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Week 3 — Maps, Symbology, and Cartography

Presentation Slides

  • Tuesday — Maps, Symbology, and Cartography — Map design fundamentals; Symbology for points, lines, and polygons; Labels, legends, scale bars, and layout elements

Press F for fullscreen and P for presenter view with speaker notes.

In-Class Practice

Hands-On Practice

Symbology, Labels, and a First Layout

This session has its own step-by-step guide: what you need, an overview, the click-by-click QGIS walkthrough, what to hand in, and the snags that usually come up.

Open the Week 3 hands-on guide →

Self-check quizzes — not graded; open them on a phone or laptop as often as you like:

  • Does This Map Work? — The required map elements, what makes a map ugly, and what a map does to the reader looking at it.

Lab Assignment

Lab 2 — Map Symbology and Layouts

Due Saturday at 11:59 pm on Learning Suite.

Reading Quiz

This week's reading: GIS Fundamentals, Chapter 4 (Maps, Data Entry, and Editing) map design sections.

Quiz 2 — Spatial Data Models and File Types on Learning Suite: open book. Due Saturday at 11:59 pm. See Reading Quizzes.

Note

If you see a discrepancy between Learning Suite and this page, please let us know so we can rectify it.

Version 2026.10.1 · Last updated October 15, 2026