They are another effective way to gain a better understanding of scale. Readers like to glance at scale bars.
They need a way to scale features on a map as a way to measure distance. Scale bars used in map-making are practical and generate instant answers for size and measurements. Was the map created this decade? Is the information on the map still relevant? Things are always changing in our dynamic world.
Dates of production eliminate future confusion. It can hit you like a ton of bricks. Cartographers use maps to tell a story. Metadata is like having a narrator tell readers about the story. Metadata is not always the most exciting topic in GIS. But knowing the origin of your map data is insanely important.
Just like your standard compass, north arrows give the orientation of the north direction. North arrows are one of the essential map elements you see on almost every map. North arrows point in the geographic north cardinal direction. With little effort, readers can orientate themselves northerly. Mapmaking has to consider north orientation.
This results in a big void of white or black in your map. It attracts attention to these voided areas. Google, Bing, and OpenStreetMap have free services that provide base map imagery with attribution to fill in the voids. Disclaimers address the legal repercussions of mapping and liability. But sometimes disclaimers may be what saves you in the end. Disclaimers can pay dividends. They are a glimmer of hope if all goes wrong on your map.
Although extremely rare, disclaimers give you peace of mind. Get your standard disclaimer checked by a legal representative before adding it to a map. Because to be honest, not really a lot of people tend to look at them. Just like a thesis paper, maps can include references.
During map making, you can insert footnotes with a list of sources including author and year. When someone looks at your sources, you have your bases covered. Graticules represent meridians or parallels or lines in other projections. They are lines on your map running north-south and east-west.
Measured grids are for projected coordinates. Although graticules are not always necessary in a map, they can be handy guides for horizontal and vertical measurements.
Follow a graticule and instantly understand latitude or longitude position. Symbology is the cartographic language that is communicated to the audience. One of the main goals of cartography is to ensure individuals reviewing the map can understand its significance.
You instantly lose the confidence of the map reader with inconsistent symbols. Symbols on a map are like words in a book. They have to be intuitive. They describe the information to the reader. And symbology has to use the appropriate scale. Some symbology is universal. Cartographers are concerned about how symbols are perceived on a map.
Symbols are sometimes exaggerated in map-making so readers can quickly understand. A small-scale map could have a city represented as a point. Zoom into a large-scale map and the city is better displayed as a polygon boundary. Color catches your eye. Your eyes will beam in on color. Color is used to clarify features. It increases design possibilities.
Maps reveal information on location and attributes. Combined with color, it depicts relationships and adds visual clarity. People respond to color differently. Blue is generally water and positivity. Green is often used for vegetation. Brown is often used for mountains and dry land. Red often represents important features. ColorBrewer is a helpful resource to choose meaningful colors in your map-making process.
Poorly designed maps are difficult to understand. For example, having a thematic map with too many color shades easily frustrates readers. A choropleth map is good for population data.
A climate map is good for showing temperature change. Bar graphs are good at depicting change in numerical values. Cartographers have plenty of tools in their toolbox for selecting the right map type. The Comic Sans font has become the laughing-stock of typeface design.
Beyond Earth Using images taken from spacecraft, cartographers have created detailed maps of the surfaces of the Moon and Mars. Astrocartographers have identified Martian valleys, craters, and even dry riverbeds. Misleading Maps A type of cylindrical projection called a Mercator projection shows direction well.
It was long used to make charts that sailors could use to find their way around the globe. Like all cylindrical projections, a Mercator projection greatly distorts the size of land near the poles.
In a Mercator projection, Greenland and Africa are about the same size. In reality, Africa is 14 times the size of Greenland. Also called a temperate zone. Sea level is determined by measurements taken over a year cycle. United States Geological Survey primary source for science about the Earth, its natural and living resources, natural hazards, and the environment. The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit.
The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited. Caryl-Sue, National Geographic Society. Dunn, Margery G. For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. They will best know the preferred format. When you reach out to them, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource.
If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media. Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service. Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives. A political boundary is an imaginary line separating one political unit, such as a country or state, from another.
Sometimes these align with a natural geographic feature like a river to form a border or barrier between nations.
Occasionally, two countries may contest where a particular border is drawn. These disputes might arise due to a natural resource both groups want, like in the case of Sudan and South Sudan, or in an attempt to gain more political power, as in the case of Pakistan and India in the Kashmir region. Use these resources to explore more about political boundaries.
A territory is land a person or government protects from intruders or outsiders. Some territories have defined boundaries like a nation, province, or city, while others, like a neighborhood, may not. The people living in a particular territory often share similar traits, like ethnicity, culture, or religion. In some places, the exact boundary and who claims what land is questioned. An example of this is the region of Kashmir between India and Pakistan which has been under dispute since the s.
Help your students cross the boundary to understanding territorial divisions with these resources. In geography, boundaries separate different regions of Earth. A physical boundary is a naturally occurring barrier between two or more areas.
Physical boundaries include oceans, cliffs, or valleys. Select from these educational resources to teach middle school students more about physical boundaries.
Whether your map is paper or digital, mastering the basics of reading it are vital to finding your way around and understanding how the world works. Maps are fantastic visual tools that can help us communicate spatial concepts and patterns, tell stories, and analyze data. However, there are some challenges to translating Earth onto a flat surface without adding bias or inaccuracies.
Fortunately, cartographers have the training to minimize these issues. Maps have been a part of the National Geographic Society since the beginning. Gilbert H. It's lines and colors show the realization of great dreams. Whether a description of a keystone species or the impact of the Pacific garbage patch, these articles provide insight into a breadth of important issues facing our world today, including the environment, civic engagement, and history.
One of the oldest tenets of geography is the concept of place. Location is the position of a particular point on the surface of the Earth. Locale is the physical setting for relationships between people, such as the South of France or the Smoky Mountains.
Finally, a sense of place is the emotions someone attaches to an area based on their experiences. Place can be applied at any scale and does not necessarily have to be fixed in either time or space.
Additionally, due to globalization, place can change over time as its physical setting and cultures are influenced by new ideas or technologies. Learn more about the physical and human characteristics of place with this curated resource collection. Strange Maps author Frank Jacobs shares his tips on how to be a critical map reader and get more information out of every map you see.
Introduce young children to the concept of maps as representations of places with these community maps. National Geographic Education has found that larger maps are more engaging in classrooms. Join our community of educators and receive the latest information on National Geographic's resources for you and your students. Skip to content. Twitter Facebook Pinterest Google Classroom. Encyclopedic Entry Vocabulary. A map of the world. Map by National Geographic Maps. Dark Ages. Islamic Golden Age.
American satellite that circles the Earth around 14 times a day. Mercator projection. Middle Ages. Satellites can be natural, like moons, or artificial. South Pole. Sumerian Empire. Also called a contour line. Explorer National Geographic Maps. Media Credits The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit.
Last Updated Jan. Media If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. Text Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service. Interactives Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. Related Resources. Political Boundaries. View Collection.
Territorial Divisions. Physical Boundaries. Maps and Mapping. Concept of Place. Between the Lines. View leveled Article. Maps of Familiar Places. View Map. Maps do not need legends if the symbology is so common or simple as to be easily understood by the reader.
However, it must be clear what each marker or line type, weight and pattern represents. The legend does not need to be labeled "Legend.
For example, if you map Whatcom County, there should be an inset map of Washington, showing the location of Whatcom County. Layout design refers to the planning and decision making processes involved in the visual display of the spatial data.
You can achieve balance by rearranging the map elements north arrow, legend, scale, title, etc. The map and map elements should be:. At the same time, do not "over weight" or "under weight" features. A cartographer should be able to clearly articulate the purpose of their map and should keep the audience who the map is going to be used by and the client who the maps is being produced for in mind. NOTE: Any, or all, of the above 'rules' can be and frequently have been violated at the discretion of the cartographer IF doing so produces a better map better serving its purpose and audience.
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