When I read about the types of web maps in Jim Detwiler’s “Introduction to Web Mapping,” I thought about each one and thought back to my project. Because I’m researching Earthquakes, the majority of my still images will be maps so I found this article very useful especially when Detwiler explains static web maps. Static web maps are basically digital versions of paper maps so they are usually digital scans of the physical copy.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/world/central_america/gshap.php
The map above is a representation of the level of seismic hazard in each region of Central America. The areas marked in brown are the most vulnerable to seismic activity followed by the areas marked in red because of where their faults lie. Below is another map that shows all of the plates that compose the Earth’s crust and vibrate, causing seismic activity. The plates are all labelled and the green arrows indicate the direction that they are traveling in. The purple lines indicate the borders of the plates but the choppy areas are the subduction zones where the plate sinks in below its neighboring plate.
http://www.maps.com/ref_map.aspx?pid=12871
This subduction is what has caused the largest earthquakes in recorded history like the 1960 Chile Earthquake. Notice that in the second map, there is a subduction zone right along Chile’s coast meaning it is vulnerable to large earthquakes seeing as how they were hit hard twice: once in 1960 and again in 2010.
Each individual map focuses on a certain aspect of seismic activity, the first one concentrating specifically on which areas in Central America are most vulnerable while the second showing the borders and directions of the tectonic plates. Separately, these maps give us useful information but together, they show a larger picture and give us an understanding that they cannot convey alone. Aside from not being able to zoom in and out of these maps and move around on them, these static web maps can only offer a certain amount of information and nothing more. Unlike interactive web maps that allow you to input data to see certain trends, static web maps are “what you see is what you get” meaning that there usefulness is very limited. In no way are static web maps bad but they are definitely limited in their usefulness and require multiple maps to display the bigger picture. This is merely a minor inconvenience, however because you have to search for multiple maps but overall, they can get the point across.
Works Cited
http://www.livescience.com/43220-subduction-zone-definition.html