Map Elements Map Projections Scale Bar Political, Physical, and Thematic Maps
Map ElementsMap Projections
Scale BarPolitical, Physical, and Thematic
Maps
Map Elements:
• Title-subject of the map• Symbols-represent information (natural
resources & economic activities
Map Elements:
• Labels-names of places (cities, countries, rivers, mountains, etc.)
• Colors-represent different kinds of information (blue=water, etc.)
Map Elements:
• Lines of latitude-imaginary horizontal lines measuring distance n or s of the equator
• Lines of longitude-imaginary vertical lines measuring distance e or w of the prime meridian
Map Elements:
• Scale-shows how much distance on Earth is represented by distance on the map
• Legend (key)-explains what the symbols and colors on the map represent
Map Elements:
• Compass rose-shows directions north (N), south (S), east (E), and west (W)
• Locator globe-shows the specific area of the world that is shown on a map
Which map elements do you see below?
Map Projections:
ways of showing Earth’s curved surface on a flat map
Azimuthal-often used for the polar regions
Mercator-good for navigation maps
Map Projections
Homolosine-accurately shows the shape and area of landmasses
Robinson-shows the shape and area of continents & oceans with reasonable accuracy
Map Projections
Winkel Tripel-modified version of the Robinson projection, with less distortion of area and shape.
Map Projections
• The world is a sphere but maps are flat, so all maps distort the shapes, areas, distances, and directions found in the real world.
Scale Bar
• shows how much distance on earth is shown on the map
• usually shown in both inches and centimeters
Political Maps
• shows features that humans have created (countries, states, provinces, and cities)
• features are labeled, and lines show boundaries
Physical Maps
• shows natural features of physical geography (mountains, plains, valleys, deserts, oceans, lakes, rivers, etc.)
• can also show elevations (height of a physical feature) and relief (change in elevation from one place to another)
Physical Maps
Thematic Map:
• a map that shows a type of geographical information (economic activity, natural resources, population density, etc.)
• common types-point symbol map, dot density map, proportional symbol map
Thematic Map:
Point Symbol Map-shows location of activities at different points using symbols
Thematic Map:
Dot Density Map-uses dots to show how something is distributed in a country or a
region
Thematic Map:
Proportional Symbol Map-uses symbols of different sizes to show the size of an event