How Places Change Over Time: Maps

Question 1

Who needs maps?

Answer 1

People driving to somewhere they haven’t been before
Taxi drivers
Emergency service vehicles
Lorry/delivery drivers
Hikers

Question 2

What should maps have on them?

Answer 2

• grid lines
• compass
• scale (1cm =1km)
• correct proportion

Question 3

3 facts about the Mercator map:

Answer 3

• distorts the size of Countries
• the northern hemisphere is at the top (because the uk was richest country at the time)
• Eurocentric (Europe is larger but also in the middle of the map)

Question 4

Why is google maps not always objective?

Answer 4

They are biased towards bigger businesses, will be shown on the map without having to zoom in as much. More prominent to see. Bigger businesses will pay map creators to have their business seen before other ones

Question 5

Why are some maps drawn in a biased or inaccurate way historically?

Answer 5

When they were used for navigation/sailing, they couldn’t get the correct angle on a flat.
Countries that held a higher status/were wealthier put themselves bigger and more obvious on a map

Question 6

What is counter mapping?

Answer 6

Describes a bottom up process by which people produce their own maps, informed by their own knowledge and understanding of place

Question 7

What did the cartographer Adam Dant (map maker) do?

Answer 7

Illustrated a map of Spitalfields in east London with fifty portraits of the people who made the area distinctive. On the reverse of the map, stories of all those portraits on the front are provided, plus a guide to the essential landmarks and destinations. The result is that not only does the map provide factual information but it also conveys a sense of place

Question 8

What did Charles booth do?

Answer 8

Made maps of Victorian London (1886). The maps were colour coded to show upper, middle and lower class
These were biased as it was his opinion