Map ElementsMap Projections

Scale BarPolitical, Physical, and Thematic

Maps

Map Elements:

• Title-subject of the map• Symbols-represent information (natural

resources & economic activities

Map Elements:

• Labels-names of places (cities, countries, rivers, mountains, etc.)

• Colors-represent different kinds of information (blue=water, etc.)

Map Elements:

• Lines of latitude-imaginary horizontal lines measuring distance n or s of the equator

• Lines of longitude-imaginary vertical lines measuring distance e or w of the prime meridian

Map Elements:

• Scale-shows how much distance on Earth is represented by distance on the map

• Legend (key)-explains what the symbols and colors on the map represent

Map Elements:

• Compass rose-shows directions north (N), south (S), east (E), and west (W)

• Locator globe-shows the specific area of the world that is shown on a map

Which map elements do you see below?

Map Projections:

ways of showing Earth’s curved surface on a flat map

Azimuthal-often used for the polar regions

Mercator-good for navigation maps

Map Projections

Homolosine-accurately shows the shape and area of landmasses

Robinson-shows the shape and area of continents & oceans with reasonable accuracy

Map Projections

Winkel Tripel-modified version of the Robinson projection, with less distortion of area and shape.

Map Projections

• The world is a sphere but maps are flat, so all maps distort the shapes, areas, distances, and directions found in the real world.

Scale Bar

• shows how much distance on earth is shown on the map

• usually shown in both inches and centimeters

Political Maps

• shows features that humans have created (countries, states, provinces, and cities)

• features are labeled, and lines show boundaries

Physical Maps

• shows natural features of physical geography (mountains, plains, valleys, deserts, oceans, lakes, rivers, etc.)

• can also show elevations (height of a physical feature) and relief (change in elevation from one place to another)

Physical Maps

Thematic Map:

• a map that shows a type of geographical information (economic activity, natural resources, population density, etc.)

• common types-point symbol map, dot density map, proportional symbol map

Thematic Map:

Point Symbol Map-shows location of activities at different points using symbols

Thematic Map:

Dot Density Map-uses dots to show how something is distributed in a country or a

region

Thematic Map:

Proportional Symbol Map-uses symbols of different sizes to show the size of an event