Map Projections
Maps need projections because Earth has this shape.
What is a sphere?
These are some of the earliest known maps, made on clay tablets.
What are Babylonian maps?
These maps helped sailors travel by showing coastlines and ports.
What are portolan charts?
Indigenous mapping traditions often focus on this instead of distance.
What are relationships or meaning?
This system combines maps with data to analyze patterns.
What is GIS?
This is one of the four things that can be distorted on a map.
What is size, shape, distance, or direction?
These Greek thinkers used latitude and longitude to map the Earth.
Who are Eratosthenes and Ptolemy?
These were often missing from early European maps of the Americas.
Who are Indigenous peoples?
This navigation method uses stars, winds, and ocean patterns.
What is Polynesian wayfinding?
This type of data collection uses satellites or drones to study Earth.
What is remote sensing?
This projection keeps direction accurate and was useful for ocean travel.
What is the Mercator projection?
These maps placed Jerusalem at the center of the world.
What are T‑O maps?
These maps changed place names to reflect European control of land in the Americas.
What are colonial maps?
These carry knowledge and history in Coast Salish mapping.
What are place names?
This GIS feature allows different types of data to be stacked on one map.
What are layers?
This projection is commonly used today because it balances size, shape, and distance.
What is the Winkel Tripel projection?
This was a key achievement of Greek mapping: measuring this about Earth.
What is the size (or circumference) of the Earth?
These valuable items were often highlighted on maps to encourage exploration.
What are gold, land, or natural resources?
These carved wooden maps were used by Inuit to understand ocean currents and safe travel routes.
What are Inuit stick charts?
This is one real-world situation where digital maps help make important decisions.
What is disaster response, urban planning, or emergency services?
This projection breaks up oceans to better show land areas accurately.
What is the Goode Homolosine projection?
These maps combined knowledge from many cultures during the Islamic Golden Age.
What are Al‑Idrisi’s maps (or Islamic Golden Age maps)?
This idea made it easier for Europeans to claim land shown on maps.
What is that the land appeared empty or unoccupied?
This belief about land distinguishes Indigenous mapping from Western ownership‑based maps.
What is that land is relational (not owned but connected)?
These maps are constantly updated in real time and give turn‑by‑turn directions to users.
What are GPS or navigation apps (digital maps)?