Cartography Quiz On Map Designs

A cartographer is a specialist who creates maps. They gather geographic data, choose symbols and colors, and use modern tools like GIS and satellite imagery to produce accurate and readable maps.

A compass needle is a small magnet. It aligns with the Earth’s magnetic field, which has magnetic north and south poles. The needle points toward magnetic north, allowing the user to determine all other directions.

Lines of longitude are called meridians. They run from the North Pole to the South Pole and measure how far east or west a place is from the Prime Meridian.

A globe is a 3D model of the Earth. It shows the true shape, tilt, rotation, and proportions of continents and oceans, which flat maps cannot show accurately.

Ancient Greece played a major role in the early development of cartography. Greek scholars such as Eratosthenes, Ptolemy, and Anaximander created some of the first scientific maps of the world and because of their early advancements, Greece is recognized as one of the foundational contributors to modern mapmaking.

A neat line is the border drawn around a map to show exactly where the map area begins and ends. It keeps the map clean, organized, and visually separate from the page around it. It helps readers focus only on the mapped area and improves the overall presentation.

One degree of latitude is almost the same distance anywhere on Earth — about 69 miles (≈111 km). Latitude lines run east–west and are evenly spaced, so the distance does not change from place to place.

The Earth rotates 360° in 24 hours.

So, 24 hours = 1,440 minutes

When we divide, 1,440 minutes by 360 degrees, we get 4 minutes per degree.

So as the Earth spins, each degree of longitude represents a 4-minute difference in time.

Herman Moll (often spelled Moli) was a famous cartographer known for creating beautifully illustrated maps. His most famous work is the “Beaver Map,” named after the detailed drawing of beavers building a dam on it. The map combined science, exploration, and artistic decoration.

Cartographers commonly classify maps into three major design types:

1. General reference maps – show many features (roads, rivers, cities).

2. Thematic maps – show one theme (climate, population, rainfall).

3. Cartometric maps – used for calculating distance, area, or directions.