What maps are there

The field of geography relies on many different types of maps in order to study the features of the earth. Some maps are so common that a child would recognize them, while others are used only by professionals in specialized fields.

Some of the most common types are political, physical, topographic, climate, economic, and thematic maps. A political map does not show topographic features like mountains. It focuses solely on the state and national boundaries of a place. These maps also include the locations of cities large and small, depending on the detail of the maps. A typical example of a political map would be one showing the 50 U.

A physical map is one that documents landscape features of a place. These maps generally show things like mountains, rivers, and lakes. Bodies of water are commonly shown in blue. Mountains and elevation changes are sometimes shown with different colors and shades to show elevation. On physical maps, greens usually indicate lower elevations while browns usually indicate higher elevations. This map of Hawaii is a physical map. Low elevation coastal regions are shown in dark green, while the higher elevations transition from orange to dark brown.

Rivers are shown in blue. A topographic map is similar to a physical map in that it shows different physical landscape features. Unlike physical maps, though, this type of map uses contour lines instead of colors to show changes in the landscape. Contour lines on topographic maps are normally spaced at regular intervals to show elevation changes e.

When lines are close together, it means the terrain is steep. A climate map shows information about the climate of an area. These maps can show things like the specific climatic zones of an area based on the temperature, the amount of snow an area receives, or the average number of cloudy days. Time zones do not follow lines of longitude. Instead they mostly follow political boundaries, with many variations made for social and commercial convenience.

Click to enlarge this time zone map compiled by the Central Intelligence Agency. Time zones are regions of the world where people set their clocks to display the same time of day. This synchronization of time has many commercial, navigational, and social benefits. By international agreement there are 24 time zones around the world. These 24 zones are shown in the accompanying time zone map. In each of these zones, noon occurs at the approximate time of the solar mid-day.

The actual solar noon occurs a little earlier in the east side of the time zone and a little later in the west. This variation is caused by Earth's rotation. Time zone maps are reference maps that people use to determine the time in different parts of the world. For example if a person in New York City wants to phone a person in Los Angeles, he can look at a time zone map and determine that New York City time is three hours ahead of Los Angeles time. This helps people to avoid placing calls outside of business hours and helps people in different time zones schedule meetings and phone calls at mutually agreeable times.

Time zones are usually superimposed on a political map of the world or a map of a large single country such as the United States. The roads and city streets can faintly be seen through the translucent colors of the geologic units. The western portion of the map is underlain by Quaternary sediments, while the eastern portion is underlain by folded and intensely faulted bedrock.

Dotted lines show the probable traces of faults buried below the Quaternary sediments. Geologic maps of this area can be important first tools in conducting an earthquake hazard assessment. Graymer, U. Geologic maps show the types of rocks and sediments present immediately below the surface of a geographic area. Sediment cover is shown in shades of yellow, and rock units are shown in a variety of colors, often based upon their lithology.

Rock unit contacts, faults, folds, and strike and dip measurements are plotted in black. Geologic maps are important data sources for many types of work. Certain types of rock are used for construction materials, and a geologic map shows where they are located at the surface. Other types of rock might contain valuable minerals , and a geologic map can be used as a preliminary tool for deciding where to drill or prospect.

Areas near volcanoes might be underlain by lava flows, lahar deposits, pyroclastic flows or other volcanic products. Geologic maps can be used to conduct a preliminary volcanic hazard assessment of an area.

Construction projects require good foundation materials and sources of crushed stone and other materials. Geologic maps can be used for the preliminary work of identifying potentially stable sites near economic sources of suitable construction materials.

Geologic Cross-Section illustrating the subsurface structure of rocks in the map area above. This cross-section represents a southwest-northeast slice through the map area, showing folds, faults, a sediment lens and a view of the creeping portion of the Hayward Fault. Geologic maps are made by geologists in the field who identify, sample, and measure the rocks.

Because rocks are not exposed in all locations - especially in areas with heavy vegetation - they are often based upon fragmentary information. This fragmentary information can be supplemented when construction projects, landslides , stream erosion and other events expose rock beneath previously unobserved areas.

As a result, geologic maps can be refined and updated as new information is obtained. Most geologic maps are usually accompanied by at least one cross-section that illustrates what is expected to be seen if a "slice through the Earth" was cut across the map area.

These cross-sections illustrate the geologic structures inferred by mapping the rocks and sediments above. They do the fieldwork, prepare the maps, publish them, and offer them to the public in digital and paper formats. Zip Code Map: This map shows some of the zip codes in the state of Connecticut. They are usually plotted over a base map that shows the roads and streets within the zip code area. The United States Postal Service assigns zip codes for a section of a street, a collection of streets, an establishment, a structure, a group of post office boxes, or the area serviced by a single post office for the delivery of mail.

Rather than consisting of geographic areas, zip codes are more in conformance with a group of mail delivery routes. In sparsely populated areas, a single zip code can cover many square miles, but in cities a zip code can be assigned to a single building or to an organization with a campus of buildings.

Businesses make valuable use of zip code maps by matching them to zip code tabulation data compiled by the United States Census Bureau. This data characterizes the population within a zip code by age, gender, race, national origin, income, housing, and much more. Companies can use this information to determine if they want to market to people within that zip code and how they want to market. They can also coordinate their mailings with the United States Postal Service to deliver their marketing materials to zip codes where demographic data suggests a high density of potential customers.

Weather Map showing projected high temperatures for Sunday, July 29, This is one of the many types of weather maps prepared by the National Weather Service of the United States and published online for anyone to use.

Visit their website at weather. People use an incredible number of weather maps. They are used to show predicted temperatures, predicted precipitation, storm warnings of various kinds, wind speed and direction, chance of precipitation, type of precipitation, snow accumulation, frost prediction and many other aspects of weather. All of these weather maps are continuously updated to communicate the most current information. They are the world's most frequently consulted thematic maps.

Weather maps are presented in newspapers, television programs and especially on websites. Delivering weather maps on websites and through web apps gives people around the world instant access to weather information. Many weather maps are animated maps that show historical or projected changes in the weather. These are extremely useful for people who need to know how changes in weather will impact their travel, workday, recreation, and many other plans.

Species Distribution Maps show where certain plant or animal species can be found. This map shows where different types of bears live in North America. The area normally inhabited by a plant or animal species can be mapped. These maps are made by compiling the locations where qualified people have repeatedly observed that species in the wild.

The resulting maps show by color or pattern the geographic area where that species is encountered. These maps are known as "species distribution maps" or "geographic range maps. That map was made by overlaying the geographic ranges of black bears, grizzly bears, and polar bears on a single map.

Because the geographic ranges of these three species overlap, it is possible to be in an area where a person might encounter one, two, or even three different species. There are also areas of North America where a person would not expect to encounter a bear. The resulting map is shown in the accompanying image. Income Map: Map showing the median household income of the United States using individual counties as enumeration units. Map by the United States Census Bureau. Click to enlarge.

Income maps are a very common type of thematic map. They show variations of income across a geographic area. The standard mapped variable for an income map is median household income. Income tends to be highly geographic because rural portions of a state or country often have lower median household income than urban areas. Within urban areas, income can also be highly variable because neighborhoods tend to be populated by people with similar income levels.

After each major census, the Bureau updates its set of income maps and makes them available to the public. The Census Bureau also makes "change in income maps". These show which geographic areas have experienced economic growth or economic decline over a specific time interval. Resource Map: Map illustrating the the photovoltaic solar resource of the United States.

It is clear from this map that the solar resource of the United States is greatest in the southwestern part of the country. Citizens, companies and governments can use this map to make decisions about investing in a solar power solution. Thematic maps are often made to communicate the geographic distribution of natural resources.

These maps might show countries with the highest diamond production or the geographic extent of an oil or gas field. The map shown here illustrates the geographic pattern of solar generating capacity for the United States. Resource maps are important because they help governments understand their natural resource assets and the natural resource assets of their allies and potential enemies. Resource maps help mining companies target their exploration efforts.

They are also important for assessing the transportation opportunities and problems associated with the distribution of resources and the location of where they are consumed. The earthquake was felt throughout most of California and into Nevada and Oregon. The map above shows the intensity of ground shaking across the felt area of the earthquake. Intensity levels are shown as a color sequence where red areas experienced the strongest ground shaking and green areas experienced ground shaking that was much less severe.

Read on as we take a look at some of the different map types and their uses. Urban Mobility Optimize on-demand and scheduled mobility operations to enable seamless intermodal journeys.

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