Thinking Geographically

This workshop provides an overview of what geography is, with emphasis on the fact that geography is a spatial discipline. The spatial nature of geography means that geographic questions are typically about why some phenomenon occur in some locations and not others, or occur differently at different locations. We then provide an overview of maps, one of the many tools geographers use to answer their spatial questions. This overview goes over the different types of maps (choropleth, proportional symbol, dot density, topographic, etc.), the key elements of maps, map projections, and the limitations of maps.

Contributors

AD

Andrew Ding

Ben Woodward

Ben is an MSc student at the University of Waterloo studying coastal erosion in the Great Lakes. Ben's areas of interest include digital humanities/historical applications of GIS and web maps, geomorphology, and (of course) teaching geography. Outside of his studies, Ben enjoys watching the NBA and playing squash. Ben represented Canada at iGeo in 2018 and 2019, placing third internationally in 2019.

Quiz1

Workshop 1 Quiz1 / 7

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What type of map is this?

AChoroplethBCartogramCTopographicDElectoral