About this Page:
Map scale hasn’t always been my forte. Particularly when it came to figuring out fractions. It required some abstract math witchery that forced me to put myself above the map and into the map at the same time. 1 cm = how many feet on the ground? Ugh. And then you want to go ahead and change the projection?…Needless to say, this page took me awhile as I tried very hard to make the 1 inch:1 mile ratio actually work on your computer screen. But then I realized that it didn’t matter, because some of you will read this on your phone, and others on your 36” iMac. What DOES matter, is when you print it out! Ha! And THAT….is accurate! 🙂
Students always (ok and some teachers) seem to flip flop the large scale/small scale concept. For those of you who work on your tablets, you might appreciate the illustrated hands working Google Earth. Those (and the characters) are courtesy of my illustrator, Dan Harris. The Hong Kong map was done by myself in Autodesk Sketchbook. I took a Google Earth screenshot of Hong Kong at the scale I wanted, imported it into Sketchbook, then gave it a good illustrator trace.
I added mountains in the appropriate places and tried to do the urban areas justice with a gridded pattern brush that I made. I’m not sold on it, but I learned a lot about how to make brushes, stamps, and patterns in the process so I will keep playing with it.
Dan lured me back into the world of rastor art programs (his preferred method). While I am Photoshop literate, Autodesk Sketchbook is pretty wicked. Our students have it available on their iPads at school and I am glad. I think every student should have a good art program at their fingertips. I know what you’re thinking, just use pen and paper! Well, I also agree with that too.
Want a kiddish map-scale game? Go here: Map Scale Game
