ODTmaps.com Unveils `Equal Area Map'
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Joan Oleck -- School Library Journal, 9/25/2007 2:05:00 PM
What’s the largest state in the nation? And where are Alaska and Puerto Rico exactly?
People have such distorted views about the location and size of these places that Bob Abramms, founder of ODTmaps.com, an Amherst, MA-based company, has reacted by offering educators what's called an "equal area map."
The newly available USA Equal Area Map is designed to correct the distortions in maps that we all grew up studying. Take Alaska, for example. “Most Alaskan school kids think their state is an island in the South Pacific, because Alaska [on traditional maps] is shown as a small inset in the Southern Pacific Ocean, to the left of Mexico,” Abramms says.
Many kids also think Texas is the largest state. But any geographer worth his salt knows that the largest state is Alaska, which is about 2.3 times the size of Texas.
And how about Puerto Rico? It’s nowhere to be found on a regular map. “What about the four million people who live in Puerto Rico?" asks Abramms. "They're not on any U.S. map.”
To see the more accurate domestic and international ODT maps, log on to ODTmaps.com and scroll down to the USA Equal Area Map. Using the magnifying tool, look at the smaller map to the left that displays not only the "Lower 48" adjoining states but also Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. Alaska's size is proportionally correct, showing its huge size. Puerto Rico is also clearly marked.
The 22-inch by 13.5-inch map further includes interstate highways and highways in Canada and Mexico, viewed by ODT as “the arteries of our economy,” just as rivers and other waterways were in the past.
