Top
Level
In every age, maps have reflected the interests, knowledge, and beliefs of their makers. Today, maps are more accurate, reliable, and specialized than ever before. The purpose of these activities is to orient you to the history of map making, or cartography, and introduce you to interactive, WWW-based mapping services.
If you could go back in time to the Ancient World and join an expedition based on a Ptolemaic map, what concerns would you have about the detail (or lack thereof) provided?What geographic false assumptions and mistaken beliefs would you expect to find among your fellow travelers?
What dangers might these false assumptions and mistaken beliefs pose during the expedition?
If you could go back in time to the Early Medieval World and join an expedition based on al-Idrisi's map, what concerns would you have about the detail (or lack thereof) provided?What geographic false assumptions and mistaken beliefs would you expect to find among your fellow travelers?
What dangers might these false assumptions and mistaken beliefs pose during the expedition?
If you could go back in time to the Late Medieval or Renaissance World and join an expedition based on Columbus' map, what concerns would you have about the detail (or lack thereof) provided?What geographic false assumptions and mistaken beliefs would you expect to find among your fellow travelers?
What dangers might these false assumptions and mistaken beliefs pose during the expedition?
What are "dead reconing" and "celestial navigation"?Which did Columbus rely on most often?
Locate Bozeman, MT and Moscow, Russia. Record the longitude and latitude of both cities.What additional information does this map service provide?
How might the information be used?
Using the longitude and latitude information obtained from the Xerox Parc server, determine the distance from Bozeman, MT to Moscow, Russia.
Create a map of the world
Track a hurricane
Create a map of the South-American Continent using the following boundaries:
North 15 South -60 West 270 East 330
Create a street map of Bozeman, MT
Enter the ZIP code 59715, then browse the Tiger map of the area
Create a map of Mars in the vicinity of Olympus Mons (giant volcano)
What map information does this information service provide?How might the information be used?
One of cartography's central problems is geometrical in nature: How to accurately represent the features of our 3-dimensional world on 2-dimensional maps. Round Earth, Flat Maps reviews several map projections developed to address this problem. Projections fall into three basic categories: planar, conic, and cylindrical. Which projection seems most successful to you? Why?
Select an explorer and scan the available information for references to maps. How important were maps to the explorer you selected?
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