Geographic methods. Map location and measurement

1. map, to plot; data bank of the geographer; to be of importance, the basic tools in geography, to deal with, geodesy and cartography;

2. latitude and longitude, to plot locations, measurements of longitude, to reach an international agreement, prime meridian, the use of the magnetic compass;

3. measurement of distances, to come into use, a chain, a steel tape, a knot, adoption of a metre, electronic instruments, the theodilite, satellite, a method of triangulation.

Geographers use a variety of tools to carry out their work. The tools that most people identify with geography are those that are still most important to geographers today – globes and maps. Modern geographers, however, also use tools such as aerial photographs, satellite images, and computer programs to help them analyze the interactions between people and their environments. The best tool to use often depends on the geographic theme that is the focus of the research. Globes and maps are useful models of the earth. However, globes and maps do not provide perfect representations of the earth. Each has specific advantages as well as disadvantages.

Globes. The most important advantages of globes relate to their shape. A globe is the only model of the earth in the shape of a sphere, just like the earth. A globe, then, provides the most accurate representation of the shape of the earth. Because it is true to scale, the landmasses and bodies of water the globe illustrates have the same shapes as they do on the earth’s surface. When you look at Greenland on a globe, for example, its true shape is what you see. You can also compare its size to any other land body. In addition, a globe accurately represents the earth’s grid of parallels and meridians, as well as direction and distance from one place to another.

One of the disadvantages of globes is that they often are not practical to use. Globes are expensive and most are too big and bulky to carry around. In addition, people can view only one-half of a globe at a time. This makes it impossible, for example, to look at Canada and India at the same time because they lie on opposite sides of the globe, just as they lie on opposite sides of the earth. Another disadvantage of globes concerns the problem of detail. Because globes represent the entire earth, the individual areas that they illustrate are relatively small. As a result, globes cannot show the detailed features of an area, such as roads, streams, forests, and parks.

The oldest preserved globe is kept and displayed to the public in a museum in Germany. This wooden globe was made in 1492. It is 15 cm in diameter. The globe maker drew on it the land and water bodies that he thought existed. What is interesting about this globe is that it shows the world as Columbus thought of it.

Maps. Maps are flat representations of the earth. Maps vary in size from small maps that appear in pocket size to huge wall maps. Maps also vary in purpose.

One of the most obvious advantages of maps over globes is that they are more convenient to use. Maps can be rolled and folded and are easy to carry around. Maps and related material can also be collected in an atlas to provide an easy-to-use reference. Another advantage of maps is that they can show all of the earth’s surface at one time, or can show specific details.

Maps also can present information about a wide range of topics related to both the physical and cultural features of the earth. Using different colors and symbols, maps can illustrate many kinds of topics, including rainfall, mineral resources, and religions. Presenting such a variety of information about an area often helps geographers to see regions and relationships otherwise difficult to visualize.

On the other hand it is impossible to accurately show a three-dimensional object like the earth on a flat, two-dimensional map. For this reason all maps have one or more inaccuracies, called distortions. The problem of distortion remains the major disadvantage of maps.

Ex. 1. Choose the one best alternative to each question.

to wonder, to know, to ask, to be interested in, to confirm, to want to know, to explain, to compare, to respond.

1. What do you know about the origin of the word geography?

2. What kind of science was geography in earlier times?

3. What kind of science has it become now?

4. Who made great contribution to the development of natural sciences and geography in particular?

Part B. Listening activities

Task 1. As you listen to the tape make brief notes to help you answer the questions asked before.

What is science?

Science arose out of man’s efforts to survive, his natural curiosity, his search for order in a seemingly capricious world. It arose from man’s efforts to understand nature and himself. To science we owe most of our comforts, our leisure, our health and longevity, our ability to mold the environment, to communicate instantly and to move swiftly over the earth.

What is science? Science is first of all a human activity. It is a creative and dynamic activity. It is an expression of human experience. Science involves observation and measurement, imagination and hypothesis, communication and criticism.

In science you study nature and human nature, living nature and non-living nature. There is nothing too small or too large, too distant or too near. It is not so much what a scientist studies as how he studies it, that makes the study of science, arranged in orderly fashion. A scientist is always trying to reduce confusion to plain common sense.

A scientist observes and measures objects and phenomena of physical world. He analyses behaviour of matter and energy. He generalizes from collection of observations and measurements and relationships. He develops theories and uses them as guides to new experiments and observations. Thus, first, a scientist identifies and classifies multiple facts and data. Then, he generalizes and systematizes analogous facts of specific character. Further, he combinations deduces conclusions as to general and systematic character of analogous facts. Finally, he illustrates conclusions with different facts of reality.

What distinguishes science from other activities is that it enables man to see the world “as it really is”. This may mean different things to different men at different times. Over the ages, science has found the world to be flat at one time, round at another and more recently “egg-shaped”, to be the centre of the universe and, later only a speck in the cosmos; to be made up of four fundamental substances and, later, of more than one hundred fundamental substances. This does not mean that science is unreliable. It means that science keeps pace with the times. Science is an occupation for people who are open-minded, who are capable of putting their beliefs to many tests. There is always room for freshness, newness, brightness in it. The openness and freedom of science makes it the most advanced kind of thought mankind has so far developed.

Ex. 3. Translate into English using the vocabulary of the Unit.