• Geography - "Earth Writing" from the Greeks
  

Maps merely representations of reality

• map essentials
• Title, date, legend
• Scale
• Direction (orientation)
• Location
• Projection
  

• How do I flatten a spherical representation of the world?
  • avoid distorting (shape, area and direction)
    

• Cylindrical projections
  • Example: Mercator
  • areas are greatly out of proportion
    • Greenland greater than S. America
  • Straight line shows true compass directions
    
    
• Planer projections
  • straight line to equal Great Circle (only projection)
    • great for navigation to plot shortest route
      
      
• Conic projections
  • minimize distortion of shape and area
    • excellent for midlatitude maps

Isolines

• joins points of equal value
  • contour lines
  • isotherms
  • isobars

Other Grid Systems (separate than projections!)

• Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) - metric, simple numbers
  • Rocklin, CA
    
    
• State Plane - local zones, simple numbers (feet), used by gov’t

• allocate public domain (began 18^th Century)
• superimposed on landscapes today
• Township - 36 sq. mi (comprising 36 sections)
• Section - 1 section equals 1 sq. mi.