Identifying Main Ideas

Location on Earth- Perhaps as soon as people began to communicate with each other, they also began to develop a lanquage of location, using landscape features as directional cues. Today, we still use landmarks to help us find our way. When ancient peoples began to sail the oceans, they recognized the need for ways of finding directions and describing locations. Long before the first compass was developed, humans understood that the positions of the sun and the stars - rising, setting, or circling the sky - could provide accurate locational information. Observing relationships between the sun and the stars to find a position on Earth is a basic skill in navigation, the science of location and wayfinding. Navigation is basically the process of getting from where you are to where you want to go.

Maps and Mapmaking- The first maps were probably made by early humans who drew locational diagrams on rocks or in the soil. Ancient maps were fundamental to the beginnings of geography as they helped humans communicate spatial thinking and were useful in finding directions. The earliest known maps were constructed of sticks or were drawn on clay tablets, stone slabs, metal plates, papyrus, linen, or silk. Throughout history maps have become increasingly more common, as a result of the appearance of paper, followed by the printing press, and then the computer. Today, we encounter maps nearly everywhere.

Maps and Mapmaking- Maps and globes convey spatial information through graphic symbols, a "language of location," that must be understood to appreciate and comprehend the rich store of information that they display. Although we typically think of maps as being representations of Earth or a part of its surface, maps and globes have now been made to show extraterrestrial features such as the moon and some of the planets.

Cartography- Cartography is the science and profession of mapmaking. Geographers who specialize in cartography supervise the development of maps and globes to ensure that mapped information and data are accurate and effectively presented. Most cartographers would agree that the primary purpose of a map is to communicate spatial information. In recent years, computer technology has revolutionized cartography.

Cartography- Cartographers can now qather spatial data and make maps faster than ever before - within hours - and the accuracy of these maps is excellent. Moreover, digital mapping enables mapmakers to experiment with a map's basic characteristics (for example, scale, projections), to combine and manipulate map data, to transmit entire maps electronically, and to produce unique maps on demand.