Environmental Sustainability in Practice

Non-Cartographic Outputs

Information outputs that are not maps are known as non-cartographic outputs and may include charts, figures, illustrations, and tables. These elements are usually included in documents and reports to provide further context and information for decision-making. In some GIS software packages, the results of GIS analysis can be presented in linked displays. This permits users to view cartographic outputs in one window and a relevant bar chart in another window. A notable advantage of linked displays is the high interactivity that is permitted, and users have the ability to explore the spatial and non-spatial aspects of a dataset.

Non-cartographic outputs can also appear in static form in documents, reports, and other material that may be distributed to a variety of stakeholders, including politicians and the general public, to aid in the decision-making process. Non-cartographic outputs should also be labelled appropriately and include a brief description in-text so readers are able to understand and interpret the figure. In addition, figures should be numbered appropriately and consistently in sequential order throughout the document (e.g., Figure 1, Table 1, etc.). Captions briefly explaining the figure should appear in addition to the explanation in the body of the text. For figures (e.g., photos, illustrations, graphics, etc.), captions should appear below the figure, while for tables, captions should appear above the table (as shown below).   
 

Table 3.2: Acquisition Dates of the Remote-sensing Imagery Analyzed in this Study

Date of Acquisition

Platform

Spatial Resolution

Cloud Cover

9 July 2005

QuickBird

2.4 m

0%

28 July 2012

GeoEye-1

2.0 m

0%


 

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