APHG: Unit 1 / Quiz 1 / Introduction to Maps

Reference Maps

Regular maps showing cities, boundaries, mountains, or roads

physical map

A map that shows mountains, hills, plains, rivers, lakes, oceans, etc.

political map

A map that shows man-made features such as boundaries, countries, and cities.

thematic map

a map that emphasizes a single idea or a particular kind of information about an area

Cartogram

A special kind of map that distorts the shapes and sizes of countries or other political regions to present economic or other kinds of data for comparison.

Dot Density Map

Thematic map that uses dots to represent the frequency of a variable in a given area

Choropleth Map

A thematic map that uses tones or colors to represent spatial data as average values per unit area.

graduated symbol map

A map with symbols that change in size according to the value of the attribute they represent.

absolute distance

The distance that can be measured with a standard unit length, such as a mile or kilometer.

relative distance

Approximate measurement of the physical space between two places.

absolute direction

Based on the cardinal points of north, south, east, and west

relative direction

Directions such as left, right, forward, backward, up, and down based on people's perception of places

spatial pattern

an arrangement of a feature on the Earth

clustering

Gathering; forming in a group

dispersed

scattered, spread, broken up

Elevation

height above sea level

map projection

a way of representing the spherical Earth on a flat surface

Azimuthal (polar) projection

Result from projecting a spherical surface onto a plane, usually one of the poles.

Mercator Projection

a projection of a map of the world onto a cylinder in such a way that all the parallels of latitude have the same length as the equator, used especially for marine charts; land size is distorted near the poles

Gall-Peters Projection

a 19th & 20th century cylindrical map of Earth designed to reduce distortion and create an "equal-area" projection of all landmasses.

Map Distortion

Happens when a round surface is made flat; distortion may be in size or shape of land forms, distance between land forms, or in direction.