Vintage Nautical Style Map of the Florida Keys

For today’s mapping challenge, my theme is around islands. I decided to map a chain of Islands that I am know well and choose the Florida Keys. I has the good fortune to briefly live in The Florida Keys, and I feel in love with the island chain’s natural beauty and laid-back quirky welcoming culture. 2022, which is right around the corner, also marks the 40th Anniversary of the Founding of the Conch Republic, commemorating when The Florida Keys declared themselves a micronation, independent from the United States of America, after the US Border Patrol set up a blockade on the chain of islands, cutting residents and tourists off from the US mainland.  As a former resident, I feel a sense of fidelity towards this underdo micronation and wanted to make a pretty map that showed it off.

Approach

For this map, I wanted to incorporate a vintage nautical style. I used an old school cartographic technique called water raking, where I drew tiny lines radiating out from each island. I followed a great video tutorial from the cartographer and map enthusiast, John Nelson, that outlined a method for creating this effect in ArcGIS Pro, tinkering around a bit to change a few things here and there. I also incorporated Nelson’s old Crinkled Paper Texture style to give my map that vintage look, as well as his Watercolor style, for land areas. I then added labels to major towns and cities in The Keys and label the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico as well as a scale bar and north arrow. Overall, I am pleased with how the map turned out.