Visual Variables and Planning Concepts

Graphic Thinking & Representing Space

• Graphic thinking externalizes thought processes by using sketching to connect the eye, brain, hand, and image.
• Surprises and mistakes help reveal assumptions and notice new patterns and relationships, improving focus.
• Signs, in semiotics, consist of a signifier (form) and a signified (concept).
• Space is perceived through the senses and conceived through imagined spaces, plans, and designs informed by sensory experience and memory.
• Cognitive maps are internal mental representations of space, while mental maps are externalizations of these.

Lynchian Spatial Analysis

• Imageability/legibility assesses how easily an urban environment is perceived as a clear and coherent image.
• Five key elements of urban legibility include paths, edges, nodes, landmarks, and districts.

Diagrams, Charts, & Graphs

• Conceptual diagrams visually represent things and relationships; the relationship may be unclear or implied.
• Spatial diagrams commonly use shapes [bubbles] to conceptualize spaces.
• Arrows, shapes, and colors indicate process flow, sequence, and category in various graph types [linear charts, flowcharts].
• Venn diagrams display commonalities and differences using overlapping circles.
• Concept maps show explicit relationships between concepts using links. Diagrams of systems often use lines and shapes.
• Quantitative diagrams involve numerical values to help visualize and analyze data.
• Charts and graphs use various methods for presenting data, including; scatterplots, line graphs, bar graphs, circular charts, radar charts, and wind roses.

Tufte's Factors of Effective Data Visualization

• Effective graphical representation should “tell the truth.”
• The data-ink ratio should be optimized, and extraneous elements ("chartjunk") minimized.
• Data should be presented in a way that is not misinterpreted.

Basic Characteristics of Maps

• Maps convey information about location, relationships, and patterns. Common elements include date, orientation, grid, scale, title, author, index, legend, and data source.
• Maps present spatial information using various symbols, including points, lines, shapes, and colors, to convey information about the location, the size and the scale of the features.

Map Scale & Representation

• Map scale represents the relationship of a map's size to the real-world size.

Map Distance Comparisons

• Map scale differences and representation methods are crucial for mapping distances in the real world.

Research Methods & Findings

• Methods for research included participant observation, interviews, archival research, and discourse analysis.
• Research findings addressed the paradoxes of mobility and immobility within urban spaces. social divisions, and the social and psychological effects of urban space (e.g., the "Mind the Gap").

Visual Variables & Symbol Classes

• Visual variables (size, shape, color, texture, tone, orientation) are crucial elements of maps.
• Point, line, and area are basic symbol classes for representing locations, relationships, and patterns.

Gestalt Principles

• Gestalt principles provide guidance for effective visual organization and composition. Proximity, similarity, and continuity are examples.

Orthographic Primary Views & Graphic Techniques

• Orthographic views [e.g., plan, elevation, section] offer a detailed depiction of objects or spaces.
• Graphic techniques such as line weight and shadowing enhance visual understanding in orthographic views.

Plan Making & Comprehensive Plans

• Comprehensive plans address numerous topics for a long-range view while strategic plans focus on specific timeframes.

Access & Permeability / Connectivity

• Accessibility measures the ease of reaching a location, considering travel time, distance, and barriers.
• Catchments define areas influenced by a resource or activity; permeability refers to how easily those areas connect and flow between; connectivity refers to connections between paths.

Street Permeability Measures

• Calculating street permeability can measure the ease of movement through an area, considering block sizes.

Urban Mix

• Urban mix historically focused on separating uses (i.e., housing, businesses) but now emphasizes combining various functions.

Site Analysis, Inventories, & Site Uses

• Site analysis examines a specific location to determine its suitability, looking at physical, ecological, biological, & cultural elements.
• Site analysis also refers to understanding a site in the context of a broader urban setting or context.
• Inventories (e.g., geology, topography, vegetation) aid in this process.
• Urban analysis identifies patterns in land use, urban form, and other elements that help shape the urban environment.

Color Modes (RGB & CMYK)

• Color modes like RGB and CMYK represent colors differently (RGB through combinations, and CMYK thru inks added).

File Formats (Raster & Vector)

• Raster files [pixels] and vector files [geometric shapes] are graphical formats used for different purposes: Raster files capture continuous details; Vector files work well for simple objects or drawings.

Layout Design

• Layout design emphasizes the arrangement and presentation of components [visual elements, text].
• Effective layout design, considers readability and visual appeal within specified frameworks for culture and content types.

GIS Basics

• Geographic Information System (GIS) uses integrated tools to handle spatial data and address geographic problems. Coordinate systems handle location and are translated to maps.
• Coordinate systems consider the earth's shape, ellipsoid, and datum. Map projections handle representation on a flat surface.
• Map projections [e.g., conformal, equal-area, equidistant, azimuthal] have varying properties to preserve features (conformal, etc).
• Spatial features can be visualized in maps.

Thematic Maps

• Thematic maps represent spatial data. Common types include spot maps, proportional symbol maps, graduated symbol maps, dot density maps, flow maps, isarithmic maps, choropleth maps, and cartograms.

Site Analysis

• Site analysis considers various elements of site characteristics and is used to evaluate a site's potential for sustainable development based on physical, biological, and cultural features to aid decisions about suitability or use.