Blog 2: Surf Map

The second assignment was a choice between either creating a concept map of a topic of our choosing or a geographic map of a topic of our choosing. I decided to make a geographic map of the various surf spots in Newport, RI. I choose the geographic map because I felt that it was a stronger visual of the two types of maps because of the use of visuals over the use of words and connections of words. I choose to make a geographic map of Newport but instead of creating a normal map or a road map, I decided to create a surf map. Following the surf culture code of never giving exact directions to surf spots, whether they are secret or not, I kept the map simple only showing basic roads and landmarks that allow the user of the map to find their way to the general area of surf spots but to still allow exploration on the surfer's part to discover the spot for themselves.

I started the map simply by drawing the coastline from memory, having surfed the area for roughly six years now I know the basic outline of the coast especially where the surf spots are located. After the coastline was complete, I added the surf spots in the necessary spots along the coast. In order to show the characteristics of each wave, I drew a character of three waves to display how the wave forms, breaks, and ends at each spot while also showing the heaviness of the break, the size of the wave, and the direction of the wave break (either a left, a right, an A frame, or a mixed beach break).  Next I added in the coastal landmarks that pertain to that certain break such as the golf course next to 19^th Hole, the beaches for First and Second Beach, the concrete wall next to Hooter’s, and the Breakers mansion next to Ruggle's as these are very important landmarks for finding the waves. The next landmarks I added were the various landmarks that Newport is known for, and that people who are even slightly familiar with the area will know, such as the Newport Bridge, Thames Street, and Ocean Drive that act to orient the surf spots and surf landmarks to the rest of the city. This allows the viewer to orient the surf spots in relation to landmarks they should be fairly familiar with.

In following with our small exercise in class today of mapping New England, I decided to keep the colors to a four color minimum of green for the land, yellow for the sand beaches, grey to double as rocks and color for the man made constructed objects, and of course blue for the water and waves. In order to not distract the viewer from the most important elements, the waves, I tried to use as little color as possible for the other elements and the coastline by only coloring around the borders. This allows the viewer to get a hint of the proper color and to fill in the uncolored areas with that appropriate color. The final step for the map was to provide small labels to the waves and landmarks that will inform the user but still have the visual be the main focus of the map.

Overall I found this assignment to be very fun and very useful as well since it allowed me to really think about the relations between the surf spots, the coastline, and the landmarks of Newport. It also allowed me to try to give the simplest way to a surf spot without adding too many steps.