Maps are used for a wide variety of purposes from waging war to monitoring environmental issues to making political propaganda. One way geographers gain understanding is by comparing spatial data, for which maps are best. Recent revolutions in digital maps and navigation devices have made maps more accessible to average people. Maps are also crucial tools for tracking environmental issues from water availability to precipitation to deforestation to monitoring problems like the ozone hole.

1. USING THE SPATIAL PERSPECTIVE
Maps and geography are practically synonymous, and cartography is as old as
geography itself. Maps are used to wage war, to monitor environmental issues, to
make political propaganda, to solve medical problems, for regional planning – in
short, for countless purposes.
One of the ways geographers can gain a better understanding of places and issues is
by comparing spatial data – maps are the best way to do this.

2. In recent years, the latest revolution in map use for the average American is the digital map, commonly
used navigation devices, or as applications for smart phones and other hand-held devices. This
technology allows an ordinary person to have at his/her disposal a road map and/or a satellite map.
Thus, the concept of map use is not new, but technologies implementing them are new.

3. Maps are a primary tool used by scientists and govt. officials to track environmental issues, ranging from
water availability in the U.S. to …

4. … average annual precipitation for the world, to …

5. … tracking deforestation, to …

6. … monitoring the ozone hole over
Antarctica. Thus, maps are crucial in
initiating awareness and as a catalyst
for decision-making as the planet’s
inhabitants grapple with a wide variety
of environmental issues.

7. Maps can either show a wide variety of information (general purpose), ….

8. …. or focus on one particular area of interest (theme maps).

9. Maps can also be used for propaganda purposes, as this Nazi propaganda illustrates.

10. MAP SCALE
Geographers can’t draw maps the same size as the land they show, and so they draw maps
to scale.
There are two types of scale:
Large Scale (only a small area is
shown, but the map can show many
details) and Small Scale (a large
area is shown, but the map can only
indicate main features).

11. REGIONS on the MAP
Maps demarcate regions using boundaries that may or may not be evident on the ground.
And regions are not all of the same type: distinguish a formal region ….

12. …. from a functional region.
Regions can be seen in a vertical order of hierarchy. Regions, therefore, are ways of
organizing humans geographically.

13. MAPS in the MIND
Mental maps are a fundamental part of our general knowledge. They develop over years of
looking at wall maps, magazines, and newspapers. They are shaped by our cultural
environment, which may distort our objectivity. Thus, environmental perception, shapes
our mental maps. This is exhibited in studying different living preferences. Consider
where California students would prefer to live. How would you explain their
preferences versus ….

14. …. the living preferences of Pennsylvania students.