Cartograms Lab assignment
Digital Mapping Fall 2016 Lab 5: Cartograms
Name_______________ Section #_____
Objectives:
- To consider how cartograms convey geographic information
- To examine global distribution of population and resources
- To understand the importance of population density for reading election results
- To analyze processes that produce certain spatial patterns
Deliverables: Complete the questions in this document, rename this document section00#_ lastname_firstname_lab06.docx with your name and submit according to Instructor’s instruction. Highlight your answers.
Review Cartograms PowerPoint in Blackboard Course Notes Section
Cartograms: Abstracted and simplified maps in which the sizes of land areas are distorted to represent values other than actual area (eg. population, resources, etc.)
- Worldmapper Cartograms
Open an internet browser and navigate to http://www.worldmapper.org/. From the Worldmapper home page, view the map of Land Area.
- Which map projection from Lab 4 is this map most like? (Mercator, Peters, or Robinson)
In my opinion the Land Area map is more like the Peters from the Lab 4. This map seems to be an actual representation of the size of different areas of the world.
From the Worldmapper home page,
➔ View the map of Total Population.
➔ Click on the Map Categories link at the top.
➔ Click on Movement.
➔ Then click on Net Immigration.
- Briefly, what variable does this map describe?
The variable described in this map are the flow of immigrants to different part of the world. In the map, according to the description of the map, the size of different world regions in the map is the representative of the flow of the immigration to that region. United States has the bigger size in the map which signifies a great flow of immigrant to it which is 37.1 of the world’s net total.
- What parts of the world are receiving the greatest numbers of immigrants?
According to the map, USA stays at the top as it receives the highest number (37.1%) of world’s total immigrants. Western Europe stands a the second place and the Middle East at the third place.
➔ Return to the list of maps under the Movement category
➔ Open the map for Net Emigration.
- What parts of the world have the most people emigrating to other nations?
Mexico lost 8.8 million people who emigrated to other countries. The high rate of immigration to USA is directly linked to the emigration from Mexico as they share a vast border.
Under the tab Map Categories:
➔ Select Goods.
➔ Then click on Crude Petroleum Exports
- What spatial patterns do you see in Crude Petroleum Exports (which parts of the earth are largest and smallest on the cartogram)?
In the cartogram it is obvious that the countries/regions with high rate of petroleum exports are larger in size. For example the Middle East exports 58% of the net total petroleum exports of the world and has the biggest size. Venezuela and Norway also have a bigger size due to the share of their petroleum exports.
Under the tab Map Categories:
➔ Select Goods.
➔ Then click on Crude Petroleum Imports
- What spatial patterns do you see in Crude Petroleum Imports?
This map provides an overview of the different countries and region’s petroleum imports. For example Singapore and USA are bigger in size which means that they have high per person petroleum imports.
- What might you conclude about the relationship between Crude Petroleum Imports and Crude Petroleum Exports?
The relation that I see is the countries that there are specific regions of the world with high petroleum exports and in the same way this petroleum is consumed at specific regions with more intensity than others.
Under Map Categories:
➔ Select Goods.
➔ Then click on Gas & Coal Exports
- What spatial patterns do you see in Gas & Coal Exports?
The map is the representation of the net gas and coal export of a region or country. From the map we can observe that Middle East and Asia Pacific have the highest exports of gas and coal.
Under Map Categories:
➔ Select Goods.
➔ Then click on Gas & Coal Imports
- What spatial patterns do you see in Gas & Coal Imports?
From this map it can be observed that Japan is the country with the most gas and coal imports. Belgium on the other hand has the highest imports based on per person criteria.
- What might you conclude about the relationship between Gas & Coal Imports and Exports?
We can conclude that the countries that export gas and petroleum the most are dependent on the money they earn with it while countries like Japan who import the most gas and coal are industrial countries who use the imported gas and coal for industrial fuel.
- Analyzing Cartograms
Choose a map from Worldmapper that displays a variable that we have not discussed thus far. Take a screen shot of the map (use Windows’ Snipping Tool from the start menu).
Paste screenshot here—screenshot must include map title.
- What variable did you map?
I chose the toy import cartogram. This map provides information about the imports of toys to different regions/countries of the world. This map gives us an idea of the disposable income variable that is used on purchases other than basic necessities.
- What spatial patterns do you see in the map?
It is obvious from USA imports the most toys than any other country of the world. UK stands at second position.
- Why do you think these patterns exist (what are their causes)? Write at least one paragraph, drawing on your knowledge of economic conditions, history, landscapes in different regions, etc.
Speaking about the toys import cartogram, I would say that this signifies the abundance of the financial resources to people is different regions. According to the map USA seems to be the biggest region who import toys for their children. But if we look at the same map, the African continent kind of disappears which tell a story about the financial condition of the people of that region.
- What does this cartogram show that a regular map with color coded regions (called a choropleth map) might not have conveyed as well? Conversely, what do you think a choropleth map might have showed better than the cartogram?
A cartogram uses distorted images of maps while a choropleth shows shaded maps. It depends on what do we need one of them. If we have absolute values, like the population of a place, we can utilize a cartogram. On the other hand if we have ratios and population density data, we can utilize choropleth.
III. Map comparisons and analysis
Compare, contrast and analyze the spatial distribution of electoral behavior as depicted in the cartograms below from the site:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2012/.
Open the site and read the introductory narratives for the maps in each section.
Election results by state
Take a screen shot of the first map depicting election results for the 2012 Presidential
Election by state and interpret it.
- What type of map is it?
It is a choropleth in my opinion as it shows the voting trend with two shades i.e. red and blue and fixed geographical representation.
- What do the colors represent?
The colors represent who won which state in the elections. Red represents Republicans and blue represent the Democrats.
- What do the results of the election appear to be?
From the map it looks like republicans won the elections as the red color is more in area than the blue.
Take a screen shot of the second map depicting election results for the 2012 Presidential Election by state and interpret it.
- What type of map is it?
This is a cartogram as the colors are stretched.
- How does it differ from the first map in how it was constructed?
This map is constructed based on the absolute votes that the presidential candidates got. While the first map has shown a comparison of votes based on state.
- How do the election results appear to differ?
The first map gave an impression that Republican candidate won the elections in 2012 while the present map indicates that the democrats won the presidential elections in 2012 which is a true representation of the actual results.
Election results by county
Take a screen shot of the first map depicting election results for the 2012 Presidential Election by county and interpret it.
- What type of map is it?
This is a choropleth.
- What do the results of the election appear to be?
The results appear to be in favor of the republicans.
Take a screen shot of the second map depicting election results for the 2012 Presidential Election by county and interpret it.
- What type of map is it?
This is a cartogram.
- How do the election results appear to differ from the previous map?
To be very honest, it appears to be a tie.
Take a screen shot of the third map depicting election results for the 2012 Presidential Election by county and interpret it.
- What type of map is it?
This is a normal map.
- How does it differ from the first county map in how it is symbolized?
It is different from the first county map in regards to the absolute depiction of results in the first map while a detailed overview in this map that gives information about how much variation was there in different counties.
- How do the election results appear to differ from the first county map?
In this map the democrat vote has diluted across the counties.
Take a screen shot of the forth map depicting election results for the 2012 Presidential Election by county and interpret it.
- What type of map is it?
It is a cartogram.
- How do the election results appear to differ from the previous map?
In this map e can again see that democrats has a clear presence which kind of disappeared in the previous map.
- Think back over the past two labs (i.e. Climate Change Lab). How are cartograms useful for helping us understand spatial patterns?
Cartograms can help us understand the severity of climate changes based on regions. So if there are greater impacts of the climate change in a specific region, we can enlarge its size to signify the impact of climate changes.
Additional Video Resources:
Graphical Representation of Data: Fundamentals of Geography
