1. Maps and Regions

2. Why do Geographers use Maps, and What do Maps Tell Us?
Where in the World is North Korea??

3. Cartography Remote sensing GPS GIS Thematic layers
Captures images of Earth’s surface from airplanes or satellites
GPS
Global Positioning System- integrated network of satellites that orbit Earth constantly and broadcasts location information
GIS
Geographic Information Systems- software program that allows geographers to map, analyze, and model spatial data using thematic layers
Thematic layers
Layers of the Earth’s surface

4. Types of Maps: Reference Maps
Show locations of places and geographic features
Absolute locations
What are reference maps used for?
Thematic Maps
Tell a story about the degree of an attribute, the pattern of its distribution, or its movement.
Relative locations
What are thematic maps used for?

5. Reference Map

6. Thematic
Map
What story about median income in the Washington, DC area is this map telling?

7. Cartograms
Skewing a map to show a more realistic view of what happened
Ex: 2012 Presidential Election

8. Cartogram of world population

9. Types of Maps:
Topographic- path of each isoline (countour line) indicates a constant elevation. The closer together the lines, the higher the elevation.
Choropleth- use colors or tonal shading to represent categories of data for given geographic areas.
Using five colors to show five income levels

10. Types of Maps
Cognitive- formed by people’s perceived information about their surroundings and then create a mental image
Very informative for how people interpret and understand places in which they live.
Aka mental maps
Preference- type of cognitive map that show people’s ideas about the environmental, social, or economic quality of life in various places
Both influenced by your sense of place

11. Why are we changing maps?!
Projections
Mercator- landmasses become amplified and larger closer to the poles
Fuller- maintains accurate size and shape of landmasses but rearranges direction
Robinson- attempts to balance projection errors and is aesthetically pleasing.
Frequently used by cartographers
Peters- equal-area projection centered on Africa
Azimuthal- north or south pole is in the center of the map, giving the impression that you’re looking down on the Earth

12. Map Projections
Fuller
Mercator- most used but not very accurate

13. Map Projections
Robinson
Peters- more accurate

14. Azimuthal

15. Scale
Ratio between the distance on a map and the actual distance on Earth’s surface
Standard = 1:24,000
Small scale = 1:100,000
Large scale = 1:5,000

16. Regions
World
USA

17. defined by a commonality, typically a cultural linkage or a physical characteristic.
e.g. Location, Climate, Religion, Language…
Formal Regions

18. Functional Regions
defined by a set of social, political, or economic activities or the interactions that occur within it.
e.g. an urban area

19. Perceptual Regions
ideas in our minds, based on accumulated knowledge of places and regions, that define an area of “sameness” or “connectedness.”
e.g. the South
the Mid-Atlantic
the Middle East

20. Midwest
North
Northeast
West
South
Southwest