Keys to a Complex World Maps for Understanding the World

Making a map, making a choice… 1. Centralization: European/American/Pacific centered

Scale and Projection 2. Scale: digital: real distances of an area & map geographic: scale of spatial analysis 3. Projection: polar & cylindrical

Other Choices What appears and what is ommitted? Colours and outlines Symbols and figures Names and boundaries Titles Legends

Skills to know – Analyzing information in a map Identifying key information Understanding the limits of what is presented – Comparing maps Finding similarities/differences Different perspectives = different conclusions

4 Major Types of Maps 1.Economic maps 2.Political maps 3.Cultural maps 4.Environmental maps

Economic Maps Show specific type of economic activity or natural resources present in an area Use different symbols or colors depending on what is being shown on the map. E.g. economic activity map for Brazil – colors to show different agricultural products of given areas, – letters for natural resources – symbols for different industries

Economic Maps

How to analyze them? – Visualizing networks/hierarchy of territories – Contrast in integration/wealth/development – Questions the legitimacy of the N/S divide

Political Maps No topographic features shown focus solely on state and national boundaries of a place. include the locations of cities - both large and small, depending on the detail of the map. E.g. the 50 U.S. states and their borders along with the United States' north and south international borders

Political Maps

Cultural Maps Cultural maps are a type of Thematic Map. focus on cultural topics such as language, religion and civilization. E.g. a map showing population numbers in the world speaking various world languages.

Cultural Maps

Environmental maps Like Cultural maps, Environmental maps are a type of Thematic Map. focus on environmental issues such as greenhouse effects, demographics or carbon footprints in the world. E.g. a map showing access to potable drinking water around the world.

Environmental maps

Common types of Thematic Maps Proportional symbol maps 3D maps cartograms

Proportional Symbol Map cartographer selects a symbol and alters its size, the area to be exact, based on the data values.

3D Maps Data Visualization resource rapidly evolving subset of visualization resources

Cartograms Sometimes referred to as anamorphosis or isodemographic maps, esp. for a population cartogram; illustrates the relative sizes of the populations of the countries of the world by scaling the area of each country in proportion to its population; the shape and relative location of each country is retained to as large an extent as possible, but inevitably a large amount of distortion results.

EU budget per capita Total budget expenditure in euros for the whole period per capita (2007 population figures) are given below. Negative numbers indicate net contributors, positive numbers indicate net recipients to euro per capita to -500 euro per capita -500 to 0 euro per capita 0 to 500 euro per capita 500 to 1000 euro per capita 1000 to 5000 euro per capita 5000 to euro per capita euro plus per capita n/a

Interactive maps WTO Merchandise Exports atis_maps_e.htm atis_maps_e.htm