Maps, place, space,

Map Fundamentals • When choosing a type of map, cartographer’s base their scientific and artistic decision on what they are trying to communicate and on what data they have available. Must choose between types of projection, levels of simplification, levels of aggregation, map scale, symbols. • All maps are created by projecting the earth’s three- dimensional shape, which in reality is a bumpy oblate spheroid, or geoid, onto a two-dimensional surface. Map Projections: Three-dimensional shapes can never be transferred to two dimensional surfaces w/o losing some details. 1. The Mercator Projection Preserves the direction, but distorts the size of landmasses (it gets bigger) 2. The Fuller Projection Preserves the landmasses, but distorts the direction (N,S,E,W: no longer have any meaning) 3. The Robinson Projection It minimizes the errors in size and direction, but both are not accurate. Cartographers frequently use this at organizations like the National Geographic Society 4. The Azimuthal Projection Provides a different perspective. They are planar, meaning they are formed when a piece of paper is placed on top of the globe, and a light source projects the surrounding areas onto the map. Thus, either the North Pole or the South Pole is on the center of the map. • After cartographers choose which type of map, they must choose the level of simplification, which refers to the level of details included. Ex: 1. If you are designing a map of the US, you will not include details such as the locations of towns smaller than 50,000 people. 2. If you are designing a map of the mall, you will include details such as the location of the nearest restrooms. • The level aggregation also will show on a map depending on the map’s purpose. Level of aggregation refers to the size of unit under investigation such as cities, counties, states, or countries. •