Understanding Maps

Topics

What is Map?
Types of Maps
Elements of Cartography
Map Symbology
Map Scale
Map Projection
p Surroundings
g
Map
Map Readings
Map Design & Development

FORMS of REPRESENTATION
Knowledge Representation
Spoken & written languages
Mathematics
Present day graphics

Map - Graphic Representation of Geographic

Setting

Cartography Science of making and

study of maps in all their aspects

What is Map?
A map is a graphic representation of a
portion
ti off the
th earth's
th' surface
f
d
drawn tto
scale, as seen from above. It uses
colors, symbols, and labels to represent
features found on the ground.

Need to Understand Maps

A sense of the layout of features in a place:
knowing what is where
An
A awareness off an area or a place:
l
what
h t
type of place this is and what variety there
might be in it
The capacity to give/follow routes: finding
the way
Understanding spatial patterns:
understanding effect of what is where
Planning for the future: appreciating the
impact of change
5

Types of Maps
There are at least three different map
types:

General-purpose maps
Special-purpose maps
Thematic maps
p

General Purpose Maps

do not show anyy one feature with

special emphasis
present all-purpose view of a region
show features such as roads, power
lines, transportation routes, and water
features.

General Purpose Map

- Map of Pakistan

Special Purpose Maps

Mapsmadeforspecificpurposessuchas

oceanchartsfornavigation,or
cadastralmapsthatshowpropertyownership

generallymadeatalargescaleand
showonlyasmallproportionoftheEarth's
surfaceatonetime

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Thematic Maps
Thematic maps are maps that show information on
a specific single topic. Thematic maps use base
map data that give the most basic of details such
as coastline shape or political boundary, and the
location of major water features.
The purpose of thematic maps is to show how the
theme being mapped is organized in space. Some
examples of thematic maps are weather maps that
show atmospheric pressure
pressure, or amounts of
precipitation. Another example is a geological map
that shows formations, thrust, folds and faults of
the area.

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ThematicMaps

GeologicalMap

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ThematicMaps

RainfallMap

13

Islamabad

Population Distribution
NWFP

Attock

PunjabFATA
& ICT
17-23 Year

Chakwal

Jhelum

Mianwali
Khushab

Disputed Territory

AJK

Rawalpindi

Gujrat
Sargodha

M.B.Din

Hafizabad

Bhakkar

Sialko t

Narowal

Gujranwala

Sheikhupura
Jhang

Lahore
Faisalabad
Kasur

BALOCHISTAN

Leiah

T.T. Singh
Khanewal

D. G. Khan
M. Garh Multan

Lodhran

Rajanpur

R.Y.Khan

Bahawalpur

SINDH

Source: District Census Reports 1998

Okara
Sahiwal

Pakpattan

Vehari
B. Nagar

Area
Rural
Urban
U
ba

Population
less than 150000
150000 - 299999
300000 - 449999
450000 - 749999
greater than 750000
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MapSymbology
Symbols

Used to represent the different physical and

man made features found on the surface of
man-made
the Earth
It is possible to fit a lot of information into a
small space using symbols

Types of Symbols
Can be of different shapes and sizes
The size or thickness of a symbol shows the
importance of a feature
Certain colours are used to represent certain
features
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Types of Symbols
Line or linear symbols
Represent line features like roads, railway tracks,
rivers and power lines

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Types of Symbols

(Cont.)

Point symbols
Represent point-like features like schools,
hospitals mosques and temples
hospitals,

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Types of Symbols

(Cont.)

Area symbols:
Represent features that occupy an area such
as lakes and forests
Some of these symbols look like the features
they represent

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Types of Symbols

(Cont.)

Abbreviations
May appear beside other symbols to explain
what they are or on their own

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Types of Symbols

(Cont.)

Height symbols
Height of places is shown on maps by contours
Contours
C
are imaginary lines
l
joining places
l
off
the same height above or below sea level

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10

Height symbols (Cont.)

To show the exact height of a physical
feature a trigonometrical station is used
feature,
This is a circular disc placed in the ground
to show the specific height of the place
On maps, a trigonometrical station is
shown by a triangle symbol with the
height above sea level written beside it
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MEASUREMENT of GEOGRAPHICAL VARIABLES

Nominal; Ordinal; Interval/Ratio

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11

MEASUREMENT of GEOGRAPHICAL VARIABLES

Nominal Scale: Simplest of all just uses the names as
labels; qualitative nature e.g., differences in gender,
language landuse,
language,
landuse geology
Ordinal Scale: shows ordering or ranks e.g, rank of
cities by size, roads into first, second and third class
Interval Scale: does not does not have a natural zero
and uses an arbitrary one instead. Temperature in F
and C are good examples, bcz as these use freezing
point of water 32F and 0C respectively as the
arbitrary
bi
origin
i i (40F cannot b
be twice
i as hot
h as
20F)
Ratio Scale: True zero, Weight; Speed is an example,
supports arithmetic operations of addition,
subtraction, multiplication, and division
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MAP SCALE
Scale is the term commonly applied to the
amount of reduction found on maps.
maps
The scale of a map refers to the ratio of a distance (or
area) on the map to the actual distance on the ground.
It is the relationship between a unit of length on a map
and the corresponding length on the ground.
Scale =

Map Distance
Ground Distance

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12

Types of Map Scales

Verbal scale
Graphic scale
Representative Fraction or Ratio Scale

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Verbal Scale
Verbal scale expresses in words a
relationship
l ti
hi between
b t
a map distance
di t
and
d
a ground distance. Usually it is along the
lines of:
One inch represents 16 miles

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13

Verbal Scale
"2cmequalto100000cms"

2cmonaMaprepresents1Kmonground

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Graphic Scale
The second type of scale is a graphic
scale,
l or bar
b scale.
l This
Thi shows
h
directly
di tl on
the map the corresponding ground distance.
For example:

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14

Representative Fraction or Ratio Scale

A fractional scale is just the ratio of

map distance to the equivalent distance
on the ground using the same units for
both.
The smaller number of the fractional
scale is the distance on the map. The
larger number in the scale is the
distance on the ground.

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Ratio Scale
bothmapdistanceandtheground
di t
distancearegiveninthesameunits,asa
i
i th
it
fraction,therebyeliminatingtheneedto
includeunitsofmeasure.

30

15

Ratio Scale

both map distance and the ground distance

are given in the same units, as a fraction,
thereby eliminating the need to include
units of measure.
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Representative Fraction or Ratio Scale

A representative fraction, or RF, shows the
relationship between one of any unit on the map and
one off th
the same unit
it on th
the ground.
d RF
RFs may b
be
shown as an actual fraction, for example 1/24,000,
but are usually written with a colon, as in 1:24,000.
In this example, one unit of any length (one mm, one
cm, one inch, one foot, etc.) on the map represents
24,000 of those same units on the ground (24,000
mm,, 24,000
,
cm,, 24,000",
,
, 24,000',
,
, etc.).
)
In the same way, a 1:100,000-scale map is
1/100,000th as large as the ground area shown on
the map.

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16

Large Scale vs. Small Scale Maps

"Large scale" refers to maps on which objects are
relatively large
large, "small
small scale"
scale to maps on which
objects are relatively small.
Large scale and small scale are subjective terms.
For example a town planner who is used to working
with plans at 1:1,000, may consider 1:25,000 a
small scale map
map, while an atlas compiler commonly
working with maps of scales 1:5,000,000 would
consider 1:25,000 a large scale map.

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Large Scale Map

A large scale
map of Long
Reef Point
from a
1:25 000
map,
enlarged
to show
detail

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17

Small Scale Map

A small scale map of Long

Reef Point taken from a
1: 100 000 map, enlarged
to show detail

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Map Projection
Projection is a mathematical conversion from
spherical to planar coordinates.
coordinates
In order to map a spherical object onto a flat
surface, we use the concept of projection which
"projects" the surface of a sphere onto a flat
surface. Map projections ensure a known
relationship between locations on a map and
their true locations on the earth.

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18

Map Surroundings
Title

States what the map shows

Appears
A
att th
the ttop off th
the map
On topographic maps, the title is usually the
name of the largest settlement in the region

Grid Lines

A series of vertical and horizontal numbered

lines drawn on a map
Used to locate features
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Lines of Latitude
Lines that are
drawn around
the globe
parallel to the
Equator

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19

Lines of longitude

Lines that are

drawn around the
globe through the
poles

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BasicElementsofMaps(Cont.)
Legend

Explains
p
what each symbol
y
on the map
p means
Lists all symbols used and explains the meaning
of each of them
Also called the key

Names of Features

Certain features such as settlements, roads and

rivers are often named on maps

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BasicElementsofMaps(Cont.)
Directional Indicator

Shows where north

north, south
south, east
and west lie

Scale

Shows the size of the map compared to the

actual size of the area that the map represents
Helps us to calculate the size of a feature on
the Earths surface
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Q/A

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