Saturday, June 1, 2013

Maps: We Get Around



Interested in maps? You need them when you travel or try to navigate around. Maps are visual representations that show relationships among the mapped items, be they cities or ideas. Atlases are collections of maps. Consider that even websites have site maps. Explore the variety of maps, and how to make them. It’s a fun way to get around.

CONNECT:



CREATE:

  • Personalize your journeys, be they your family’s history or a fantasy trip. It might be your family’s immigration journey. Go to Google Earth (http://earth.google.com/), and download it for free. Follow their directions about adding features to the map.
  • Going on a family car trip – or wish to? Choose a destination across the country, and see how it’s tracked by car on http://maps.yahoo.com. Figure out reasonable stopping times and places. Then use the site to find lodging, dining spots, and local sites. You can use a spreadsheet to calculate the cost of the trip (don’t forget the cost of gas!). Each family member might make their own choices, and then compare the results, or it can be done as a family project.
  • Try your hand at creating an imaginary map. http://www.fantasticmaps.com/ provides great tips and examples.
  • You can map any area, even the moon – or an imaginary place! You can make a map from several types of image documents (jpg, png, gif) by using UMapper (http://www.umapper.com/). You can make a journey through the body, for instance, such as the blood’s journey from the heart, or food from the mouth on down.This application also allows you to create your own geography game.

CARE:



CAREER:
Like maps? You can become a cartographer: a map maker. You are also likely to use a map for many jobs: city planning, pilots, shippers, engineers, GIS programmers, scientists, performers, even writers. Here are some career leads that involve mapping skills.
http://www.superscholar.org/careers/technology/mapping-engineer/

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