Unit 0 Lesson 1 Maps and Regions
What is a map?
A map is a two-dimensional or flat-scale model of Earth’s surface or a portion of it.
Cartography is the science of mapmaking.
Maps serve two purposes…
A reference tool, to identify an object’s absolute and relative location.
A communications tool to convey the distribution of human activities or physical features.
World Map by Eratosthenes, 194 B.C.E
Map Projections
Basics
The earth is nearly a sphere and is best represented on a globe.
This causes several problems:
small globes are difficult to write on
photocopy display on a computer may distort the size of continents, countries, etc.
large globe is bulky or hard to use
A projection is the scientific method of transferring locations on the Earth’s surface to a flat map.
Map Projects cont.
All projections suffer from distortion:
Shape of an area can be distorted, so it appears more elongated or squat than in reality
Distance between two points may become increased or decreased
Relative Size of different areas may be altered so that one may appear larger than another on a map but is in reality smaller.
Direction from one place to another can be distorted.
Mercator Projection - Details
Distorts: Distance, shape, and relative size.
Maintains: Direction
Strengths:
Navigating the oceans
Weaknesses
You rarely see Mercator projection showing to the poles because it is so distorted at the poles
Africa is 14x larger than Greenland.
Antarctica is only the 5th largest continent
Robinson Projection - Details
Distorts: Everything, but only by a little
Its distorted at poles, but as you move countries/continents towards the equator, it quickly becomes much less distorted.
Map Scale
Level of detail and the amount of area covered on the map depend on its map scale
Relationship of a feature’s size on a map to its actual size on Earth
What is a region?
A region is an area on Earth defined by one of more distinctive characteristics.