HUGHES 1
Hannah Hughes
Ms. Meyer
Geog. 102-003
7 May 2015
Maps as the Language of Geography
According to Verge Review: The Language of Geography by MFA Interaction Design, both Mike Migurski and Sarah Williams stated while speaking about their most recent two projects, "Even at just a glance, a map can reveal what no amount of description can. Maps are the language of geography, often the most direct and effective way to convey grand ideas or complex theories.” This statement is beautifully said and has such deep meaning. Maps truly are the words of the world. They not only communicate pathways, trails, and settlements, but with technological advances, they can even visually prove exact locations like the very buildings and houses we are sitting in.
…show more content…
We all live in one world and maps are one of the only things that can merge all forms of society and cultures together into one true nation.
Lastly, creating maps for specific circumstances is also a major part of the reason why maps are the language of geography. Crime is a major issue not only in the U.S. but also all over the world. In The Verge Review: The Language of Geography article, Sarah Williams presents a crimespotting map, which is a map that helps them understand the crime in that particular city. It states that, “With this information, people can look for individual crimes or see broader patterns and trends in crime over time.” Something so simple can help reduce crime rates and help many people. Maps are also used as presentations like the one Sarah Williams did in the Verge
Review article. They are used to show illustrations and explain valuable information.
HUGHES 3
In conclusion, maps not only communicate pathways, trails, and settlements, but with technological advances, they can even visually prove exact locations, diversity, and creating maps can help communicate the importance of knowledge in the world. Maps are the words
Ken Jennings was a map nerd from a young age himself, you will not be surprised to learn, even sleeping with an old creased atlas at the side of his pillow, most kids his age were cuddling with a trusted blanket- Jennings was not. As he travels the world meeting people of kindred spirits--map librarians, publishers, geocachers, and the engineers behind google maps. Now that technology and geographic unknowing is increasingly insulting us from the space and land around us, we are going to be needing these people more than ever. Mapheads are the ones who always know exactly where they are and...
Until the 1950s, Atlases were mostly comprised of maps that simply show space and place. However in 1953, the World Geo-Graphic Atlas, published by Walter Paepcke’s Container Corporation of America (CCA) with Herbert Bayer, changed people’s notion of what maps look like and what information they contain. Bayer believed, that maps were “a record of time and perhaps even a tool of prognostication.” By the use of Isotypes (International System of Typographic Picture Education), Bayer created an atlas that is universal, therefore allowed viewers to understand complex data more clearly and easily.
In the book “Why Geography Matters More Than Ever”, the author, Harm de Blij, discusses the importance of geography, how it can affect us in any place or any time, and why it matters. But most importantly, he succeeds to advance our perception of the world’s geography. Throughout the book de Blij highlights the many benefits of being educated about geography. He explains that it is important that we are informed about this topic so we can be more prepared for the events happening around the world. This book illustrates just how essential it is to be well-educated when it comes to geography.
The main ideas presented in “Why Geography Matters…More Than Ever!” revolve around what exactly geography is, and the implications of the subject. Geography is the study of the physical world and human actions, it also covers the affects of human actions. Geography influences a plethora of topics and geographers do research on numerous subjects. “Geographers do research on glaciations and coastlines, on desert dunes and limestone caves, on weather and climate, even on plants and animals”(7). The author stresses how underrated geography is the present times, and how the introduction of social studies have doomed the subject of geography for future generations. In a section detailing the teaching of geography
Historical geographer JB Harley wrote an essay on Map Deconstruction in 1989, in which Harley argues that a map is more than just a geographical representation of an area, his theory is that we need to look at a map not just as a geographical image but in its entire context. Harley points out that by an examination of the social structures that have influenced map making, that we may gain more knowledge about the world. The maps social construction is made from debate about what it should show. Harley broke away from the traditional argument about maps and examined the biases that govern the map and the map makers, by looking at what the maps included or excluded. Harley’s “basic argument within this essay is that we should encourage an epistemological shift in the way we interpret the nature of cartography.” Therefore Harley’s aim within his essay on ‘Deconstructing the Map’ was to break down the assumed ideas of a map being a purely scientific creation.
The Five Themes of Geography are: Location – Absolute points on a map or grid or Relative to where something may be; Place – The physical and/or human characteristics of a locations; Human/Environment Interactions – How humans have impacted the landscape or environment; Relationship between places Movement – How humans interact on the earth (i.e. how they communicate over distance (short or long)) and Regions – a unit of space that has commonalities defined by physical, human and environmental geography. The Explorers of the New World may have not known what the Five Themes of Geography were but they quickly learned. Of the five themes the ones that they all took advantage of was the physical Location and Place as they learned to navigate to and from as well as through their new environments. Over Time the explorers began to discover the relationships within their environments and original occupants of the lands as well as the regions in which they now occupied.
The Hereford World Map is the world’s oldest surviving map of the world; it was made in 1300, during the beginning of the Renaissance in Europe. There was a wider range of influences on mapping during the later medieval period. With an increase in exploration, Europe began to evolve into an international continent; widespread travel can be seen by the influences of the Islamic world on architecture. While map making in China had flourished in the 11th C, mapping was beginning to evolve in Europe. By around 1400 there was a peak in map making in Europe. There is evidence of the influence of Roman mapping on medieval maps in Europe. The Medieval world maps but together information from Roman sources to make the world maps in the middle ages known as the mappa mundi, meaning cloth of the world. These were cloth maps, and the name mappa mundi was widely used for them. These world maps were understood by historians as an attempt to show where countries were located, quite often they were not just geographical representations but they were also stories of the world. As knowledge of map making increased during the Renaissance, was a move for wider representations of information on maps. The map became a source of information on the animals and history of the different countries. This can be seen in The Hereford World Map, a map that gives a geometrical representation of the locations of the known countries of the world and also acted as an encyclopaedia of information on various types of animals and where in the world they came from.
They also used them to not get lost and stay out of lots of different types of trouble. Over the years, maps of the Earth have changed dramatically. Not until 1492 when Christopher Columbus proved Europe that the world was round that sphere maps, globes, were made. Also, not until 1499, when Amerigo Vespucci discovered the “New World,” did maps have North and South America on them. In 1597, the Cornelius Wytfliet’s World Map was invented.
There was already a sophisticated map involving trade routes such as the Silk Road and the Spice Route. Trade was very abundant between civilizations
Colonial map case study paper Beginning in the sixteenth century throughout the late eighteenth century colonial maps were used for many reasons other than geography. Some of the alternative uses for colonial maps included mapping colonization, practical details, political and economic use, recording routes for travel and trade, acquired land and settling boundary disputes. All of these uses for colonial maps are important in understanding the impact that cartography and maps had on early Latin American societies as well as other societies in the early Americas.
De, Blij Harm J., and Peter O. Muller. Geography: Realms, Regions, and Concepts. New York: J. Wiley, 1997. 340. Print.
The claim being discussed here is that the only way a map or a way of representing things can be useful is if it simplifies the knowledge that the actual territory gives, that is, if it reduces the salient i...
Geographers plan new communities, decide where new highways should be placed, and establish evacuation plans. Computerized mapping and data analysis is known as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), a new frontier in geography. Spatial data is gathered on a variety of subjects and input onto a computer. GIS users can create an infinite number of maps by requesting portions of the data to plot.
The concept map made me better understand the social issue that I chose in many different ways. When using the concept map, I was able to view the social issue from different angles and different ways. Some people wanted school prayer in the schools because
Within the level one people are concerned to compare the characteristics of individual symbols. In other hand, the level two involves the task of recognizing properties of symbol groups on the map. The level three “is that of using the map as a decisionmaking or content-knowledge-building device through integration of the symbols with other information”. Similarly, Board (1978) has proposed a set of tasks that individuals usually perform while reading maps. Board (1978) has indicated three types of map use purposes that triggers different types of map reading tasks: navigation, measurement, and visualization. Executing these different types of map use purposes demands different mental efforts and skills, because, in the first case, maps are used to “facilitated movement from one place to another”, and in the last two cases, map users are involved in “acquiring information on the geographical environment”. As maps are graphical tools (Arnheim, 1976; Bertin, 1983; Shirreffs, 1992) and read them depends on several motor and cognitive skills, the map reading tasks can vary in terms of motor and mental effort demanded (Olson, 1976; Board, 1978; Elzakker and Griffin,