Map Skills

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Map Skills
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What is a map?

• A map is a representation, usually on a flat
  surface, of the features of an area of the earth
  or a portion of the heavens, showing them in
  their respective forms, sizes, and relationships
  according to some convention of representation.

Now what does that mean?
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• A map is a representation,
• A map is a drawing or model
• usually on a flat surface,
• of a round Earth on a flat surface,
• of the features of an area of the earth
• that shows the landforms (mountains, rivers,
  etc.)
• or a portion of the heavens,
• or part of the sky in a particular region,
• showing them in their respective forms, sizes,
  and relationships
• drawn to scale
• according to some convention of representation.
• using an accepted form of drawing or model.

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Types of Maps

• There are three basic types of maps
• PHYSICAL
• POLITICAL
• and
• THEMATIC.

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Physical Maps

• Physical maps show the natural features of the
  Earth.
• Physical maps do not contain man made features.
• For example, a physical map would be a map of
  what you would see if you were looking down on
  Earth from space.

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When you look at this map, what do you see?
Notice you do not see country borders or city
markings. These divisions are created by people.
For example, there is no actual line dividing
Texas from its bordering states. Although some
astronauts (with the use of binoculars believe it
or not) are able to see roads, large ocean
tankers, and even the Great Pyramids from space,
at very high altitudes, none of these are visible
and all you are left with are natural land
formations.
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Political Maps
Unlike physical maps, political maps show how
humans have impacted the landscape. For example,
city names, roads, country borders, etc. are all
part of political maps. Political maps change
frequently (physical maps change very, very
slowly through geologic processes) and must be
redrawn often. A political map of the world that
is 50 years old is no longer accurate. Wars
and ethnic conflict are two major causes
political maps change.
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Political Maps
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Thematic Maps

• Thematic maps can represent a variety of
  information including things like climate,
  precipitation, vegetation, elevation, population,
  life expectancy, etc.
• Thematic maps are generally used when you are
  looking at a single piece of information.

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Creating a Thematic Map

• You are now going to create a thematic map.
• You will now choose the information you will
  represent on your thematic map. You may choose
  to take a poll of favorite subjects, types of
  music, sports, birth months, etc. Choose
  something you are interested in learning about.
• BE CREATIVE!

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The classroom is set up in the following manner
Student Desk
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Now choose what you want to know

• I would like to know which pizza toppings
  students prefer to eat from the following list
• Pepperoni, Hamburger, Cheese, or Sausage.
• I will now ask the students to choose from this
  list of toppings and record the results.

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Now you must choose a way to represent the
information you have gathered. I have chosen to
use different colors so that we may see the
distribution of topping preferences.
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For example, the thematic map of my classroom may
look like this
Pepperoni
Hamburger
Cheese
Sausage
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According to this thematic map of the classroom,
which pizza topping is the most popular?
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Map Components

• Title
• Grid
• Compass
• Key or Legend
• Scale

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To help us review basic geographic terms that are
used to create grids, we will play a game called
GEOrobics.
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