My name is John Windt and I am currently working on a engineering degree at Penn State, University Park. During the school year and for most of the summer I live in State College, but was born and raised in Wilkes-Barre, PA. If you are wondering where this is located like many others are, my usual response is it is in Northeast PA one city over from the famous Scranton, PA (If you are a fan of the show “the Office”). Not much is known about Wilkes-Barre to non-natives, but it is where I will always call home. After completing my education, I plan on returning back to Wilkes-Barre where I will hopefully land the ideal job that will suit my love for creativity and problem solving. My interest in this course stems from my pursuit of an engineering degree, where I can hopefully use my knowledge from Geography 30 to broaden my working abilities.
After reading through the first module, the one thing that stood out as odd or different was the section on Visualization. I was unaware that maps, such as the London subway system that was provided, could be distorted by that much. The question was asked, “which map would you rather have?” I am very curious as to what other people have to say about this because I know that I would prefer a geographically accurate map compared to the shortened version. I also wonder if the geographically distorted maps cause any problems we are unaware of. On another note, I believe that using the maps to study issues on a local level could be one of the most effective ways of studying areas. I believe that today we generalize regions as a whole more often than not. We are quick to stereotype a region based on where it is located on the map. I feel that localized maps can help to differentiate where problems actually occur and how we can prevent them.
Hi John!
My name is Alex and I go to the Worthington branch in Dunmore, so I live in generally the same area as you! I live in Old Forge. I hope all goes well with your major and you find a job that makes you happy when come back!
I chose to comment on your post because I’ve traveled around Philadelphia and NYC via subway. Whereas, you’d think a more detailed map would be better, it’s not! You don’t necessarily need a 100% accurate subway map to get around. You need to know what part of town you need to get to, what direction — N S E W — and what stop to get off at. For instance, the Philadelphia subway runs off a very simple grid; East and West is the “Market Street Line” and North and South is the “Broad Street Line”. So all you need to know is what direction and what block is the closest to where you want to be. It’s hard to explain, I learned by trial and error. In NYC they have an awesome app where you type in where you’re coming from and where you want to go and it will tell you how long it will take and what subway lines to take. The NYC system can be incredibly tricky because of the amount of trains that run.
If you’d like to check out my post here’s the link! https://wp.me/p3RCAy-aPR
Hi John! My name is Amanda and here is the link to my blog: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/01/14/learning-activity-amanda-giedroc/
To answer your question, I would personally use the smaller (distorted) map of London if I was traveling in the city. The distorted map had street and square names, which would help me to navigate more efficiently. However, if I was traveling outside of the city, I would prefer the larger map. I could get a feel of how far away from the city I would be and the best route to go home. In my opinion, the choice of map would depend on the purpose and situation!