Map Critique 9

Image Source: http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/reference/national/can_political_e/referencemap_image_view

Critique:

This is quite a good map except for one important element, which is the title. The map shows a scale bar which have its units. It also shows a concise legend needed to better understand the map. It is good that the map has details about important informations such as copyright and website. 

Color wise, the choice of color is good because it shows the separation of Canadian States from each other. It is good that the cartographer used bright colors for the Canadian States and pale and only one color for surrounding landmasses. Also, the cartographer used the cool shade of blue to highlight the seas and oceans surrounding Canada. With the choice of color, Canadian States were able to stand out from the rest.

Also, the states and the surrounding seas and landmasses were properly labeled. The labels properly highlights the hierarchy between capital cities, cities to towns by using different font sizes. Bigger font sizes were designated to cities while smaller font sized were designated to towns. The map also delineated lines in order to isolate Canada from neighboring places.

It is also good that the cartographer used the azimuthal projection for the layout of the map since Canada is located in the Northern Hemisphere, wherein majority of its land area will be preserved by using azimuthal projection. This made the map less distorted in terms of its shape and size.