GEOG187 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Spatial Scale, Electromagnetic Spectrum

• School: University of Waterloo
• Department: Geography and Environmental Management
• Course: GEOG187
• Professor: Peter Johnson

Document Summary

The nominal (principal) scale of a map is the ratio of distance on the map to distance on the earth. Expressed as: verbal statement: 1cm = 1km. The smaller the scale, the more enlarging it is (more detail). Changes of dimensionality (rivers as lines or polygons?) Feature elimination (small cities disappear from large area (i. e. small scale maps)) Continuous vs. discrete features (where does a mountain end?) Add, simplify or clarify information: unify or emphasize elements on a map, add secondary variable. Presents opportunities and challenges: greater range of expression. U(cid:374)(cid:272)ertai(cid:374)ty i(cid:374) reader"s respo(cid:374)se: psychological, cultural. Introduces costs and complexities: with digital mapping, colour is always an option, can be confusing, few common practices, can make extra work for reader. Hue: red, orange, blue, the colours we perceive, summarized on the colour wheel. Value: quality of lightness or darkness, shades of gray, perception influenced by surrounding background. The colour wheel derived from the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.