Geo 135 Exam 1 Study Questions and Answers Top Graded 2024

Where do our ideas about places come from? - our knowledge of the world is mediated -- media, culture, the internet, school, art, etc. etc. etc. - experiences aren't immediate/direct what are geographical imaginaries? - the collection of assumptions and ideas that we have about places what does geographic literacy entail? - asking the questions: - where does this idea come from? - who made/organized them, and for what purpose? - do they have merit? - do they occupy the correct amount of space in my head? - what are the implications of these ideas? Edward Said's Theory of Orientalism - argued that nations and regions consolidate their national identity by creating a cultural opponent - Orientalism names a European and American way of thinking about the Middle East and Asia (feminine, uncivilized, irrational, mysterious, unchanging) environmental determinist - the cause of something is determined by one's environment What was the main argument in the Dittmer reading? - - Media can unconsciously shape our understanding of current events, past, present, or future - Media can have an impact on an audience's understanding of a people or scenarios - Pop culture reflects changing realities what are maps? - visual representation of some portion of the earth's surface What are maps for? - they tell us where we are in relation to other things; so we know how to get from one place to another What does it mean to say that maps are artifacts? - they can tell us... - level of development of the societies who made them (maritime and materials/agricultural technology) - what different societies understood as the whole world - importance of religion and culture to a society - social hierarchies Why is cartographic literacy needed? - - maps can powerfully shape our understanding of places - also often seem unauthoratative and neutral in spite of the fact that cartographers have a lot of discretion over how maps appear What are different ways that cartographers must make decisions? - - how much of the earth to represent - what projection to use - categories are questionable - choices of color - inaccuracy - shapes/design/patterns/symbols - directional distortions - lables - font size - angle being shown - omission - emphasis what is a projection? - the name we give to the different ways we have of projecting the sphere that is the earth onto a 2-dimensional surface what are the 4 types of distortions for projections? - shape, distance, size/area, and direction what is a conformal map? - map that is accurate with respect to the shape of countries what is the mercator projection? - a type of conformal map that was designed for navigation by Gerardus Mercator in 1569 - preserves shape of countries and directions between them, but distorts size What is an equal area map? - accurate with respect to size/area of countries What was the purpose of the Gall-Peters projection? - a type of equal area map that was interested in alternatives to Eurocentric bias of map projections dominant at that time what are compromise projections? - minimize extreme distortions of size/shape - popular among professional cartographers Examples of compromise projections: - Robinson Projection Winkel-Tripel Projection What is Monmonier's main argument in the reading? - - it's essential to lie with maps and distort reality -Maps are made not just to inform, but to promote certain things - White lies are necessary - cartographers are not licensed; anyone can make a map