“A Thematic Map shows the physical distribution of specific data for a geographic area. This style of map shows statistical information rather than topographical information Thematic Maps emphasize a single topic, theme or subject. These maps display information such as agricultural yield, soil type, temperature, climate, economy, crime rates or land ownership”.
1. Remote Areas of the World
This map was obtained from the following source:
http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/mg20227041.500/mg20227041.500-1_1000.jpg
The above map shows the time it would take for one to travel, on the ground, to a major city from anywhere in the world. The methods of travel include roadways, railways, and river ways. From the article accompanying this map I found out that only ten percent of the land is more than 48 hours away from a major city.
Initially what struck me about this map were the colors used as well as the spider web like paths. Further investigation yielded a very interesting map that was slightly confusing. I found it interesting that in order to fully understand what the map was telling you, it was necessary to read the article. This is in contrast with maps I’ve seen in the past where every necessary item needed was covered directly on the map. The useful piece of information, that was in the article yet is nowhere to be seen on the map, is that a population of 50,000 people or more constitutes a “major city”.
2. Total CO2 Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the year 2000, by Country
Source: http://www.clemson.edu/caah/history/FacultyPages/PamMack/lec124/rothman8.html
The above map shows the total CO2 emissions in different countries. As we can see the most CO2 produced is in the United States followed closely by china.
I found this interesting because it is one of the most controversial issues and has lead many politicians to push for “green” energy. The issue is that CO2 “pollution” is causing the temperature of the earth to increase. One of the studies used to “prove” that this was indeed the case yielded the following data. This data is organized in a plot that is simply called “the hockey stick graph”.
This graph has many flaws. The major one is that it completely ignores the medieval warm period. These temperatures were even higher than current day temperatures. As it is true that true that temperatures had been increasing over the period of about a decade temperature measurements over the past few years have shown that the temperature has actually plateaued and is even decreasing slightly. The reason for this is not that we have suddenly become more “green” as it’s been seen that during the past few years the CO2 levels continue to increase. This concerns many people whose research depends on there being a crisis.
3. Where has the internet been censored?
The above map shows the countries where the internet is censored. There are a total of 15 countries that restrict the internet. These countries are “Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Iran, Libya, Maldives, Nepal, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.”
I find it interesting that there are many countries that have restricted access to the internet and some that don’t have internet all together. Life would be so different without the internet seeing as seventy out of one hundred Americans surf there internet on a regular basis. How would we react if our rights were taken from us as they have been in many of the countries listed above?
As for the map itself I found it odd that they chose to cover the entire world, including the seas, with a spider web like mesh. I believe this makes it unclear which countries are “black holes”. This is especially true for smaller countries.
4. Energy Consumption per Capita and Energy Consumption
The two maps above show us information that should be very alarming to us as Americans. The first shows us the amount of energy used by each country. Looking at the key we see that the United States and china are the world’s leading consumers of energy. However when looking at the second map we see that per capita the United States is among the leaders in energy consumption. This means that when looking at the total population present in the U.S. each person is on average consuming more energy than other country in the world. This is in stark contrast with China who is actually among the world leaders in energy consumption per capita.
These maps are interesting to me because when speaking with many of the engineering professors they all point this out as a major problem that needs to be addressed if the United States is to remain an “economic leader”. We either need to look at energy sources such as nuclear power to provide us with more energy to keep up with demand as France has done or we need to reduce our energy consumption.
Note: 75% of Frances total energy needs are currently being bet by nuclear power.
