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.