Geographical Resources

Evaluation of Geographical Resources

Print Atlas

National Geographic Atlas of the World, Eighth Edition. (2005).

Publisher consideration: National Geographic Atlas of the World was first founded in 1915; Alfred H. Bumstead had a reputation as a genius Chief cartographer from 1915 – 1939. Sally Summerali and Allen Caustl are the Chief cartographers for the eighth edition; they used up-to-date satellite data to create atlas layouts. They use GIS and GPS, technology which helps to provide precise, detailed information.

Scale of Maps: Scales vary on each page. On one page, the scale is 1: 5,321,000; 1 centimeter = 53.2 kilometers; 1 inch = 84.0 miles (page 42).

Currency: Copyright is 2005. There are 15,000 changes from an earlier version. Since the world is in constant flux, there is a link to each political map to a direct internet address that provides updated information. The eighth edition includes a map of the ocean floor and Martian landscape. The host of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games is mentioned under the heading of British Columbia, Canada. National Geographic Atlas of the World, eighth edition (2005) includes a web site with a user name and password – www.nationalgeographic.com/maps/atlas/

Format: Large (on a map stand in the reference section), appealing to students, and easy to use. Pictures are colourful and vivid. Intended audience is grade nine to adult. Place names occur on physical, political, thematic, and city maps, as well as in summaries of the world’s 192 nations and other territories. Everything from political upheaval to remote forest trails is recorded. Before the index are brief profiles of the nations and their flags, which features geographical information about countries, including physical and cultural statistics as area (size), capital, population, religion, language, literacy, life expectancy, currency, economy, and GDP per capita (measurement of income per person).

Index: There are more than 140,000 names designate places on 72 maps and in the 134 page index of this Atlas. It is very easy to locate places. The maps include latitudinal and longitudinal lines. I looked for Prince George, BC, Canada (42 N7) in the index. The page (42), and grid reference - N (vertical reference letter) 7 (horizontal reference letter) were very easy to locate.

Print Atlas

Morrow, Robert. (2004). Pearson School Atlas. Toronto: Pearson Education Canada.

Publisher consideration; Pearson Education is a very reputable publisher for educational material.

Scale: Scales vary throughout the book. An example for Canada Political is 1: 17 500 000.

Currency: World Statistics are provided from World Fact Book 2002. Canadian Statistics are from Statistics Canada (latest dated is 2002).

Format: Colourful, appealing, and easy to use. Intended audience is secondary students. Contents consist of Canada thematic, political, and physical; Canada Regional – each province political and physical; World thematic, political, and physical; World Regional – political and physical; Atlas Skills; Canada Statistics; World Statistics; Glossary; Thematic Index and Gazetteer. I really like the Glossary and the instructins on how to use the Gazetteer.

Index: Gazetteer in alphabetical order by most appropriate page on which the name appears. Next is the alphanumeric reference, followed by the latitude and longitude.

Overall, both print atlases are easy to use for educational and interest purposes. I do not know if I would have noticed this before I took this course, but I saw someone using the National Geographic Atlas. I also notice a lot more students who are signing out the Pearson Atlas'. I found the National Geographic Atlas very intriguing and was very impressed with the Internet link keeping the resource as current as possible.

Online Geographical Resources

The National Geographic web site and the Lonely Planet Travel Guide are very appealing for a variety of reasons. Lonely Planet Travel guides and Travel Information is a great site for students studying tourism or for users contemplating a trip. Both sites have photo contests.

Atlapedia (http://www.atlapedia.com) is another easy site to navigate. All of these sites are very colourful, interesting, and easy to use. These geographical resources are intended for secondary to adult users. Students at our school love Google Earth (http://earth.google.com/index.html) and Map Quest (http://www.mapquest.com/). I would love to direct students to use these other geographical resources, as well. Advertisements can be a little distracting, but they are not overwhelming.

National Geographic www.nationalgeographic.com/maps/atlas

Users can zoom in and out or move up and down on the page on the National Geographic maps. The satellite view would be appealing to students who like to use Google Earth. Users can click on related links. There is a large variety of thematic, political, and topographical maps. There is a Kids Link. Younger students would enjoy playing games and putting together puzzles.

Atlapedia http://www.atlapedia.comAtlapedia is not as up-to-date as National Geographic. There is a large variety of information for each country; however, when I clicked on Canada, the latest information was from 1993. The information from this site could be used for comparison purposes as to how things have changed since then. The A-Z format is easy to use.

I will give the print version and online version of National Geographic 5 stars for meeting the criteria in Reidling's book. I love the Lonely Planet site; this is a site I would use for peronal use in the future, as well.