1. What areas are unknown or undefined on maps?

Maps are the basic tools of geography, helping us to represent the area and shape of the world on paper. However the degree of accuracy depends on the scale the map has been drawn on and the map projection used. The legend of the map and its title will often give us an idea of what the map is about. There are also color conventions (e.g. blue for water and brown for mountains) that are universally accepted. Different shades of colors can be used to indicate elevation, e.g. green for lower elevation, brown for higher and gray or white for the highest elevation. Areas that are unknown or undefined on maps would be those that have yet to be explored in detail, mainly due to inaccessibility or extreme weather conditions. While we can get an idea of their relative scale and shape, the details have yet to be found, evaluated and put on paper. The shape of the earth is constantly changing, and maps have to be updated to represent this fact.

2. Why is most of the world disjointed and out of scale on maps?

The simple reason for this is that while the earth is round, maps are flat. Therefore if we try to represent the cylindrical earth on a map which is on a flat surface, the world would appear disjointed and out of scale. Though map- makers (cartographers) try to minimize distortion, they cannot be perfect. Maps may have distortions in the relative sizes of the Earth’s landforms, or maps may distort the shape of the landforms. Maps that minimize area distortion are called equal area maps. Maps that minimize shape distortion are called conformal maps. Cartographers have devised a number of map projections in order to make maps as accurate as possible. There is the planar (azimuthal) projection, the conic projection and the cylindrical projection.

In the planar projection, the most accurate point of the map is at its center. It is prepared as if the globe touches the paper at exactly one point. Maps with this projection are often used to depict the poles. In the conic projection, it is as if the globe and paper touch each other at one circle around the globe. In the cylindrical projection, the map is prepared as if the globe were standing upright, with the North Pole at the top, and the map touching the globe at the Equator. Places near the Equator would be the least distorted, while distortion would increase as we moved nearer to the poles.