The Basics of Geography

Part 2The Tools of Geography

Geography is used all of the time whether you realize it or not!

Geographers use traditional items such as maps, globes, compasses,

graphs, and charts to organize information. Modern technology

such as satellites have been extremely helpful in increasing our

geographic knowledge as well.

Satellites LANDSAT is a series of satellites

that orbit more than 100 miles above Earth. Each time a satellite makes an orbit, it picks up data in an area 115 miles wide. LANDSAT can scan the entire Earth in 16 days.

GOES

GEOSTATIONARY OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE

It is a weather satellite that flies in sync with Earth’s rotation and gather’s valuable atmospheric

data.

GPSGLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM It was originally developed to help our

military forces know where they were located. It is a series of 24 satellites called Navstars, which beam back

information such as latitude, longitude, altitude, and time to a hand-held receiver. Hikers, explorers, sailors, and drivers use them to track location. They can even be

used to track animals and people!

People have been interested in exploring and mapping their world for thousands of years. The official word

to describe a mapmaker is CARTOGRAPHER.

The word CARTOGRAPHY is GREEK:

chartis=map graphein=write

Over the centuries, mapmaking has evolved, but the basic task has remained the same—to show locations of places,

landforms, and bodies of water and where they are in relation to other parts

of the earth.

Maps and globes continue to be two of the most common tools of geographers.

Let’s take a closer look at globes and map making, or cartography.

Map Projections Although globes are the most accurate

portrayal of what the Earth looks like, they are not always the most convenient to use.

A PROJECTION is a way of showing the curved surface of the earth on a flat map. Because the earth is a sphere, a flat map will distort some aspect of the earth’s surface. Distance, shape, direction, or area may be distorted.

Miller Cylindrical Projection

Conic Projection

Polar/Plane Projection

Homolosine Interrupted Projection

Robinson Projection

Winkel Tripel Projection

Planet Earth is Divided Into 4 Hemispheres (half circles).

Lines of LATITUDE are also called PARALLELS because they never intersect.

They are measured in DEGREES, and go from 0°-90° both North and South from the EQUATOR.