What Is A Map

What is a map? How long have humans been mapping? Basic map reading. What is GIS? Layers. Data. Who uses GIS for what? Start absorbing vocabulary like toolbars, display, table of contents, docked/floating toolbars, context menus, dialog boxes, maps, layers, features, attributes, polygons, lines, points, vector, raster, zoom, scale, thematic maps.

NOTE: you should start working on tutorials (see below) as soon as you can get things set up. Do NOT wait until the morning of the lab to prepare for it.
See also [http://www.infoukes.com/history/inventions/]

Week 2 All Maps Lie: Maps as Abstraction

All maps are abstract representations of reality. We can describe a range of techniques used to accomplish this. We start with maps in general and then move on to GIS in particular. Raster and vector. Continuous and discrete. Scale. Generalization. Extent, unit of analysis, aggregation.

Part I. Map as drawing > map as objects and layers (raster and vector). Scale and zoom.Units of observation/analysis/aggregation (boundary layers as counting trays).

Part II. Sample Case Study Presentation by DJJR "Nonprofit Organization GIS for Strategic Planning and Outreach" ( GISftUE: 323ff).

Read GISftUE: Chapter Two: Spatial Data and Basic Mapping Concepts 25-38
Supplementary Material

Wood, D. & J. Krygier. 2009. "Maps." Elsevier. (pdf)