Who is map

When you see or make a map, think critically about it. What does the map show, what does it omit, and why? How were the data collected and manipulated to produce the end result? Those are only a couple of things that affect how a map ultimately is interpreted by its readers.

The practice of cartography is as much about removing things as depicting them. A map does not and cannot represent everything in the place. Test your vocabulary with our question quiz! Love words? Need even more definitions? Homophones, Homographs, and Homonyms The same, but different. Merriam-Webster's Words of the Week - Nov.

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The awkward case of 'his or her'. Take the quiz. Illustrated with a map , 14 full-page and 46 text drawings in half-tone by Howard V. Illustrated with a map , 16 full-page and 71 text drawings in half-tone by Howard V. Smith carefully drew a map of the entire area and called it a " Map of the Chesapeake. New Word List Word List. Save This Word! See synonyms for map on Thesaurus. We could talk until we're blue in the face about this quiz on words for the color "blue," but we think you should take the quiz and find out if you're a whiz at these colorful terms.

Idioms about map. Map, chart, graph refer to representations of surfaces, areas, or facts. The earliest maps were probably sketches made on the ground that showed the surrounding area. People native to the Marshall Islands used palm fibers to show wave patterns between islands in the Pacific Ocean. They used seashells to represent islands. Inuit fishermen in the Arctic carved pieces of driftwood to show coastal features.

It dates back nearly 14, years. The ancient Greeks are usually considered the founders of scientific cartography. Greek scholars knew the general size and shape of Earth, and they developed the grid system of latitude and longitude. Eratosthenes , who lived from about to B. Claudius Ptolemaeus, or Ptolemy , was an astronomer , mathematician , and geographer in the second century A. He brought mapmaking to a level of precision that would not be seen again until the fifteenth century. He combined all his knowledge about the world into a book called Geography.

In Europe during the Middle Ages , cartographers drew maps reflecting their religious beliefs. These maps were generally simple and sometimes fanciful. The city of Jerusalem, holy to Jews, Christians, and Muslims, was sometimes placed in the center.

The Nile and the Don meet in a single line to form the top of the T. During these Dark Ages in Europe, Arab scholars kept scientific cartography alive. They preserved the works of Ptolemy and translated them to Arabic. Arab cartographers produced the first reliable globe of the Western world.

During the Islamic Golden Age , Arab cartographers used complicated mathematical and astronomical formulas to help them determine different map projections.

In , the scientist and cartographer al-Idrisi made a map of the world that was better than the world maps Europeans were producing. In the fifteenth century, cartography in Europe improved. The development of printing and engraving meant maps that had previously been painted by hand could be copied more quickly. Around the same time, sailors began traveling farther on the oceans. They added newly discovered lands and more detailed coastlines to their maps. Explorers brought back descriptions of the interiors, as well as the coastlines, of continents.

Europeans explored much of the Americas during the sixteenth century, Australia in the seventeenth century, and Antarctica was finally sighted in the early nineteenth century. At this point, fairly accurate maps of the entire world were beginning to be assembled. In the nineteenth century, cartography became more advanced with the development of a printing process called lithography.

Lithography allowed cartographers to make many accurate copies of maps with less labor and expense. Photography, color printing, and computers all improved mapmaking even more. In just a few decades, the relationship between people and maps changed drastically.

For example, instead of using paper street maps, many people navigate using GPS units that communicate with satellites to determine their exact location on Earth. Digital versions of maps can represent Earth in three dimensions, defying the limitations of the flat maps of the past.

Almost the entire surface of Earth has been mapped with remarkable accuracy, and this information is available instantly to anyone with an internet connection. Eratosthenes Eratosthenes was an astronomer, librarian, mathematician, and poet.

He also invented the discipline of geography in his spare time. Using the position of the sun, Eratosthenes was able to calculate the circumference of the Earth without leaving Egypt, his home. He used the length of a stadium as his unit of distance.

Because stadiums came in two different sizes in the world of ancient Greece, and we dont know which stadium Eratosthenes used, we cant know exactly what he calculated for the circumference of the Earth. If he used the larger Greek stadium, his circumference would be larger than the Earth by about 16 percent.

If he used the smaller, so-called "Egyptian stadium," his calculation would still be largerbut only by 1 percent. Printing Pioneers The Chinese were skilled cartographers. The first map was printed in China in A. Beyond Earth Using images taken from spacecraft, cartographers have created detailed maps of the surfaces of the Moon and Mars.

Astrocartographers have identified Martian valleys, craters, and even dry riverbeds. Misleading Maps A type of cylindrical projection called a Mercator projection shows direction well. It was long used to make charts that sailors could use to find their way around the globe.

Like all cylindrical projections, a Mercator projection greatly distorts the size of land near the poles. In a Mercator projection, Greenland and Africa are about the same size. In reality, Africa is 14 times the size of Greenland. Also called a temperate zone. Sea level is determined by measurements taken over a year cycle. United States Geological Survey primary source for science about the Earth, its natural and living resources, natural hazards, and the environment.

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