Map from: http://www.maps-for-free.com/

Maps can tell you a lot:

This location is a coastline, has some rivers, and seems to have a pretty tall mountain range. The climate seems

pretty mild on the coast, but it also gets drier as you go east.

Jeffrey Pang. Creative Commons 2.0, March 2009

Without some sort of context, it is hard to tell where this is. The mountain range on this map is the Sierra Nevada

Mountains in California and Nevada. But how could you

know that?

• Geography helps us understan

d why things are the way

they are in the world.

• But if we do not know

where we are, it’s kind of hard to

understand those lessons.

Anyone know where

this is?

It would also be nice to see the whole picture!

You might spend a while looking for these details on a large map.

It is always better when you can see all the coastlines. You will have more patterns to help you figure out what

you are looking at.

Like the boot of Italy means you

are in Europe

Or the “peace” fingers of the Red Sea mean you’re in the Middle East

It’s kind of like seeing pictures in clouds, whatever it

takes for you to remember a few of these for each area of the world, you

need to do it!

It always helps to look for patterns on maps, but everything gets a little easier when the maps become

“political”. Political maps add human factors and characteristics to the geography. Below we see changes

to the map when the countries have been added.

Outline Map of Europe Political Map of Europe with countries

Mirar abajo. Creative Commons 3.0, 2008.Mirar abajo. Creative Commons 3.0, 2008.

Political Map of Europe

Often there is a color change between countries on political maps. This can help you see the borders more

clearly. However, in this case the colors do not really have any other special meaning.

Physical Map of Europe

You can pick up a lot of geographic patterns and predict what geographic issues might occur by using a physical

map.

Physical and Political Map of Europe

Even though there is no map legend on this one, everyone can tell where the mountains and rivers are located.

http://mapofeurope.com. Used with Permission for this instance only.

This travel map does not seem to have too much

detail about this region’s physical geography.

However, could you use this map to figure out some

characteristics of the physical geography of Europe?

Stefan2904. Creative Commons 3.0, April 22, 2007

It can get a little complicated when maps start adding in other types of data. This map indicates the locations of the nuclear

reactors in Europe. Political maps within a GIS system can tell you a lot. Take a look at this map and see what you can find out.

Where are the wealthiest

countries in Europe?

Which countries in Europe have a large

enough population to require a large amount of power resources?

• Election maps are thematic maps like any other. We are most familiar with the maps that appear on the TV on the night of the presidential election.

• Most of the election maps will appear in two colors: red and blue. This is unlikely to change in the United States anytime soon. It has been a long time since a third political party, or any independent candidate that did not have a party, has been a serious candidate for President.

• However, we have had several elections where there were more than two candidates. That is OK, if you get one of those maps on the EOC test, just follow the key and use your head. You will be fine.

Election maps are thematic maps like any other. We are most familiar with the maps that appear on the TV on the night of the

presidential election like the one below.

2004 Presidential Election Map

These maps can be a lesson in population density. This is a map of the results of the 2000 presidential election, the closest in history. A lot more people live in blue states than the red. In fact, Al Gore (blue) actually had more votes than George Bush (red) in this election, but the electoral college, which you learned about last year, gave it to George Bush.

Interesting Note: Florida was the last state to be

decided. In the end, when all the counting was done,

it appears George Bush won the state by fewer

votes than there are students in this school!

Usually on the maps of the United

States the conservative

Republican party is red and the more liberal

Democratic party is blue. It is the opposite on this political map of

Latin America. It does not matter, a

key is a key!

Always analyze the key!

Unknown. Creative Commons 3.0, November 2010.

Alaska

So tell me about the population

density of the US and how it might

relate to those political maps you just saw.

New York

Dallas

The more complicated the map, the more it has to tell you. You may have

heard the statement:

“Maps are the language of geography”.

Maps are very much a language. Your job when you look at a map is to

understand the “language”. What is it trying to tell you? If you can figure that out, you can handle just about any map.