Population Density Dot Map

This mapping project involved displaying population density by dot density. Provided with a base layer map of the counties of South Florida and a .xls file with population information, I joined the excel table to the map layer and then had ArcGIS display the population of the area by overlaying the basemap with dots representing a quantity of population.

In order to better represent the actual lived population density of the area, the size of the dots and the quantum of population they represented was adjusted manually until an appropriate relation was found (where in the densest portions of the map, the dots would begin to overlap each other). Also, a mask layer was employed that represented the urban areas of South Florida and all dots were constrained such that they had to fall within the limits of that mask, providing the result below.

Further work was done adding further geographical context, with large cities and some roads being identified on the map. However, ArcGIS' dot density feature proved to be problematic once masking was employed. Not only did redrawing the dot layer consume a lot of time every time a change was made to the base layer (scale, location, etc.), but when there were other layers in the .mxd file - cities and roads - turning on the masking feature caused ArcGIS to crash. Several workarounds were attempted, but there was nothing for it, so I simply redid the map base layer with the dot density information and produced a much sparer map than anticipated.

Population Density in South Florida