Lecture 5 + Chapter 5

Question 1

what is a cartogram

Answer 1

distort or warp the geography of the area of interest to represent some variable

Question 2

what is simplification

Answer 2

a type of cartographic generalization in which the important characteristics of a feature are determined - unwanted detail are eliminated to = clarity
- EX: toronto subway map - doesn’t show the full distances between stops bc its not needed

Question 3

what is a flow map

Answer 3

shows movement between different places
- lines that indicate the volume of flow by their width

Question 4

what are dot density maps

Answer 4

using dots of the same size to represent features and their densities
- one-to-one or one-to-many
- EX: John Snow cholera map - each dot represents a death

Question 5

what is an advantage of dot density maps

Answer 5

dots make clustering and density patterns visible without using colours
- good for colour blind people

Question 6

what is a disadvantage of dot density maps

Answer 6

• hard to determine precise numbers without counting all the dots
• the placement of low scale maps = invasion of privacy

Question 7

what is a choropleth map

Answer 7

a thematic map type
- displays quantitative attributes
- varying in colours
- represents measures within specific regions or areas
EX: population density maps
- darker shades = higher density
- lighter shades = lower density

Question 8

what is an advantage of choropleth maps

Answer 8

easy to read

Question 9

what is a disadvantage of choropleth maps

Answer 9

can be misleading if the data is not standardized correctly
(ensure meaningful comparison)

Question 10

what is standardization

Answer 10

allows for areas of different sizes and shapes to be compared
- normalizing/adjusting data so that it can be compared to a variety of geographic data
- ensures comparisons are more accurate
-

Question 11

what are the 2 types of standarization

Answer 11

1. spatial standardization (adjusting populations by area to reflect density
2. non-spatial standardization (adjusting data to make it easier to relate - taking percentages)

Question 12

what is classification

Answer 12

helps to simplify data by grouping values into a smaller number of categories
- instead of having a map with 50 different legend stuff - make 5 different maps and categorize them on each map

Question 13

what are the 5 different classification methods

Answer 13

equal interval
quantile
natural breaks
geometric
standard deviation

Question 14

what does equal interval as a classification method mean

Answer 14

the range of data is divided into equal-sized intervals
- population density legends are split into ranges like 0-100, 100-200

Question 15

what is an advantage and disadvantage of equal interval classification

Answer 15

ADV: works best when its evenly distribution
DIS: creates empty classes or skewed results when the data has outliners (very small or very large)

Question 16

what is quantile as a classification method

Answer 16

divides data so that each class contains an equal number of observations - making the map visually balanced

Question 17

what are advantages and disadvantages of quantile classification

Answer 17

ADV: equal representation - if you were to add up all the areas for each section it would be equal
DIS: classes are all different sizes

Question 18

what is natural breaks as a classification method

Answer 18

maximizes differences between classes and minimizes differences within classes
- most appropriate for naturally clustered data
- EX: population densities using natural breaks to show better distribution of people in urban and rural countries

Question 19

what is geometric classification method

Answer 19

geometric series with multiplicatively increasing or decreasing class widths
- approximately doubling (so it still represents the data but in values that multiply - x2, x3)
- most appropriate for highly skewed data

Question 20

what is standard deviation as a classification method

Answer 20

calculates the z-scores for each observation
shows where observations are far above or far below
<2.5
<0.50

Question 21

what is generalization

Answer 21

simplifies the amount of detail on a map to make it clearer and uncluttered
- important on small-scale maps

Question 22

what are the 4 types of generalization

Answer 22

-elimination (removing details)
-simplification (smoothing out complex features - removing coastlines)
-combination (merging objects to reduce visual clutter - better for small scale maps)
-displacement (moving a feature can help readability