To start this lab, we need to install the Vector Globe® software on the local PC. To do this, place the CD into the CD Rom drive and close it. The program should autostart, and will install itself -- just agree to all of the prompting questions or choices. Choose to open Vector Globe® when asked, and the program will initialize.
1. Go to the globe view, and click on the center of Greenland. The island should be just about in the center of the globe. Use the distance tool to find out the size of Greenland.
2. Now click on the top edge of the globe and after it re-orients, find Papua New Guinea and click on the center of the island. What are the measurements of the longest and widest points on the island group? Compare these views with the popular Mercator Projection of the world which can be found at http://www.geometrie.tuwien.ac.at/karto/norm03.html . Use the Change Display Options icon to turn on the Lat/ Lon Grid (above), and take a look at the longest extent on each island using the grid spacing. The grid lines are 15º apart, and the largest span appears to be about 30º for each island. Can you explain why Greenland appears so much bigger when the globe is projected as all square grids? Click on a grid line at the equator to help visualize the difference.
3. Center the view on the equator near the western edge of Brazil and look at Texas. It is obviously skewed because it is near the edge of the visible portion of the globe. When you click on the center of the state, it looks much more like it does on a normal map of the U.S. Click on the Zoom In button three times, noting how the shape changes as the state gets bigger. Do a drag and click select of the city of Amarillo and note that the grids seem to form a perfect rectangle at this scale.
4. Zoom back out to the entire globe, and rotate it until you can see both the U.S. and some country in another continent where one of your ancestors had roots. Try to think of someone in Europe, South America, Africa, or the Middle East. See if you can position the globe so that you can see both the state you live in and this ancestral homeland. Check with Don, Sean, or Prof. Wilkie if you have any questions. Finally, when you are satisfied with your view, click on the Copy Map to Clipboard icon.
5. Open Corel Draw, select New Graphic, and click on the Edit drop-down to paste the map into Corel. Click once inside the new map and then outside (in the white area) to “freeze” the map into place. Click once with the zoom tool to bring the map into better focus. The icons on the left toolbar have “fly outs” which give you other drawing options. Click and hold on the freehand tool and with the mouse button still depressed, slid out to the far right icon, which is the connector line tool. Click once on your state to start a line, and once on your origin to end it.
6. We are going to curve this line with the shape tool. Click on the shape tool and then click somewhere on the line you just drew. Now click again using the right mouse button – you should get a drop-down menu and click on “to curve”. Pick a point on the line and drag it down until you get a curve that you feel represents a straight-line route on a flat map (there isn’t a “right” answer for this, just what looks good to you).
7. Finally, click on the “A” to go to the text tool and move the mouse pointer over the U.S. end of your line until it turns into the text cursor (looks like a capital I) and click. The text will follow the curve! Type your name in, and then hit the space bar and hold it down until you only have enough room to write your ancestor’s name on the other end. Click on the zoom tool and then the 1:1 icon on the top toolbar. In the File drop-down, chose Export, and save the Map as Exercise 1 in your student folder.