Geography Handbook: The Gui River, Guilin, China
Geography Handbook: The Gui River, Guilin, China
Saharan sand
dunes, Morocco
The Gui River,
Guilin, China
N
4
0
N
180
120W
60W
0
60E
120E
Great Circle Route
Los
Angeles
Tokyo
North Pole
E
W
N
S
Polar Gnomonic projection
3,000
3,000 0 mi.
0 km
T
ru
e
Direction Rou
te
Great Circle Route
T
he most accurate way to depict the earth is as a
globe, a round scale model of the earth. A globe
gives a true picture of the continents relative sizes
and the shapes of landmasses and bodies of water.
Globes accurately represent distance and direction.
A map is a flat drawing of all or part of the
earths surface. Unlike globes, maps can show small
areas in great detail. Maps can also display political
boundaries, population densities, or even voting
returns.
From Globes to Maps
Maps, however, do have their limitations. As
you can imagine, drawing a round object on a
flat surface is very difficult. Cartographers, or
mapmakers, use mathematical formulas to
transfer information from the round globe to
a flat map. However, when the curves of a
globe become straight lines on a map, the
size, shape, distance, or area can change or
be distorted.
Great Circle Routes
Mapmakers have solved some problems of
going from a globe to a map. Agreat circle is
an imaginary line that follows the curve of the
earth. Aline drawn along the Equator is an
example of a great circle. Traveling along a
great circle is called following a great circle
route. Airplane pilots use great circle routes
because they represent the shortest distances
from one city to another.
The idea of a great circle shows one impor-
tant difference between a globe and a map.
Because a globe is round, it accurately shows
great circles. On a flat map, however, the great
circle route between two points may not appear
to be the shortest distance. See the maps to the
right.
Mapmaking with Technology
Technology has changed the way maps are
made. Most cartographers use software pro-
grams called geographic information systems
(GIS). This software layers map data from
satellite images, printed text, and statistics. A
Global Positioning System (GPS) helps map-
makers and consumers locate places based on
coordinates broadcast by satellites.
01-15 GEO HNBK TWIP-860976 4/8/04 12:41 AM Page 6
Geography Handbook 7
0
0 60W 60E 120E 120W
30N
30S
60S
60N
TROPIC OF CANCER
ARCTIC CIRCLE
M
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ANTARCTIC CIRCLE
TROPIC OF CAPRICORN
EQUATOR
EQUATOR
TROPIC OF CANCER
ANTARCTIC CIRCLE
ARCTIC CIRCLE
TROPIC OF CAPRICORN
M
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60E 60W 120E 120W 0
30N
30S
60N
60S
0
30N
60S
30S
60N
60W 60E 90W 90E 120W 120E 150W 150E 180 30W 30E 0
ARCTIC CIRCLE
ANTARCTIC CIRCLE
TROPIC OF CAPRICORN
EQUATOR
TROPIC OF CANCER
M
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A map using the Robinson projection has minor distortions. Land
on the western and eastern sides of the Robinson map appears
much as it does on a globe. The areas most distorted on this
projection are near the North and South Poles.
Mercator Projection
Winkel Tripel Projection
Robinson Projection
Goodes Interrupted
Equal-Area Projection
I
magine taking the whole peel from an orange and
trying to flatten it on a table. You would either
have to cut it or stretch parts of it. Mapmakers face
a similar problem in showing the surface of the
round earth on a flat map. When the earths surface
is flattened, big gaps open up. To fill in the gaps,
mapmakers stretch parts of the earth. They choose
to show either the correct shapes of places or their
correct sizes. It is impossible to show both. As a
result, mapmakers have developed different projec-
tions, or ways of showing the earth on a flat piece
of paper.
01-15 GEO HNBK TWIP-860976 7/8/04 3:08 AM Page 7
8 Geography Handbook
Desert
Highland
Humid continental
Humid subtropical
Marine
Mediterranean
Steppe
Subarctic
Tropical
Tundra
Climate Regions of the United States
Map Key An important first step in reading a map is to note the map
key. The map key explains the lines, symbols, and colors used on a
map. For example, the map on this page shows the various climate
regions of the United States and the different colors representing them.
Cities are usually symbolized by a solid circle () and capitals by a
star (
). On this map, you can see the capital of Texas and the cities of
Los Angeles, Seattle, New Orleans, and Chicago.
Scale Bar Ameasuring line, often called
a scale bar, helps you figure distance on
the map. The map scale tells you what
distance on the earth is represented by
the measurement on the scale bar.
Compass Rose Amap has a symbol
that tells you where the cardinal direc-
tionsnorth, south, east, and westare
positioned. This symbol is called a
compass rose.
Geography Handbook 9
General Purpose Maps
Maps are amazingly useful tools. You
can use them to preserve information, to
display data, and to make connections
between seemingly unrelated things.
Geographers use many different types of
maps. Maps that show a wide range of
general information about an area are
called general purpose maps. Two of the
most common general purpose maps are
physical and political maps.
Physical Maps
Physical maps call out landforms and
water features. The physical map of Sri
Lanka below shows rivers and moun-
tains. The colors used on physical maps
include brown or green for land, and blue
for water. These colors and shadings
may show reliefor how flat or
rugged the land surface is. In addition,
physical maps may use colors to show
elevationthe height of an area above
sea level. Akey explains what each
color and symbol stands for.
Political Maps
Political maps show the names and
boundaries of countries, the location of
cities and other human-made features
of a place, and often identify major
physical features. The political map of
Spain above, for example, shows the
boundaries between Spain and other
countries. It also shows cities and rivers
within Spain and bodies of water sur-
rounding Spain.
8S
Bay
of
Bengal
INDIAN
OCEAN
Gulf of
Mannar
Pidurutalagala
8,281 ft.
(2,524 m)
Point Pedro
Trincomalee
Matara
Matale
Kattankudi
Chilaw
Colombo
Jaffna
SRI LANKA
100
100 0
0
mi.
km
E W
N
S
80E
Sri Lanka: Physical
Mountain peak
National capital
Major city
Feet
3,280
1,640
650
380
0
Meters
1,000
500
200
100
0
Elevations
10W
40N
0
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trait of Gibralta
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OCEAN
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d
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lquivir R.
Douro R.
Balearic
Islands
Seville
Malaga
Valencia
Madrid
Zaragoza
Barcelona
U.K.
S P A I N
PORTUGAL
FRANCE
ANDORRA
GIBRALTAR
AF RI CA
Lambert Azimuthal
Equal-Area projection
200
200 0 mi.
0 km
E W
N
S
Spain: Political
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Contour Maps
One kind of physical map, called a
contour map, also shows elevation. A
contour map has contour linesone
line for each major level of elevation.
All the land at the same elevation is
connected by a line. These lines usually
form circles or ovalsone inside the
other. If contour lines come very close
together, the surface is steep. If the
lines are spread apart, the land is flat
or rises very gradually. Compare the
contour map of Sri Lanka below to its
physical map on page 9.
Special Purpose Maps
Some maps are made to present spe-
cific kinds of information. These are
called thematic or special purpose
maps. They usually show specific topics
in detail. Special purpose maps might
present climate, natural resources, or popu-
lation density. They might also display his-
torical information, such as battle sites or
territorial expansions. The maps title tells
what kind of special information it shows.
Colors and symbols in the map key are
especially important on these types of maps.
One type of special purpose map uses
colors to show population density, or the
average number of people living in a square
mile or square kilometer. As with other
maps, it is important to first read the title
and the key. The population density map of
Egypt above shows that the Nile River val-
ley and delta are very densely populated.
10 Geography Handbook
Boundary claimed
by Sudan
TROPIC OF CANCER
R
e
d
S
e
a
Me d i t e r r a n e a n Se a
N
i
l
e
R
.
Suez
Canal
Cairo
Alexandria
El Giza
30N
30E
20N
E GY P T
Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area
projection
300
300 0 mi.
0 km
E W
N
S
Egypt:
Population Density
Cities
City with more than
5,000,000 people
City with 1,000,000 to
5,000,000 people
sq. km sq. mi.
Persons per
Uninhabited
Under 2
260
60125
125250
Over 250
Uninhabited
Under 1
125
2550
50100
Over 100
8S
1
0
0
1
0
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1
,
0
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5
0
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1,000
1
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2
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2
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2
0
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5
0
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5
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500
Bay
of
Bengal
INDIAN
OCEAN
Gulf of
Mannar
80E Transverse Mercator projection
100
100 0
0
mi.
km
E W
N
S
Sri Lanka: Contour
Contour intervals in meters 100
Types of Maps
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Geography Handbook 11
Graphs
Agraph is a way of sum-
marizing and presenting
information visually. Each
part of a graph gives useful
information. First read the
graphs title to find out its
subject. Then read the labels
along the graphs axesthe
vertical line along the left
side of the graph and the
horizontal line along the bot-
tom. One axis will tell you
what is being measured. The
other axis tells what units of
measurement are being used.
Bar and Line Graphs
Graphs that use bars or wide
lines to compare data visually are called bar
graphs. Look carefully at the bar graph above,
which compares world languages. The vertical
axis lists the languages. The horizontal axis
measures the number of speakers of the lan-
guage in millions. By comparing the lengths of
the bars, you can quickly tell which language is
spoken by the most people. Bar graphs are
especially useful for comparing quantities.
A line graph is a useful tool for showing
changes over a
period of time.
The amounts
being measured
are plotted on the
grid above each
year, and then are
connected by a
line. Line graphs
sometimes have
two or more lines
plotted on them.
The line graph to
your left shows
that the number
of farms in the
United States has
decreased since
1940.
Number of Native Speakers (in millions)
Source: The World Almanac, 2003.
L
a
n
g
u
a
g
e
s
Chinese (Mandarin) 874
Hindi 366
English 341
Spanish 322
Bengali 207
Portuguese 176
Russian 167
Japanese 125
German 100
Korean 78
Comparing World Languages
Source: The World Almanac, 2003.
1940 1950 1960 1970 1990 2000 1980
1
0
7
6
5
4
3
2
N
u
m
b
e
r
o
f
f
a
r
m
s
(
i
n
m
i
l
l
i
o
n
s
)
Year
U.S. Farms, 19402000
01-15 GEO HNBK TWIP-860976 7/8/04 3:11 AM Page 11
Circle Graphs
You can use circle graphs
when you want to show
how the whole of something
is divided into its parts.
Because of their shape, cir-
cle graphs are often called
pie graphs. Each slice
represents a part or per-
centage of the whole pie.
On the circle graph below,
the whole circle (100 per-
cent) represents the worlds
population in 2002. The
slices show how this popu-
lation is divided among
the worlds five largest
continents.
Charts
Charts present facts and numbers in an
organized way. They arrange data, especially
numbers, in rows and columns for easy
reference. Look at the chart called Population
Growth on page 88. To interpret the chart,
first read the title. It tells you what information
the chart contains. Next, read the labels at
the top of each column and on the left
side of the chart. They explain what the
numbers or data on the chart are
measuring.
Pictographs