

Virginia, Maryland, D.C.