A Few Types of Maps

General Purpose/ Reference Maps

• Show basic information.

• Such as location of:– landforms

– political boundaries

– water

– cities

• Absolute Location

– Use of coordinate system that allows you to plot where on Earth something is

• Do not change

• Relative Location

– Describes a place in relation to other human and physical features

• Constantly change over time

• Examples

• Political Maps• Physical Maps• Road Maps

Political Maps

• No topographic features

• Focuses on boundaries of a place.

• They also include the locations of cities

– large and small, depending on the detail of the map.

• Example

– 50 U.S. states and their borders along with the United States' north and south international borders

Physical Maps

• Shows the physical landscape features of a place.

• Focus on mountains, rivers and lakes – water is always shown with blue

– Mountains and elevation changes are usually shown with different colors and shades to show relief

• Example:– Hawaii

Mental Maps

• Maps in our minds of places we have been and places we have just heard of

• Activity spaces

– Places we travel to routinely in our rounds of daily activity

• Geographers study mental map formation of all types of people, and all show differences in their formation of mental maps

Mental Map of the

Americas

Example Mental Map

Thematic Maps

• Shows particular themes connected with geographic area

• Show different, very specific topics

• Examples:

– average rainfall distribution for an area

– distribution of a certain disease throughout a county.

What is a Choropleth Map?• A type of thematic map• Areas are colored or shaded to reflect the value of the mapped

phenomena or to display classes of value

Examples of Choropleth Maps

Choropleth Maps

Cartograms

• Thematic mapping variables are substituted for land area or distance

• The space of the map is distorted in order to convey the information

http://www.worldmapper.org/index.html

Single Dot/Graduated Dot Maps

• Dot maps employ dots to convey information about a distribution. – A single dot may represent one occurence of something

(an earthquake) or more than one (a dot might represent 100,000 people, for example).

– Graduated circle maps also use a point symbol, but the symbols have different sizes in proportion to some qualtity that occurs at that point. The populations of different cities are frequently depicted on graduated circle maps.

Remote Sensing

• How geographers monitor the Earth using technology that is a distance away from the place being studied

– Data is collected using satellites and aircraft

– Google Earth

Map Projections• Used to portray all or part of the round earth on a flat surface

– Cannot be done without some distortion

• Every projection has its own advantages and disadvantages

• Cartographers select the projection best suited to their needs

• Maps or parts of the map show one or more of the following, but never all:

– True directions

– True distances

– True areas

– True sizes (shape)