Cartographic Skills – Week 9 – Flow Line Maps

GIS 3015: Cartographic Skills

Week 9 Lab: Flow Line Maps

The Flow Line map below depicts immigration to the United States in 2007 from various regions around the world and the percentage range of immigrants per State in the inset map.  The map below combines a Flow Line map with a Choropleth map (the inset).

The map was created in CorelDraw.  The widths of the flow lines and arrows are proportional to immigration by region and the proportionality was calculated in Excel using the number of immigrants by region.  Merging flow lines maintain the width proportionality. 

The map incorporates a couple of visual effects including a drop shadow for the title and a fountain fill for the inset map and the legend.