unit 1 part 1

Human Geography

is the study of the spatial analysis of human population, its cultures, activities, and landscapes

Reference Maps

designed for people to refer to for general information that show absolute locations as well as geographic features. Examples below:

• political maps: boundaries, cities, capitals etc

• physical maps: natural features such as mountains, rivers, deserts etc

• road maps: highways, streets

• plat maps: property lines/land ownership

Thematic Maps

show spatial aspects of information or of a phenomenon

Choropleth Map

a thematic map that uses various colors, shades of one color, or patterns to show distribution of spatial data

Cartogram Map

thematic map that distorts the size based on specific data (more used for visual)

Dot Map

a thematic map in which a dot represents some frequency of the mapped variable

Graduated Symbol (Proportional Symbol) Map

thematic map that uses symbols of different sizes to indicate amounts of something. Refer to the map legend to understand symbol data.

Isoline Map

A thematic map with lines that connect points of equal value to depict variations in data across space

Flow Line Map

Lines show direction of movement of phenomena. Thickness of lines show amount of what is being measured

Absolute Location

Exact location of a place on the earth described by global coordinates (latitude & longitude)

Latitude

Imaginary line running parallel to the equator that is used to measure distance north or south of the equator

Longitude

An imaginary line circling the Earth running pole to pole that is used to measure east to west from the Prime Meridian

International Date Line

An arc that for the most part follows 180° longitude, although it deviates in several places to avoid dividing land areas. When you cross the International Date Line heading east (toward America), the clock moves back 24 hours, or one entire day. When you go west (toward Asia), the calendar moves ahead one day.

Prime Meridian

The meridian, designated at 0° longitude, which passes through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England.

Relative Location

The situation of a place in relation to another place. Distance, accessibility, & connectivity affect this

Map Projection Distortions

taking a 3D object and making it 2D will inevitably distort spatial relationships in shape, area, distance, and direction.

Goode's Interrupted Projection

Map that has an equal-area projection where both the shapes and the sizes of landmasses are represented with a large amount of accuracy.

Mercator Projection

A true conformal cylindrical map projection, is particularly useful for navigation because it maintains accurate direction. Distortion occurs in the poles (makes landmasses appear large)

Robinson Projection

No major distortions (area, shape, size, direction all slightly distorted) map is visually appealing

Azimuthal Projection

Preserves both distance and direction from the central point. Projected onto a flat surface from any point on the globe. Depicted most commonly is the polar aspect

Gall-Peters Projection

shows the relative sizes of the earth's continents accurately (equal area). However, it distorts shape especially near the poles