Map+Projections

What is cartography? Making maps and charts. What is a cartographic map projection? Map and //graphein// = write. Why is the Earth’s shape called a spheroid or oblate ellipsoid? Because that is what it is! How is latitude measured? What does it show?

What are the Earth’s hemispheres? What separates the hemispheres?

Explain why the Tropic of Capricorn and Tropic of Cancer are important.

Why doesn’t the sun set at the Antarctic Circle on December 21?

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

Why do all map projections have distortion? What things are distorted?

Why are Mercator maps often used incorrectly as world maps? How should it be used? Why?

Look at the Equidistant Cylindrical map. What happens to the actually distance the farther north or south of the Equator you measure? Why?

Why is the shortest distance between two points on a map usually not a straight line? Explain.

What are the pros and cons of using a conformal map?