Map+Projections


 * Map Projection**

What is cartography? the sudy of maps

What is a cartographic map projection? a map.

Why is the Earth’s shape called a spheroid or oblate ellipsoid? shperoid

How is latitude measured? What does it show? lattitude is measured in degrees. **it shows distance to a scale**.

What are the Earth’s hemispheres? **What separates the hemispheres**? Noth south east and western hemispheres

Explain why the Tropic of Capricorn and Tropic of Cancer are important. They are based on where the sun is at the earths angle at two points in the year

Why doesn’t the sun set at the Antarctic Circle on December 21? Because the earth is tilted and during that time the sun cant reach that part of the earth **Good!**


 * What is the accepted Prime Meridian? Why is this a convenient location?**

Why do all map projections have distortion? **What things are distorted**? maps are distorted because the eath is round and it is impossible to put it out on a flat surface and be accurate. it is more distortedtowards the poles because they have to be stretched to fit the map

Why are Mercator maps often used incorrectly as world maps? How should it be used? Why? because they are so distorted. they should be used by sailers so they can tell where they are going at straight angles and not worry about making curved lines.

Look at the Equidistant Cylindrical map. What happens to the actually distance the farther north or south of the Equator you measure? Why? its is distorted more towards the poles so the sistance would actually be shorter

Why is the shortest distance between two points on a map usually not a straight line? Explain. the shortes distance on a map would be a curved line and it would be longer with a straight line because the earth is curved

What are the pros and cons of using a conformal map? its is more accurate but it would be harder to understand long distance travel