5 Ways Geographers think about the World

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5 Ways Geographers think about the World

• Space geographers observe regularities across
  the Earth and depict them on maps
• Place geographers describe unique locations of
  everything on Earth
• Regions geographers identify areas of the world
  formed by distinctive combinations of features
• Scale geographers understand how each place is
  unique and yet also similar to other places
• Connections geographers explain relationships
  among places and regions across space

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What is a map?

• Examine some of the images on the following
  slides.
• Are they maps?

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So, Have you decided yet?

• According to your textbook
• A map serves two purposes a tool for storing
  reference material and a tool for communicating
  geographic information. p.7
• Do these maps tell us geographic information, or
  where to find something? Do they tell us
  something about the area that is being mapped?

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YES

• All of the images, though from vastly different
  sources, with vastly different uses are maps.
  First, we will look at each image and see WHY it
  is a map.
• Then, we will look at some maps made in the past
  few thousand years

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Emmetts map of Disney World(okay- it still
needs labels to be a TRUE map, but he cant
write!)

• This image, drawn by a 4 year old stores both
  reference material and geographic information.
  If he could spell, and there were labels, it
  would be more convincing!
• Black scary ride (Pirates, Peter Pan)
• Green good ride (Tree House, Buzz Lightyear is
  the largest one, his favorite!)

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Ga-Sur 2500 B.C.

• This is the oldest know map, drawn on a clay
  tablet in Ancient Babylon.
• The line drawing is a clearer image of the map,
  which explains the position of the town on a
  river, in a valley.

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What makes this a map?

• You are likely most familiar with this sort of
  image, from Mapquest. Why is it a map?
• Reference Material?
• Geographic information?
• Both?

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The London Underground

• The Tube map from London is one of the most
  famous maps from the 20th century.
• The color coding and geometric lines make reading
  the map and riding the tube very simple.
• However, it is a TERRIBLE indicator of where
  things are on ground level!

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Catal Hyuk 6200BC
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Posidonius 130-150BC
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Mosaic of Palestine 565AD
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10th century Bede
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1109 Beatus
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Catalan 1375 (Europe)
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Catalan 1375 (Asia)
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Chonhado 18th century China
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Ptolemy 1482
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Roselli 1508
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Mercator 1569
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Mercator (North America)
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Scale
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Scale Meaning 1

• The size/scope of places being studied
• Local ?? Global
• Think in terms of local issues vs
• regional, national, or global issues

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Scale Meaning 2

• Shows the ratio of distance and area on Earth to
  the distance and area on a map
• Example one cm on map equals 1 km
• Representations
• proportional fraction (1/100,000)
• ratio (1100,000)
• bar scale
• verbal statement

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Scale
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Opposite meaning of scale

• A large-scale map shows a small area
• A small-scale map shows a larger area
• A scale of 1/5,000 is a large-scale map compared
  to a scale of 1/1,000,000.

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Scale
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Projections

• The scientific method of transferring locations
  on the Earths surface to a flat map.
• This causes distortion. Types of distortion are
• Shape
• Distance
• Relative size
• Direction

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Types of Projections Mercator
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Mercator Projection

• Shows no curves - all straight lines
• exaggerates the size and distorts the shape of
  areas far from the equator.
• Greenland is presented as being roughly as large
  as Africa, when in fact Africa's area is
  approximately 14 times that of Greenland.
• Alaska is presented as being slightly larger in
  size than Brazil, when Brazil's area is actually
  almost 5 times that of Alaska.
• At equator direction is true, but at latitudes
  higher than 70 north or south, the Mercator
  projection is practically unusable.

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Types of Projections Robinson
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Robinson Project

• Uninterrupted
• The meridians curve gently, avoiding extremes and
  stretch the poles into long lines instead of
  leaving them as points.
• Hence distortion close to the poles is severe but
  quickly declines to moderate levels moving away
  from them
• Good for showing ocean topics, but land masses
  are smaller

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Mercator
Robinson
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Equal Area Projections (such as Goodes holosine)
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Equal Area Projections (Goodes)

• Fig 1-2 in textbook
• Interrupts the oceans
• Tucks Australia and NZ farther west than reality
• Land masses look larger than oceans
• Minimizes distortion in shape of land masses and
  the size of one in relation to another

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Land Ordinance of 1785

• Township
• Principal meridians
• Base lines
• sections

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Types of Maps

• Choroplethic
• Uses choropleths, or existing (political) units
• Isometric
• Uses isolines, or data lines (such as contours)
• Symbolic
• Proportional representation, located charts, etc.
• Cartograms
• Or a combination of the above

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Choropleth
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Isometric Map Spatial Diffusion of College Soccer
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Isometric Map Time-Space Compression
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Topographic Map (using elevation contour isolines)
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Dot Density (or Dot Distribution)

• Each dot represents a measurement unit
  distributed randomly inside the territorial unit
  (a postal code for example.)

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Graduated (or Proportional) Symbol Map AIDS
victims
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GIS
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Geographic InformationSystems (GIS)

• Data-driven systems
• Allows merging (comparison) of data using layers
  of information on a map.
• Fastest growing area of geographic jobs
• Highly technical, centered in government and
  business

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Mental Maps

• Mental(cognitive)maps of our geographical
  perceptions

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• New Yorkers View of the world.

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