The map and its elements are the representation of the earth 's surface plane figures, population, flora, fauna and limits border (land, sea, lake and air).
In this way, it is possible to know more precisely the location of places and resources available within a region. The map is one of the main tools of cartography.
Main elements of maps
The elements present in a map are:
- The title indicating what it is about.
- The source consulted.
- Symbology of the winds.
- The representative scales of the territory to be captured.
- The cardinal point.
- The legend where the symbols necessary for the interpretation of the map appear.
The symbols used in the legends allow you to visualize the hazards present in areas and are represented with different colored circles.
For example, red symbolizes earthquakes, green a volcanic eruption, blue a flood, blue a hurricane, brown a landslide, purple a tornado and orange a tsunami.
Maps are important in geography because they show how different land and sea features are related.
Its scales compare a distance measured on the map to the current distance from the Earth's land surface. They can be in many shapes, but the point of reference for cartographers is a scale line.
Marking a cardinal point on the map allows you to determine its orientation. For example, an arrow is placed indicating one of the poles, if it is up, it is the North Pole and if it is down, it is indicating the South Pole.
When the direction of the four cardinal points - North, South, East, West - is used on a map it is called a compass rose.
The inserted maps are representations of particular situations at the level of relief, roads and others. They provide specific information that cannot be seen on larger-scale maps and are drawn at more legible scales. They are frequently used in tourist matters, population censuses or locating addresses of non-tourist places.
The geographical dimension is the first step in making maps and what are the characteristics that are involved.
The phenomenon drawn on the maps can be points, along the lines and over the areas. Airports and oil wells are landmark, while highways and railways are feature lines.
The geographic information system
The use of a geographic information system (GIS) is appropriate when the user has sufficient knowledge of cartography to prepare maps, taking into account the elements that make it up: title, source, legend, scale., surface, consulted source, internal maps and cardinal arrow.
The use of GIS allows to improve what has been done throughout history in terms of map making. They offer the option of generating relevant information about the studies that can be carried out. There are basic terms for GIS:
- Qualitative Area Map: shows the existence of a geographic class within the areas of the map. Colors, patterns and shades are usually used.
- Border: is the area between the ordered line and the middle border or sample of the area over which the area is displayed. The information can be located on the border but the area is left blank.
- Cartographic Convention: is the accepted cartographic practice.
- Choropleth Map: is a map that shows numerical data for a group of regions by grouping the data into classes and shading each class on the map.
- Clarity: it is the property of visual representation using the minimum amount of symbolism necessary so that the user of the map can understand the content of the map without error.
- Color Balance: achieving visual harmony between the colors on a map, avoiding colors to show simultaneous contrasts when they are adjacent.
- Contour Interval: is the vertical difference in measuring units such as meters or feet between successive contour lines on a contour map.
- Contour Map: it is an isoline map of topographic elevations.
- Design Loop: it is the iterative process in which a map is created by GIS, examined for design, improved and then reprinted from the definition of the modified map until the user is satisfied and a good design has been reached.
- Point Map: it is a type of map that uses as a symbol the point that shows the presence of a feature, relaying a visual dispersion that shows a spatial pattern. It is used where the characteristics that are in the GIS data are indicated, but the points can be randomly dispersed, through different areas.
- Figure: is the part of the map that refers both to the map coordinate system, and to the layout coordinates of the plan and is the center of attention for the map reader. The figure is contrasted against the surface or in the background.
- Flow Map: it is a linear network map that commonly shows, with proportional variations in the width of the network lines, the amount of internal network traffic or flow.
- Fonts: is a consistent layout for displaying a full set of characters in English or other languages, such as numbers and punctuation marks.
- Hue: is a color defined by the wavelength of light reflected or emitted from the surface of the map.
Maps, at large and small scales, allow the generation of planning for population and economic censuses.
The social mapping or social map is a visual process that consists of the location of family houses, distribution of the people who reside in them, breakdown of information by sex, age, level of education along with social structure, groups and organizations in a given area.
It makes it possible to identify the most vulnerable people, the inequities present, the risks and dangers, the available public services and the social processes that could be relevant in the distribution of benefits.
References
- Clarke, K. (2002). Getting Started with Geographic Information Systems. New Jersey, Prentice Hall.
- Didactic Guide for the Preparation of Risk Perception Maps in Primary Education. Recovered from: www.eird.org.
- Introduction to Map Design. Recovered from: www.esri.com.
- Layout Design Settings / Graphical Semiology. Recovered from: www.gitta.info.
- Maps and Cartography. Recovered from: www.bsu.edu.
- Cartographic representation. Recovered from: geografia.us.es.
- Social Mapping. Recovered from: fauna-flora.org.