Maps, which are two dimensional models of the earth’s surface, are a huge contributor to the everyday lives of many people worldwide. People rely on them, from navigation (reference map) to communicating data (thematic map); they are an important resource to many.
Cartographers, or people that make maps, make many choices when it comes to the design of the map they are making. They have creative freedom when it comes to the color, symbols, data classification, projection, scale, and regions on the map. These aspects, as well as the overall design, are important to the accuracy and clarity of a map. An isoline map is a thematic map where the space between lines represents how dramatic the changes are. These maps are easily analyzed, in particular the
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The attached map is a representation of the Mercator projection, which was created by Gerardus Mercator in 1569. This projection is valuable for navigating because the direction on it is accurate, and it is accurate around the equator, but size is distorted.
This makes Greenland appear to be around the same size as Africa, when in reality Africa is about fourteen times larger than Greenland. This causes a problem because often times size is equated to power, and Africa along with other countries don’t feel properly represented. Along with projection, three important aspects of a map that go hand in hand are colors, symbols, and the classification of data. The colors on the isoline map each represent a religion, or a lack there of. This ties into symbols because on this map a star represents Judaism, but this isn’t the only symbol used. On the larger world map a square represents a nation’s capital, and a circle represents other important towns. While colors and symbols are crucial to the effectiveness of a map, if they are not properly used a map can become cluttered with symbols, or boundaries could be confused because of similar colors. The qualitative data classification, which
Following that, the map is supposed to symbolize Amanita 's travels. Amniata has lived in numerous places. She not only sailed from Africa to America,
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...
The text gives an overview of the more detailed information that is on the map. An example would be from the text “Figurative Map of the successive losses in men” and the map showing the troop amounts at the beginning of the campaign and the losses of men till the conclusion.
We create these perceptions based on the knowledge we have established for ourselves to be true. They go on to say that our view of the world is influenced by European ideals and that conceptions of geography are overly biased (Lewis and Wigen p 10). If we can stop viewing the geography of the world in a way that elevates European society and degrades less acknowledged societies, we will then be able to clearly participate in the academic discussion of what is world history. I think that this is interesting as they use maps as a way to prove that society has biased opinions of how the world is. The whole idea of continents is an idea that allows for the generalization of world perception.
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
This map showed both sides of the round world. The map has two circles, both sides of the globe, and it shows how the round world would look if it was cut in half. This map was very important at the
The length of every road is marked in miles or leagues such that one could calculate the distance between any two cities in the empire with a high degree of precision. However, the shaping of the map does not simply serve the purpose of fitting in the road network; there is an ideological element to the map’s design. Indeed, despite the accuracy of the numbers written alongside the roads, their length on the map bears no relation to their actual size: thus a road of 5 miles could appear to be “longer” than a road of 50 miles. The Italian peninsula’s size is exaggerated to become the world’s largest landmass; simultaneously, regions outside the empire, such as Arabia and India, are condensed and appear far smaller than the Romans knew them to be. Not only is the area controlled by Rome distorted to seem far greater than it actually was, but the city itself is also misrepresented.
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.
In the beach, the role of the map exemplifies the confusion and conflation of the real and the unreal. The entire intrigue about the beach is ignited by the first map Daffy leaves for Richard and is extinguished by the second map Richard makes for his friends, Zeph and Sammy. The first map which Richard describes as “…beautifully colored in” (15) did not only represent the means to finding the beach, but the means to finding “the beach” in its supposed perfection as Richard says, “…on one of a cluster of small islands I noticed a black mark. An X mark… Written underneath in tiny letters was the word “Beach” (15). The “X” marks the spot of the beach among the other cluster of beaches in the map.
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.
Created in 1569, the defining feature of the Mercator map is it's introduction of a projection system that is still in use today. The Mercator projection was created by Gerardus Mercator for use in nautical navigation, and is characterised by its ability to represent straight courses through rhumb lines.19 This map became the standard for most nautical use, and subsequently the most popular type of world map, even until today. The original version of his map notably distorts the sizes of continents, with North America vastly larger than it should be and Europe being displayed as equal in size to Africa. Although more accurate renderings have been made, this distortion is still present in maps today and is an example of Eurocentric bias, whether conscious or
Through Ptolemy’s world map, Asia was tackled more in the Hellenistic geography. Then the cartography of Indi and China followed. Muslim geography had even contributed in giving Asia a better resolution. It was Mahmud al-Kashgari who created the first world map drawn in the Central Asian’s
Document 7 says “Recent world events lend a sense of urgency to geographic inquiry. Geography’s spatial perspectives help to relate economic changes in Europe, the Middle East, and other regions to the spatial distributions of cultural features...population growth and migration…”. The statement is saying that the locations of cities and countries or regions contribute or affect to other places. For example, places in the Eastern hemisphere might have the same languages. The language spreads throughout the land as migration takes place, causing languages, cultures, and religions to spread. Places might be where they are today because of the spread of those things into that region thousands of years ago. In document 8, the author states “Maps and mapping, of course, play a key role in how geographers analyze and portray the world. They are also key in introducing to others geographers’ ideas about the way that places and regions are made and altered.” From the text, you can see that the author is saying that without maps and mapping of the land, other geographers might not be able to see what other geographers see, people may not know what the world looks like. Therefore, without maps, humans would not know what the Earth actually looks like from above without going into space which is most likely impossible for most people. Geographers would not know where things are located on the surface and they would not be able to understand why places are at the locations that they
The Age of Exploration from the 15th to 18th centuries was critical to the development of cartography as it is known today. This era began with Columbus “rediscovering” North America in 1492 and ended when Europeans believed the entire world had been sufficiently mapped. This period marked a time when numerous maps were created and quickly made obsolete by new discoveries all around the world. This was a time for incredible innovation in the art and science of cartography. From the first globe “Erdapfel” created by Martin Behaim in the 1490s to the intricate and detailed topographic maps of Switzerland first created in the 1840s , cartography made many significant leaps in precision and utility.
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...