Geography Assignment Mental Map of Kansas City
Mental Map
Your goal is to get some sense of “what is where” in your head regarding where you live. On a piece of paper no larger than a poster board and no smaller than an 8.5×11 sheet of plain white paper, draw your mental map of the Kansas City area or the city where you live. Please make sure you include the state capital, Avila University, your home address. Show as much detail as possible and make the map accurate in terms of what is important to you (e.g., the places you eat, work, recreate, etc.) and leave off things that are not important. You must also create your own made-up symbols for landmarks (prominent points of interest), Pathways (streets, routes to …) Districts (downtown, Avila university, etc.), and Nodes (meeting places, centers where the streets or pathways cross). I don’t want a road map, so don’t even look at one! Just draw what you know in your head. When your map is complete, answer the following questions in your notebook under the title “Mental Map of Kansas City”:
1. Of the features you drew on your map, which do you personally consider to be the most important? Why?
2. How long have you lived in that area? How has this affected your mental map?
3. Do you have a car, a bicycle? Has this affected your mental map?
4. Take a look at a street (cartographic) map of your area. Google maps is an easy way to do this ( https://maps.google.com/ ). When you get there:
a. Enter the name of your area. Ex: Kansas City, MO in the search bar at the top
b. Zoom in on the map until you get a street map
5. How does your mental map compare to the street map? Consider differences in detail, distances, directions, and so on.
6. What do the differences between the way you think of the area and the way it actually is on a street (cartographic) map imply?
*You will be sharing your maps and your findings in class.
Note:
You can use this address as my home
115 W 99th Terrace ave, Kansas City MO 64114
Work address
11901 wornall Rd, Kansas City, MO 64145
Plus you can pick any resturant, parks, etc when you drawing a map.
Use simple words to answer the questions.
Thanks!
