Ch 1, key issue 1

Basic Concepts

Chapter 1

How Do Geographers Describe Where Things

Are?

Key Issue #1:

Maps as Tools

A. Maps are the major tool geographers use to identify regions and analyze their content.

B. Maps make the large world easy to observe.

C. All maps have strengths, weaknesses, and limitations

D. All maps distort or misrepresent the real world.

Maps as tools cont.

E. Types of Distortion (depends on Projection)

1. Shape

2. Distance

3. Relative size

4. Direction

• Maps and their functions• Map Scale• Map Projections• The Grid system• Symbols on Maps

What are Maps and what are their functions

• What can maps be used for?• In what ways do maps

distort?...Why?• How do maps show bias?

Two Types of Maps:

Reference Maps- Show locations of

places and geographic features

- Absolute locations

What are reference maps used for?

Thematic Maps- Tell a story about

the degree of an attribute, the pattern of its distribution, or its movement.

- Relative locations

What are thematic maps used for?

Reference Map

Thematic Map

What story about median income in the Washington, DC area is this map telling?

Maps and their functions

• Cartography = The art of map making• Reference Map = that used for

navigating… ie. Road Map• Thematic Map: One used to illustrate a

particular them• Mental Maps: Those that exist in one’s

mind (Cognitive maps)• Topographic Maps… use lines to show

contour.

Map Scale

• Is the ratio between actual distance on the ground and the length given on the map– Which scale would show a smaller portion of

the earth, 1/1,000,000… or 1/1,000?

• Larger scale = more zoomed in• Why are different scales needed in

mapping the world?

The Grid System

• What function does the Grid System Serve?

• What are the key aspects of the Grid system?

Grid stuff to know…

Map Projections• Why are there different map projections?• Which ones do I need to know?

– Azimuthal– Peters– Fuller / Dymaxion– Robinson– Mercator

• What are the strengths and weaknesses?

• For what are they most commonly used?

3 Categories of Projections

• Planar (azimuthal)• Cylindrical• Conic(look in page 6 of the World

Geography and Culture book)

AZIMUTHAL

Peters

FULLER

ROBINSON

MERCATOR

Map Symbols

• Dots• Tones/shades/colors• Isolines• Symbols

Mental Maps: maps we carry in our minds of places we have been and places we have heard of.

can see: terra incognita, landmarks, paths,

and accessibility

Activity Spaces:the places we travel to routinely in our rounds of daily activity.

How are activity spaces and mental maps related?

Aspects of a Mental Map

• Nodes• Edges• Paths• Landmarks

Discussion Questions

• List as many type of maps and purposes for maps as you can.