Welcome to the Study Abroad Office

The Mercator Projection This projection makes land closer to the equator look much smaller than it really is and makes land area near the poles appear larger

The Gall-Peter’s Projection This projection makes area Closer to the equator look Bigger. This became the preferred Projection for reference maps because it more accurately shows the relative proportion of the continents.

Notice the difference in the size of Greenland? This is why cartographers call this “The Greenland Problem”. Mercator Projection Gall-Peter’s Projection This is how big of a difference map projection makes!

Different ways to project the world

The Language of twitter These colors represent A different language that tweets are being sent out in.

The Language of Twitter Can you guess what countries are shown here? Japan, South Korea & China

The Language of Twitter How About These Countries? France & Spain

The Language of Twitter South America

Perspective on the size of North America and Europe

How big is Australia compared to the United States?

How big is Australia compared to Europe?

Global Perspective

Does this look familiar? Many maps used in the US place North America in the center of the globe, cutting the Eurasian continent in half

Many other maps place the Prime Meridian in the center. Some people consider this to be a Eurocentric way of seeing the world, as it places London, England at the center.

This map gives a different perspective on the world by placing the International Dateline in the middle of the Pacific Ocean at the center

Changing how we view the world! Note how much of the world’s land mass is concentrated in the Northern Hemisphere

Electrical Sockets of the world?....There’s a map for that.

Not all maps are about geographical accuracy. This is a cartogram, which distorts the size of a country according to its population

The age of exploration

Which way the wind blows Global wind patterns

Climate zones of the world