Types of Maps Geography I Paulina Leal How Maps Are Made Before making a map, cartographers decide what area they want to display and what type of information they want to present. These decisions determine: • The Scale • The Projection • The Details Types of Maps Reference maps Thematic maps Dynamic maps Reference Map • Reference maps show general geographic information about an area, including the locations of cities, boundaries, roads, mountains, rivers and coastlines. Thematic Maps • Thematic maps display distributions, or patterns, over Earth’s Surface. They emphasize one theme, or topic. These themes can include information about people, other organisms or the land. Dynamic Map • The Dynamic map is an interactive map where the user can freely pan and zoom. Physicalpolitical maps • These kinds of maps show important physical features in a region, including major mountains and mountain ranges, rivers, oceans and other bodies of water, deserts, and plains. • They also show important political features, such as national borders, state and provincial borders, and capitals and other main cities. This is a type of reference map! This is a type of thematic map! Climate maps They are used to show dominant weather patterns in certain areas. Population maps • This type of map shows where people live in a particular region and how crowded, or densely populated, regions are. This is a type of thematic map! Economic maps • Economic maps show the important resources of a region. This is a type of thematic map! Mental maps • Mental maps are those we see in our minds. We use them to make sense of the world around us.
