THE WORLD OF MAPS

        As you explore and read your book, you will find numerous maps that serve to explain the text material.  These maps can give you a visual image of the places and evoke a sense of the physical and human characteristics of places.  Appendix A presents you with a basic understanding of reading and interpreting maps and with practice you will gain a facility for using all kinds of maps.

• Map types - maps can be placed in several categories as follows:
      
  Virtual Maps - examples include those which reside on computer monitors but disappear when the screen is turned off and our own mental maps contained in our minds.

          Real Maps - tangible representations of Earth including those in your atlas.

          Reference maps- provide basic location information on which other features/characteristics can be placed.

          Thematic Maps-maps which use a reference map as a base and on which information is displayed.
          These including population density, climate, voting precincts, and economic activities.

          Topographic Maps- maps which display elevation using color, shading or contour lines.

           Planimetric Maps-maps which do not show elevation but many other Earth features.

•  Map use involves reading, analysis, and interpretation of maps. Think of the reading process as if you were      reading a book.  With a map you must its parts and how it portrays information.  To help you read a map there are interpretive keys (legends) with symbols, graphs, location markers, and other helpful information.     
  
  Map analysis involves activities involving finding places, calculating elevation and slope, and measuring things.  Interpretation is the process of using the map to answer a question or solve a problem. For example, you might want to determine the best location for your new business which has specific location parameters such as size of area, degree of slope, amount of vegetation, and local environment.  
  
  Interpreting maps containing these features can help you determine if one site or another is suitable.  Paper maps are available for such exercises but an increasingly important field of geography where virtual maps are used is called Geographic Information Systems.
  
  

• Map elements - All good maps should have certain elements including title, orientation and direction (north/south), legend, scale,  and index.
  
  

• Location - Location is a most important element on maps and serves to provide the global address of a feature. There are many location systems but the one you hear about the most is latitude and longitude. Latitude and longitude are angular measurements much like the cartesian coordinate system that you learned in math. Latitude is measured north and south of the equator from 0⁰ to 90⁰ at the poles. Longitude is measured east and west  of the prime meridian, the 0⁰ line of longitude up to 180⁰ in either direction.

          There is  good information about various types of coordinate systems on the Geographers Craft website. 
          Please take a moment to explore this site.          

          If you want additional practice on using latitude and longitude go to the Lat/Long page.

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Created by Bill Strong.  2/2/02.  Last update:  2/02/02 Bill Strong