Intro to Human Geography
 Two-dimensional
representation or flat model
of the Earth’s surface or a portion of it.
 What
are the different uses of a map?
 http://tipstrategies.com/archive/geography-
of-jobs/
 http://healthmap.org/flugov/
A Map of Twitter’s Languages
Mike McCandless & Eric Fischer
 Map
of Metal
 Strange
 Maps
Maps Blog
as Art
Way of depicting the world in a reduced form.
Two Kinds:
 Cartographic scale : expresses ratio of
distance on map to Earth.
 Observational / methodological scale – levels
of analysis.

Local, regional, national, international scales
 As
a ratio or fraction, depicting the
relationship between the distance on the
map and the distance in real life.
A
written scale-an actual statement.
A
graphic scale, which is usually a bar.
Small scale maps have small land
features, but more area is shown.
Large scale maps show larger land
features, but you see less area covered.
Owu.edu
The larger the
denominator,
the smaller
the scale, and
the larger the
area shown.
Location of any place can be described
precisely by meridians and parallels
**************************************

Meridians (lines of longitude)

Prime meridian
Parallels
(lines of latitude)


The equator
Geographyalltheway.com
Describe lines of latitude:
Describe lines of longitude:
 Since
the Earth is round, geographers have to
find a way to get an accurate flat
representation of the Earth’s features.
 The
projection is the process of transferring
the features.
Flattening the Earth
 See
page 387
 The
shape can be distorted.
 The distance between two points can be
increased or decreased.
 The relative size of areas may be altered-so
countries might look bigger than others when
they shouldn’t.
 The direction from one place to another can
be distorted.
Perfectly depict:
 Distance
 Direction
 Area
 Shape
 Proximity
But it is not possible!
 Making
a map always involves a choice about
what properties you are going to sacrifice,
and what ones you are going to keep.
 Cartographers
have to consider the purpose
for which the map they are making will be
used.
 Satellites
(Space), Tracking Stations
(Control), and Receivers (Users)
 Used by the military and by civilians
 http://www.gps.gov
 Video
provided by the US Air Force
A
computer program that can capture, store,
query, analyze and display geographic data.
 Data
is “geocoded” or assigned a
mathematical position on Earth.
A
tool for creating maps or for spatial
analyses.
 More detail at:
http://egsc.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/gis_poster/
 King
County GIS
http://www.kingcounty.gov/operations/GIS/M
aps/iMAP.aspx
 Zillow
www.zillow.com
 Google
Earth
 Other Interactive Maps on the Web
 Interested in free GIS software?
http://www.qgis.org/