Introduction to AP Human Geography – Day 2: Thematic Maps, 5 Themes

Map legend/key

• For analysis purposes special attention MUSTbe placed on the map index or legendIdentifies:• scale• symbols• color coding

Type? Identifying Features? Purpose?

• Graduated symbol map

• Symbols of diff sizes = diff amnts of something

• Larger sz = more(single men or single women)

• Easy to see where the largest + smallest of some phenomena are by comparing the symbols

Graduated Symbol Map

Thematic Types of Maps: choropleth

• unit is assigned color• best = use shades of same color• darker = greater occurrence of

the phenomenon being analyzed• strength

• shows dominance of a trait• weakness

• level of aggregation/generalization must be considered.

• could give false conclusion • must compare “apples to apples”

Thematic Maps: dot density maps• dots indicate # of

occurrences (crime, cholera) in a given area. • 1 dot = some quantity of data

• Jon Snow’s cholera map • London, 1854. Traced cholera

outbreak to water pump, link deaths to water.

• Dot map w/ layers of quantitative data.

• “Collected the dots” - Where pumps were, where deaths occurred, exceptions

• early ex. of spatial analysis + use of GIS – (geographic information)

• can be described using the 3 properties of a distribution

Steven Johnson Ghost Map Video (cholera)

Thematic Types of Maps: isoline

• similar data is connected by lines • always used for

elevation • ex: barometric

pressure on weather maps

• Data bands assigned colors = isopleth

“isoline”

“isopleth”

Thematic Types of Maps: flow line maps

Shows movement of people, information, and goods between places

Types of Maps: Topographic

Reflects the Earth’s physical features(terrain, elevation)

Graphs in the form of “maps”: Cartograms

• Distorts size of a map units to allow comparison of data.• more of a “graph” concept than a map = graph in map form

More of a 50/50 election

2008 Election Results

Land doesn’t vote; people vote.

• A cartogram of world population by country shows a very large China and India, but you can hardly see Canada + Australia.

Five Themes of Geography

•Location•Place•Region•Interaction•Movement

• Where? (most basic question)

• How can this location be described?

• With what other locations does this place share certain characteristics?

• How have humans and the environment affected each other in this location?

• How has this location been affected by the flow of people, goods and ideas?

Five Themes of Geography mnemonic

•Movement•Region•Location•Interaction•Place

= “Mr. Lip”

2 ways to describe location:

Absolute or “Exact” Location:• Fixed point on

earth’s surface. • Using latitude +

longitude• Another type = street

address, “townships”

Relative Location:•Where something is, in reference to something else. •Can hint @ importance of a place.•Ex. “IL is south of WI; San Francisco is 350 miles north of L.A.; Jupiter, FL is north of West Palm Beach.”

Location: Where (most important theme)

In notebook, answer questions:

• What is the absolute location of Lane Tech?• What is Lane Tech’s relative location?

Land Ordinance of 1785

• Div. U.S. into “townships” + ranges - made land sales in NW Territory easier (IL, IN, MI, OH, WI)• “squares” to be sold

• Township = 36 sq miles. (6x6)• Each township divided up into

sections – further divided & sold.• Each township has # corresponding to

a distance + a range corresponding to its location east or west of a principal meridian.

• Important to understanding location of objects in US: • highways across midwest, farm field in

Iowa, streets in Chicago

Location Tools

• GPS (Global Positioning System)• Connects to satellites to tell

you exactly where you are on earth (absolute location, direction, velocity)

• Just a navigation tool; doesn’t make customizable maps – just tells you where you are.

Location Tools (continued)

• GIS (geographic info. system)• Storage/analysis of data in

layers• Software tool combines multiple

sources of info to create layers of customizable electronic maps(traffic, weather, topography, food, crime, real estate)

• Ghost map/John Snow: (1) map of water pumps, (2) map of deaths, (3) map of exceptions

• Remote sensing• Collects detailed data about

Earth’s surface from satellite orbiting planet “remotely” or from other long distance methods.

GIS example

Geocaching + Pokemon Go• Pokemon Go uses GPS

navigation, GIS data, + smart phone tech to collect digital creatures as you physically move around. Game keeps track of your absolute location.

is a type of global treasure hunt based on GPS coordinates.• People look for “caches” or

hidden objects (foreign currency, keychains, etc) using coordinates. Clues are placed on Internet by other geocachers.

Video: What is GIS?

Video: How GIS Works

Video: “What is Remote Sensing?”