nature of the data. For example, a dataset where the stream has been segmented into 100‑foot segments might contain an ordinal attribute, such as degree of channelization, which you want to display. A color gradient can be applied, but if the map is at too small of a scale, you won’t be able to see the color differences. So to fix that, you might be tempted to increase the line width of a linear stream feature, but if the segments are short enough and numerous enough, you will wind up with an incomprehensible mess (see Figure 6.7).