Sponge's AP Human Geography Vol. 2 - Cartography

CARTOGRAPHY

(N) The science of mapmaking originating from Greek "khartes," meaning "to write maps."

History

Beginning with Aristotle and the notion of the world being spherical, geographers have attempted to visualize our world. As with all subjects, the more people travelled and developed technology, the more the view of the world changed

(see a timeline).

Who you need to know:

1. Aristotle- 384-322 B.C.E. (before common era)- the Earth is spherical

2. Eratosthenes- 276-195 B.C.E. coined the term geography and calculated circumference of the Earth

3. Ptolemy-90-168 C.E. (common era) designed the first longitude and latitude

4. Al Idrisi- 1099-1165- 'accurate' representation of the world

5. Ortelius- 1527-1598- first modern atlas

How to

So how do you make a map?

Geographers have to consider all the elements of a map beginning with:

1. Purpose: why show this? What needs to be shown? How to best show this?

2. Location, location, location- Is the map showing a city? A state? The world? It's all about scale!

3. Accuracy-using modern technologies (GIS and GPS) to make the map as accurate as possible

Watch a cool demo of mapmaking from the 1940's - how has cartography changed?

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