types of maps/ map projections/ and vocab

Political map

Physical Map

Shows and labels the natural features, such as mountains, rivers, and deserts.

Large scale map

Choropleth Map

Uses various colors, shades of one color, or patterns to show the location and distribution of spatial data.

Thematic maps

show spatial aspects of information or of a phenomenon.

Dot Map

Used to show the specific location and distribution of something across the territory of the map. Each dot represents a specified
quantity.

Proportional (Graduated) Symbol Map

Arranged in a series or according to a scale. Uses symbols of different sizes to indicate different amounts of something.

Isoline Map

Uses lines that connect points of equal value to depict variations in the data across space. Where lines are close together, change is rapid and where the lines are far apart, the phenomenon is relatively the same.

Flow Line

Represent the movement of goods, weather phenomena, people and other living things with line symbols of different widths.

Cartogram

Sizes of countries are shown according to some specific statistic.

Mercator projection

Peters

Conic

Goode homolosine

Robinson

Scale

The relationship of the size of a map to the area it represents.

Cartographic Scale

Refers to the way the map communicates the ratio of its size to the size of what it represents. Ex. Large scale maps show less area in greater detail.

Geographic Scale

The total amount of territory the map represents, from local to global.

Scale of Analysis

The level at which data is displaced on a map.

Geo-Inquiry Process

the process that describes how geographers find specific places for specific things (ask, collect, visualize, create, and act.)

Quantitive data

uses numbers to describe what is observed

Qualitative

Data in the form of recorded descriptions rather than numerical measurements.

Census

the official count of a population

Geographic Information System (GIS)

A computer system that stores, organizes, analyzes, and displays geographic data.

Topography

the shape and steepness of the landscape

Remote Sensing

The acquisition of data about Earth's surface from a satellite orbiting the planet or other long-distance methods.

Global Positioning System (GPS)

A system that determines the precise position of something on Earth through a series of satellites, tracking stations, and receivers.

cartographer

a person who makes maps

Absolute Distance

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

Relative Distance

Distance measured in terms such as cost or time which are more meaningful for the space relationship in question

Absolute Directions

the cardinal directions north, south, east, and west

Relative Directions

Directions commonly given by people, such as right, left, up, and down, among many others.

Map Scale

The relationship between the size of an object on a map and the size of the actual feature on Earth's surface.

Large Scale

A relatively small ratio between map units and ground units. Usually have higher resolution and cover much smaller regions than small-scale maps.

Small Scale

A map scale ratio in which the ratio of units on the map to units on Earth is quite small usually depict in large areas.

Reference Maps

Maps that show the absolute location of places and geographic features determined by a frame of reference, typically latitude and longitude

Thematic Maps

Maps that tell stories, typically showing the degree of some attribute or the movement of a geographic phenomenon