The importance and purpose of Maps Map Projections The importance and purpose of Maps

Maps A Map is a two-dimensional (flat) scale model of the real world. Maps serve two purposes As a Reference Tool Find shortest route Where something is located Communication Tool: Depicts distribution of human activities or physical features Patterns on maps may suggest interactions among different features of earth

Orange you glad we have Cartographers? Remember how difficult it was to portray a round area on a flat surface? Why was it so hard? No map can perfectly portray our world. Cartographer/mapmakers must decide what aspects can be distorted and then choose the projection, or shape, that best fits their purposes.

Maps Vs Globes Globe Map The earth is a sphere and is accurately represented as a globe. A small globe doesn’t have enough space to display info A Large globe is hard to carry or display Globes are hard to write on and photocopy Displaying the earth on a flat map has unavoidable distortions Maps can display a variety of information Maps are easy to carry Maps can be photocopied and written on easily

Mercator Map This map shows shapes fairly accurately, but not size or distance. It exaggerates lands near the Poles but lets navigators plot a straight course between any two points on Earth. Areas in high latitudes are quite distorted, for example Greenland is eight times smaller than South America but is so distorted on this map they almost appear the same size.

Robinson Map This map was designed to show landforms much the way they really look. The sizes and shapes near the eastern and western edges of the map are accurate, and the outlines of the continents appear much as they do on a globe. However, the shapes of areas near the poles appear somewhat flat. It’s a student’s delight; but with its severe distortion of direction, it’s a sailor’s nightmare.

Goode Map This map is also known as an Interrupted Equal Area projection because is has interruptions or “tears”. Doing this allows It shows the true size and shape of the earth’s landmasses (Equal Area), but distances are distorted and generally not accurate.

Distortion A round object cannot be made flat without distortion. “All maps lie flat and all flat maps lie” A round object cannot be made flat without distortion. Common Map Distortions: Shape Size Direction Distance

Map Type – you can display the same information on different maps A thematic map depicts a single feature, for example: climate, population, landform or land use. Statistical – Demonstrate information - include dot, choropleth and proportional symbol

Isoline – connects points of equal value

Choropleth – puts features into classes and then maps classes for each region

Proportional symbol – size of the symbol corresponds to the magnitude of the mapped feature

Cartogram – adjusts the size of the country corresponds to the magnitude of the mapped feature

Dot – each dot represents some frequency The hyperlinks are to a website that maps the use of soda/pop/coke. The top dot map is cited on the website as a bad example of a dot map because it is misleading. The bottom one is a correct representation. (The top one is the one that the AP Central website used in its ppt) Chart Map

Dot distribution map

Thematic- spatial distribution of one or more specific themes

What kind of map is this?

What kind of map is this?

What kind of map is this?

What kind of map is this?