GEG 100 ONLINE! Cultural Geography Chapter 1

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True Maps, False Impressions: Making, Manipulating, and Interpreting Maps

READ:

• Textbook:
  • pp. xv-xx
  • Introduction, pp. 1-9
  • outline of chapter 1
• Additional Readings
  • http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/
  • http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/cartograms/
  • What is "Culture" ?

ACTIVITIES:

Read: 10 - 32

For Activity 2 we will do the USA activities

Items to Hand In:

Activity 1: " Questions 1.1 - 1.9

Activity 2: " Questions 2.1 - 2.15, including:

1. your most misleading map (2.9),
2. the map which best differentiates among southern states (2.10),
3. and your “best overall” map (2.11)

Activity 3 - see: whereareyou.htm

Estimated Time Requirements

Activity 1: Scale 20-30 minutes

Activity 2: Thematic Maps 50-75 minutes

Activity 3: 20-30 minutes

Points:

1.1-1; 1.2-1; 1.3-1; 1.4-1; 1.5-1; 1.6-1; 1.7-2; 1.8-2; 1.9-1

2.1-1; 2.2-1; 2.3-2; 2.4-1; 2.5-1; 2.6-2; 2.7-2; 2.8-1; 2.9-1; 2.10-2; 2.11-1; 2.12-3; 2.13-2; 2.14-1; 2.15-1; map 2.9-1; map 2.10-1; map 2.11-1

3.1-1; 3.2-1; 3.3-1; 3.4-1; 3.5-1

TOTAL: 41 points

CONCEPTS / VOCABULARY

All "Key Terms" (p. 30)

Plus:
(numbers in parentheses represent textbook page numbers.)

Representative Fraction (13) Verbal Scale (13) Graphic Scale (13) small scale and large scale (14) regional scale (14) local scale (17)

Level of Aggregation (22) Equal Frequency (23) Equal Interval (23) Break Points (23) population cartogram - Discussion Forum

• GEG 100 is named "Cultural Geography", whereas our textbook is titled "Human Geography . . . " They mean the same thing.
  The field of geography is divided into two broad fields (1) Physical Geography and (2) Human or Cultural Geography.
  
  
• p.1 "Human (or Cultural) geography is the social science that describes and explains where human activities take place."
  
  
• What is "Culture" ?
  
  
• p. 1 The "spatial perspective" of geography is very important
  • The Spatial Perspective

    Geographers can study anything that has a significant spatial component. Geographers concentrate on the "where" and by doing this they may be able to gain a better understanding of what is being studied than if the "where" were ignored. This is the "Spatial Perspective" that is peculiar to the study of geography. This perspective is useful in a wide variety of fields and therefore you have a wide variety of sub-disciplines in the field of geography (like political geography, cultural geography, physical geography, etc.). Businesses use geography when they decide WHERE to locate a new plant. Real estate developers use geography when they decide WHERE to build a new housing development. You have used geography when you decided WHERE to look for a job, or WHERE to go on vacation, or WHERE to go to school. If the WHERE is important, then geographers can study it.

  • History Analogy

    History and Geography are quite similar. When historians study a topic they focus on the WHEN. Hence you can have subjects like the: history of war, the history of sports, the history of comic books, etc. Geographers can study these same issues, and virtually anything else, but the geographer's perspective is SPATIAL, rather than TEMPORAL like the historians. Hence there can also be the geography of war, the geography of sports, and the geography of comic books. What geographers add to such topics is the spatial perspective.

• 5 Themes of Geography
  
  
• MAPS- Ways that maps manipulate and distort information:
  1. Choice of projection
  2. Simplification—what to put on and leave off the map
  3. Change of scale
  4. Level of aggregation
  5. Choice of type of map
     1.  
• Spatial data and GIS
  • Primary vs. secondary data
  • Geographic information systems (GIS)
  • Spatially referenced data
  • Layering
  • Changing scale

INSTRUCTOR'S NOTES and/or ADDITIONS TO ACTIVITIES

Background

Students must keep in mind that this is a geography class and geographers study WHERE things are and WHY they are THERE. These activities concentrate on the WHERE question of geography. For many of the questions you have to look at a map and describe WHERE the map indicates most African Americans live. To answer such questions you must indicate PLACES. If the question asks for the "distribution" or the "map pattern" , or "spatial pattern" or even your "impression" or map "problems", you will have to discuss WHERE.

Most, if not all questions refer to WHERE. Look at the maps and DESCRIBE WHERE (i.e. list places).

Table 1.2 on page 24 is VERY IMPORTANT. Refer to it often when answering questions.

 

Activity 1

1.1 - hint: See "Verbal Scale" above (P. 13

1.3 Use the same map scatle that you used in questions 1.1 and 1.2.

For the map SCALE questions 1.4, 1.5, 1.6 keep this in mind:

• small scale = small detail
• large scale = large detail

Activity 2

 Refer to Table 1.2, page 24 often.

Describe WHERE African Americans appear to live according to the maps.

Choropleth maps show percentages, Circle and dot maps show magnitude, or actual numbers. Your textbook says (pp.19-20)

"The map displayed is County Choropleth, which classifies each county into one of four classes and assigns a pattern as shown in the map legend. Notice this map shows the percentage of African Americans per county, not the actual number. Choropleth maps are used to show intensity, such as percentages, rather than magnitude, such as total numbers. You will later see maps that show magnitude, such as the total number of African Americans."

and (p.20):

"A graduated circle is a type of proportional symbol, whose size varies with the value for each county. This graduated circle map shows magnitude with each circle a different size, depending on the total number of African Americans per county."

It is possible that a state with a large percentage of African Americans actually has fewer than a state with a smaller percentage. HOW? It depends on the population of the state. Whenever you see a % you must ask "percent of what?" Look at table 1.2 on page 23. California's population is 6.7% African American, but this equals 2,263,882. whereas Mississippi is 36.3% African American, but has only 1,033,809.

Your textbook says (p.20):

"In fact, only about one-half of all African Americans live in the South. About the same number live outside the South in large urban areas of the Northeast, Midwest, and West."

Activity 3 - Not in the textbook - go to whereareyou.htm

WEB RESOURCES

• Amistad Research Center: http://www.tulane.edu/~amistad/.
• Assembly of First Nations: http://www.afn.ca/.
• Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Canada’s Oldest Nations: http://cbc.ca/news/indepth/aboriginals/.
• Center for Voting and Democracy. Redistricting Introduction and Index: http://www.fairvote.org/redistricting/.
• Encyclopedia Britannica. The Encyclopedia Britannica Guide to Black History: http://blackhistory.eb.com/.
• FirstNations.com: http://firstnations.com/.
• Hammond, Inc. On Map Projections: http://www.hammondmap.com.
• Indiana University. Archives of African American Music and Culture: http://www.indiana.edu/~aaamc/index2.html.
• Kearl, Michael C. Race and Ethnicity: http://www.trinity.edu/~mkearl/race.html