Computers can show these as decimals: for example, 21 degrees and 45 minutes is 21.75 degrees, because 45 minutes is three-fourths of a degree, or 0.75 as a decimal.
Each degree is divided into 60 minutes, each minute 60 seconds. Likewise, latitude runs to the North Pole (90 degrees north) and the South Pole (90 degrees south)-adding up to 360 degrees if we see a globe in cross section (90 + 90 on one side, 90 + 90 on the other). After obtaining a general overview of the map, more complex symbols and information can be explored.Īre 360 degrees in a circle, and longitude measures to 180 degrees east or west (180 + 180 = 360) until arriving at a point in the mid-Pacific Ocean, on or near the International Date Line (the imaginary line running between the North Pole and the South Pole and distinguishing each calendar day from the next). It may be helpful to find a familiar city, road, or other landmark. One strategy for reading a map is to look first for familiar shapes or outlines (the Florida peninsula, the Horn of Africa, the boot of Italy), oceans and inlets (the long Red Sea or the shorter Persian Gulf), the telltale arcs of mountains (the Andes as the spine of South America the Himalayas north of India, covering Nepal and Bhutan), or the blue swoops of rivers and fanning deltas. They may include place names (labels), a scale (to compare sizes), a grid (to find locations), a guide to symbols, and an arrow pointing north or a compass rose (showing the four cardinal directions). Maps should show a date of compilation or publication to give the user a frame of reference. Map styles and symbols vary across cultures, but most published maps share details in common. In addition, amateurs draw maps every day, from driving directions on napkins to imaginary landscapes in sandboxes. The sky is mapped in star charts and in star, stellar, or planetary maps as well as on zodiac globes, celestial globes, and models of stellar movement called armillary spheres.Ĭartography, the study of maps and the art and science of making them, is a subdiscipline of geography, but many other disciplines, especially in the social sciences, also have mapmakers. A navigation map (for sailing or flying) is a chart. For example, a house or small area is mapped as a site plan or floor plan, a surveyed property in a plat survey. In reality, all maps and globes have some distortions, deletions, and simplifications associated with the intended use of the map, the makers’ biases, political influences, and economic factors.Ī map comes in a variety of forms and may be labeled in different terms. Maps can be misleading, however their crisp lines, bright colors, and labels may not always represent the truth. However, people use globes less often than maps because of their bulk and greater cost.Īnd globes are tools for planning trips, learning about faraway locales, and studying movements of people, goods, and information. A globe can show a planet without distortion because of its rounded shape, although Earth-as well as most other planets-is not a perfect sphere but bulges a bit at the Equator. It is usually mounted on an axle that allows for rotation. A globe is a spherical representation of a planet’s surface or another large area. Conceptions of the larger world and a person’s place in it, including sketches of the world as a person imagines it, may be called mental or cognitive maps.īecause world maps are drawn on a flat surface, they cannot show Earth’s curved surface without significant distortions. Some three-dimensional models and diagrams of complex topics, flows, and changes over time are also called maps (for example, a genetic map). Map is a graphical representation, usually in two dimensions, of Earth’s surface, an ocean floor, a night sky, or another large area.
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