Cartographer Activity                                   Name: _____________________ Hour:___

 

You are the Chief Cartographer for a major publication (ie: Time, Newsweek, New York Times, etc.).  Your job description is to work with the design teams which create the layout for geographic information that is presented within an article.  Specifically, you manage a team of cartographers and it is your job to approve the maps that they create.

 

Assignment:

 

  1. Find a map from a newspaper or magazine (preferably recent) that is dealing with a current event.
  2. Make a copy of the map but also keep the original.
  3. Deconstruct the map and write your observations, using the Deconstructing Maps worksheet
  4. Modify the map, using the copy that you made, that presents an alternative viewpoint.  Make notes of changes directly on the map copy.
  5. Write a one page explanation of possible reasons for the alteration, from the perspective of the Chief Cartographer.