Geographic methods. Map location and measurement
The map is the distinctive data bank of the geographer. Since geography deals particularly with locations, distributions, areal associations, and interrelationships of phenomena in space, accurate observation and measurement of the surface of the Earth and the recording and displaying of location on maps are of prime importance.
Latitude and longitude are commonly utilized for plotting locations on the surface of the globe. Fairly accurate measurements of latitude were made in antiquity by Greek scholars. Measurements of longitude remained rough1, however, because of the difficulty in measuring differences in solar time (the Sun “moves” westward at the mean rate of one degree each four minutes). The perfection of the chronometer solved this problem, but for long each country had its own system for numbering the meridians. Finally, by an international agreement reached in 1884, an imaginary line from pole to pole through Greenwich, near London, was recognized as the prime meridian. Measurement of direction, was aided considerably by use of the magnetic compass, but as Christopher Columbus noted in crossing the Atlantic, the direction in which the compass pointed varied with longitude.
The measurement of distances overland could be counted in days of journey on foot, by camel, by horse, or by other means. More accurate measurements of short distances were obtained by using a chain2, and the chain as a unit of length (66 feet) is still a traditional surveying measure in English-speaking countries. Later, the chain itself was replaced by a steel tape, and still later electronic instruments came into use. A practical measurement of distances at sea was developed in the 16th century: a log3 was thrown overboard and the amount of time it took the stationary log to play out a certain distance on a line marked off with knots4 was measured. Navigation by means of satellites is now available, but a ship’s speed is still measured in knots and records are kept in a logbook5. After the adoption of the metre as a standard unit in France in the late 18th century, it gradually replaced older local and national measures of distance over much of the world during the 19th and 20th centuries.
Maps of small areas – topographic maps, for example – can be made by a method called triangulation6. A base-line is measured with chains or other devices, and by using this base as one side of a triangle the other sides are calculated from the angles at the two ends of the base-line. Angles can be measured more easily and accurately than distances, and from the points on the corners of the original triangle, a network of points joined by triangles can be established. Triangulation was known to the ancient Egyptians and Greeks; with improved instruments, especially the theodolite, this method was utilized in the great national surveys of Europe and America from the 18th to the 20th century. How to represent the entire, spherical Earth or large areas of it on maps remained a problem. In 1492 the German navigator and geographer Martin Behaim completed the construction of a terrestrial globe. Ships following straight lines on flat maps, however, did not arrive at expected points. Mercator devised a map projection – which became known as the Mercator projection – on which ships following straight lines would arrive at the plotted points7. Modern geographers use maps drawn in what is called the equal-area projection, but even this projection distorts shapes or distances, particularly toward the edges of the map.
With the inceasing specialization of knowledge, measuring the shape of the Earth developed into the discipline of geodesy. Plotting land positions for detailed maps became the province of surveying, and constructing numerous types of maps with appropriate projections grew into the field of cartography. Maps have remained as the basic tools in geography for plotting and analyzing a vast range of physical, biologic, historical, economic, political, and social data.
Notes:
1. rough – приблизительный
2. chain – мерная цепь (= 66 фут. » 20 м)
3. log – лаг (навигационный прибор для измерения скорости хода судна и пройденного расстояния)
4. knot – узел (мера скорости = 1,87 км/ч)
5. log book – вахтенный журнал, бортовой журнал
6. triangulation – триангуляция (тригонометрическая съемка)
7. plotted points – места, участки, нанесенные на карте
Ex. 1. Put the following sentences in the logical order.
1. After the adoption of the metre in the 18th century, it gradually replaced older local and national measures of distance.
2. Latitude and longitude are commonly utilized for plotting locations on the surface of the globe.
3. Maps have remained the basic tools in geography.
4. Measurement of direction was aided considerably by use of the magnetic compass.
5. Triangulation was known to the ancient Egyptians and Greeks.
6. More accurate measurements of short distances were obtained by using a chain.
7. Maps of small areas can be made by a method called triangulation.
8. Modern geographers use maps drawn in what is called the equal-area projection.
Ex. 2. What problems can be discussed with the help of the following groups of words?
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.
Text D
Task. Read the text and get ready to do the exercises after it.
The Round Earth on Flat Paper
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.
1. Which of the following does the text mainly discuss?
a) a variety of geographic tools
b) modern tools of geography
c) maps and globes
d) aerial photographs
2. The word tool is closest in meaning to
a) method
b) instrument
c) apparatus
d) model
3. According to the text, what are the major disadvantages of globes?
a) A globe provides the most accurate representation of the shape of the earth
b) Globes make impossible to look at India and Canada at the same time
c) Globes represent the entire earth
d) They are not practical to use
4. Which of the following is true about the major disadvantage of maps?
a) They can show the detailed features of an area
b) The problem of showing a three-dimensional object
c) The problem of distortion
d) Maps vary in size to from small ones to huge wall maps
5. Where is the oldest preserved globe kept?
a) Greece
b) Italy
c) Russia
d) Germany
6. What conclusion can be made about the most useful map properties?
a) Maps can be rolled and folded and are easy to carry around.
b) Maps vary in size and purpose.
c) Maps can present a variety of information about an area.
d) Maps illustrate many topics using different colours and symbols.
7. The word advantage is closest in meaning to
a) possibility
b) opportunity
c) something useful
d) success
8. Why is the global grid significant?
a) It accurately represents the direction and distance from one place to another.
b) It represents parallels and meridians.
c) It represents the true shape of the earth.
d) It represents the entire earth.
9. The most important problem touched upon in the text is:
a) The role of globes
b) The role of maps
c) The most useful map properties
d) The advantages and disadvantages of maps and globes
Ex. 2. Write out the key words form the text and reproduce it using these words and word combinations.
Dialogue
Ex. 1. Read the dialogue and say who the people talking might be to each other.
| 1. | Why don’t you begin by telling me something about yourself? |
| 2. | What do you want to know? |
| 1. | The usual – you know – something about your background and experience and anything personal. |
| 2. | Well, I was born in Iowa and went to school there. My father is a chemist, and my mother is a biologist. |
| 1. | Sounds as if you come from a professional family. |
| 2. | That’s right. One of my sisters is an ecologist and the other one teaches geography at a university. |
| 1. | And what made you decide to get into geology? |
| 2. | Oh, nothing in particular, I guess, I always liked collecting different stones and minerals and things like that. |
| 1. | Now what about your experience? How long have you been working in this field? |
| 2. | More than five years now. |
| 1. | You’ve got a degree in mineralogy, haven’t you? |
| 2. | Just a Masters degree. After I did my degree, I began to specialize in ecology, dealing with a whole series of environmental issues. |
| 1. | Sounds like an interesting field. By the way, could you explain me one thing? What’s the difference between an environmentalist, an ecologist and a conservationist? |
| 2. | Well, a conservationist is really someone who, in my mind, wants to keep things exactly as they are, and, as long as they can keep the world around them in the same familiar shape that they’ve always known it, then they’re happy. An environmentalist is someone who accepts that there’s going to have to be a change, but they want that change to be of such a kind that it doesn’t destroy the earth’s resources, or cause too much pollution, or anything else. An ecologist is likely to look a lot deeper than that, into the economic and political systems that govern our lives, and to understand that there are going to have to be profound political and economic changes if we’re going to preserve the environment. So it’s a sequence, if you like, or a hierarchy of depth, in terms of the extent to which one looks at the root causes of what’s going wrong. And think that the ecological movement, or the green movement, as I call it, is more radical, because it goes right to the root of what’s going wrong. You can actually be an environmentalist, and get away with thinking that the systems aren’t going to change much. It’s an illusion, but a lot of people do it. |
| 1. | Oh, thank you very much. |
Ex. 2. Reproduce the dialogue: a) abridged; b) in the form of a monologue using the following verbs:
to wonder, to know, to ask, to be interested in, to confirm, to want to know, to explain, to compare, to respond.
Listening Comprehension
Text “Geography”
Part A. Pre-listening Activities
Task 1. Make sure that you know the following words and phrases.
descriptive – описательный
to list facts – составлять список фактов
landmark – веха
to evolve – развиваться
to cause a great stir – вызвать (произвести) сенсацию; возбудить общий интерес
to be content – довольствоваться (чем-либо)
inquisitiveness – любознательность
Task 2. Before listening answer the following questions.
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.
Task 2. Listen to the tape recording once more and complete the sentences.
1. The simplest definition of geography is … .
2. Early geography was concerned mainly with … .
3. One of the most important landmarks in the history of geography is …
4. Ch. Darwin suggested that … .
5. This idea set people … .
6. Geographers began to think of the … .
7. Modern geography not only describes the surface of the earth, it also … .
Part C. After listening activities
Task 1. Discuss in pairs the information you’ve just listened to.
Task 2. Summarize the information about geography in earlier times and the changes that the science of geography has undergone.
Revision
Ex. 1. Fill in the text with the appropriate word from the box.
| across, existing, sculpture, constructed, stainless, lands, scholar, accurate, exists |
The first globes were built by ancient Greeks. The earliest known globe was said to have been (1) _____ by the (2) _____ Crates about 150 B.C. An ancient celestial globe that still (3) _____ was made about 150 A.D. as part of a (4) _____ , called the Farnese Atlas, in the Naples Museum, Italy. The oldest (5) _____ terrestrial globe was built in Germany, in 1492. This globe does not show the Americas. As new (6) _____ were discovered in the 16th and 17th centuries, globes became more (7) _____ . The world’s largest globe is the Unisphere, which was built for the 1964 New York World’s Fair. This (8) _____ steel globe is 37 m (9) _____ and weighs 408,000 kg, including its base.
Ex. 2. Translate the following text into Russian (in writing).
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.
1. Различные подходы к изучению географии привели к развитию других областей знаний.
2. Физическая география – это наука о природной среде и о взаимоотношениях живых организмов в этой среде. Она изучает формы земной поверхности и водных объектов, климат, почвенный покров, растения и животных.
3. Политическая география изучает управление в регионах, территориальные приобретения, политические границы и формы правления.
4. Экономическая география изучает ресурсы и их использования, сельское хозяйство и землепользование, мировую торговлю.
5. Историческая география изучает, как с течением времени менялись взаимоотношения между людьми и окружающей их средой.
Ex. 4. Render the following text in English.