Distortion: Changing the shape of something Hemisphere: One-half the earth Cartographer: Someone who is skilled at drawing maps Map Scale: Compares the distance on a map to the distance of a place on earth. Satellite: An object in space that goes around the earth or other body.
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How do you make a round surface flat without changing it? To make a map, the rounded surface of the globe must be changed, or distorted, to show it as a flat surface. There are many types of maps. Some maps can show one type of feature without distorting it, but other features must be distorted instead. Each of these maps has a different purpose; each has some distortion.
Can you flatten an eggshell without changing it? When a cartographer makes a map, it is like trying to make the round eggshell flat. When you look at a map of the world, you see it all there on a flat surface. Yet when you look at a globe, you can only see half of the world at a time.
There is no way for a cartographer to draw a flat map of the earth and show everything the same way it looks on the globe. The cartographer must decide what to distort, or change, and what features not to distort. Half of the earth is called a hemisphere. If you cut an orange in half, you would have two halves or hemispheres. There can be a Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, Eastern Hemisphere and Western Hemisphere. Since this cannot be done, a cartographer must decide what to distort or change.
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Cartographers will distort different features on a map for different reasons. To make the map useful for a particular reason, they try to keep that one feature from being distorted. For example, if you want to compare the shapes of the continents, you want a map that shows these shapes as they really are. The cartographer would then draw a map that does not distort the shapes.
1. Must decide what to draw 2. Get a bird’s eye view of the area by using a satellite image. 3. Decide what to distort 4. Draw it!