Map Critique 6

Image Source: http://mabryonline.org/blogs/howard/archives/2005/08/asia_map.html

Critique:
First, I would like to critique the absence of all the basic elements of a map in this particular map. The map has no title, no legend, no map scale, no northern arrow or compass rose, no publication details, no map projection. With that, no one can find great difficulty the purpose of this map. As far as I can see, this is a political map. The map-maker will find hard time in conveying what this map is all about to his/her audience.

There are improper labels of country in the map. One instance is that, Tibet is not an independent country apart from People's Republic of China, but it is highlighted in the map. Another is that Korea is not subdivided into North and South Korea. Famous places in China such as Hong Kong and Macau are also highlighted for in fact it should not.

For a user who is not that familiar with Asia will be misguided by this map. The map does not show the whole extent of Asia. Countries in Western Asia and Northern Asia was not included in the map. What I just thought is that the map is somehow China-centric because it was able to show places like Macau, Tibet and Hong Kong which are not independent from China.

The choice of color is quite good because it is not an eyesore. And the choice of colors highlighted the Philippines, being the one with the brightest color. Between country boundaries was also highlighted due to good choice of contrasting colors.

Image Source: http://ed101.bu.edu/StudentDoc/current/ED101fa09/rdevaney/

Critique: 

This map faces the same problems seen above. The map lacks the necessary map elements such as title, map legend, map scale bar, northern arrow or compass rose, map projection, the grid systems, map publication details and many more. 

The choice of color is somehow repetitive and will not be able to attract a large number of audience. For me, the map lacked appeal in such a way that this map was not able to wake my senses. 

There were also problems is labels in the map.  Small countries such as Brunei, East Timor, Kuwait, Jordan, Israel, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates were missing in the map. The North Asian countries were also missing in the map. The boundary between North Korea and South Korea and its labels are also missing.

Overall, the map is not satisfactory because the fact that the basic elements and the creative elements are both missing.