Week #1

#1
http://www.infoperu.com/en/view.php?p=5

This map comes from one of the official tourism sites for Peru.  It is a map for tourists with depictions of roads, towns, and mountains between Cuzco and Machu Picchu.  The elevations on the map are represented by different colors.  The legend of the map displays information about elevations and types of roads.  Instead of using contour line, the elevations are marked by a color, which, in my opinion serves its purpose to inform tourists about the general topography of the area.  However, the idea of assigning a color to a defined area to represent altitude makes the map less precise, since one can only deduce an elevation range as opposed to the exact altitude.  The size of the town is represented by the size of the dot marking it on the map, which again, is not a precise indicator of population.   I find this map interesting because of its emphasis on tourist destinations in relation to the altitude of the area, since altitude is a concern as many tourists get altitude sickness when they go to Cuzco.

#2

http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/mapping-the-united-states-politically-speaking/

 

This is a map from the Center for Politics website that shows the Electoral College votes of each state.  The size of each state is distorted to reflect the number of votes that they have in each national election.

I found this map interesting because it depicts states such as Florida, California, and New York completely out of proportion in order to depict their influence in national elections.  The map gives voters a clear idea of what the Electoral College looks like by manipulating the sizes of each states.  As a result, I find this map very interesting, since it is a way to inform me about electoral votes and each state’s importance in the upcoming national election. 

#3

http://www.worldofmaps.net/en/europe/map-switzerland/topographic-map-switzerland.htm

This is a topographic map of Switzerland with the names of the major cities marked on it.  It comes from a general map website, and gives the viewer a basic overview of the geography and major landmarks in the country.  I selected this map because it is the standard type of map that I look at for my work.  Oftentimes, this is the base map on which we put the locations of archaeological sites.  I find this particular map interesting because it shows the spatial relationship between major geographical features (mountain ranges, etc.) and major cities in Switzerland.