Thematic Map

This thematic map illustrates crime, and the presence of increase or decrease, between 1978 and 1998 for four divisions of violent crime.

Thematic maps use a base map to superimpose information onto about a specific subject. This could be from a tremendous variety of topics: income, crime, water quality, diseases, etc. Color, intensity, shading, proportional shapes and many other techniques can be used to illustrate the information. According to our class notes, the equivalent projection is chosen most often for thematic maps, in order to provide a more accurate balance.

This particular sample uses proportional shapes to show increases, by percent, in the orange toned pie charts and decreases in the blue pie charts. With a brief visual overview, it's clear that the increasing occurence is predominant.

Snowy Range Wyoming Topographic Map

Topographic maps portray vertical "relief" dimensions using contour lines. These lines are closer together where the elevation is increasing; the amount of verticle change is larger within a short distance.

We lived at the base of the Snowy Range for awhile; it is breathtaking. The photo included is provided to give some additional personal perspective, but the topographic map's contour lines very clearly show the steep front face.

http://www.wallpaperdave.com/wsr006.jpg

Planimetric Map

As an example of a Planimetric Map, I have used my home town as the focus. Newport Beach, California is a nice SoCal location, and at the southern end of the Balboa Peninsula is the infamous "Wedge" of surfing fame. (I'll bring this up again in a future map type!)

Planimetric maps are distinguished by being a "surface map" and most well recognized as street maps. The horizontal features are depicted and the vertical are not included in planimetric maps.

Best (and final, I promise) Mental Map Sample

Just included for fun....

Another Mental Map

When studying mental maps- which are influenced and produced from personal perceptions and experiences- I came across this antique map, the "Carta Marina" produced in 1539. There are seemingly fictitious sea creatures lurking in the ocean, as well as many other details on land and sea. It appears to illustrate a type of mental mapping. However, it is possible that the locations of the "perceptions" of sea monsters, actually correlate to sea currents and eddies that could pose a danger to ships, according to a British article on 04/05/2004.

(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/digitallife/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2004/05/05/ecnmap04.xml)

How purposeful the placement of the sea monsters was, is not certain. Could it be a "coinci-mental" map?

Mental Map

This map was self described by the person providing it to a web posting as "totally my own mental map, of how I perceive the West .." This fits in with the class readings for the week and a web definition search for mental maps; these maps are individually created maps influenced by the creator's cognitive and perceptual understanding of his or her environment.