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Geography sketches

Explore sketches, drawings, and illustrations that simplify ideas related to Geography.

Cornwall vs Devon cream tea styles shown side by side: jam first for Cornwall, cream first for Devon.Cream Tea: Cream First or Jam First?How to remember latitude and longitude on a world map, understand which is which, which is x or y, and how to read lat–long coordinates using an easy mnemonic: latitude is flat and longitude convergesLatitude and Longitude: How to Remember Which is WhichWhat are topography and bathmetry, and their meaning, shown as land elevation and ocean depthTopography and BathymetryLandlocked states of the USA including the double-landlocked states and the one triple-landlocked state, NebraskaLandlocked StatesThe Olympic Flag and the meaning of the ring colours, interlocking of the rings representing the union of the 5 continents competing against each other. and the 6 colours in each of the National flags. And a little flag bearer showing how it's done.The Olympic FlagA map showing where Point Nemo lies - the furthest point from land with distances to the nearest land. This would be a long swimPoint Nemo: The Most Remote Place on Earth and the Spacecraft GraveyardIceberg floating orientation explained: Icebergs are usually drawn floating vertically, while a stable iceberg orientation is usually on its sideIceberg orientationRed volcano gray volcano - a red volcano's effusive eruption has lava flowing down its slope while a gray volcano's explosive eruption shoots ash into the airRed volcano, grey volcanoTwo hikers look at distant lightning and count how long it takes to hear the thunder to estimate how far the lightning is awayFlash-to-bang methodAn urban area next to a more natural rural area showing how the urban area gets hotter than the surrounding landHeat islandsSettlement Patterns illustration: in the foreground, buildings line the banks of an estuary as an example of linear settlement. A few miles inland, we see a dense grouping of buildings in a town perhaps, representing a nucleated settlement. In the foothills further back from the town, a few buildings dotted about depict dispersed settlement. And a lone dwelling half-way up a mountain in the distance is an example of an isolated settlement. Settlement patternsThe Haversine Formula illustration: a portion of the earth's globe is shown with a green arc drawn between the cities of London, UK and Seattle, WA. The mathematical Haversine formula takes into account the curvature of the earth's surface when calculating the true distance between two points on a curved surface. The haversine formulaThe continental axis hypothesis: from Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel, illustrating how the llama didn't manage to travel North-SouthThe continental axis hypothesisWhat is the coastline paradox explained - meaning the length changes depending on the size of your ruler, with Great Britain's coastline as an exampleThe coastline paradoxBeyond developing and developed world views: a world of 4 income levels from Sketchplanations, Factfulness and GapminderA world of 4 income levelsThe 3 Tallest Mountains illustration: on the left, Mount Everest is measured from sea level. In the centre, Mauna Kea is measured from its base (well below sea level) to its summit. On the right, Chimborazo is located near the equator where the earth bulges making its summit the furthest from the centre of the earth (and hence closest to the sun).The 3 tallest mountainsWhat is the hungry gap explained showing a timeline with a full box of Winter vegetables leading out of April, a nearly empty box in May, and an overflowing one in the SummerThe Hungry GapMercator Projection illustration: shows the consequences of flattening out a spherical globe. Whilst it's a handy exercise for navigating and producing maps, it can inflate the size of land masses the in the north and the south. In a Mercator projection Greenland is comparable in size with Africa. In reality, it's much smaller. The Mercator projectionWhat causes seasons showing how it is caused by the earths tilt and light hitting differently in the north and south hemispheresSeasonsWhat is Lake effect snow explained including the snow beltLake-effect snowWhat is Double-landlocked and which countries are double-landlocked: Lichtenstein and Uzbekistan —explained with a map of Lichtenstein wholly surrounded by landlocked countriesDouble-landlocked countriesIsochrones illustration: An aerial view of London shows enclosed concentric, but irregular shapes, radiating out from the centre of the city, denoting areas of equal travel time; from 5 minutes to 30 minutes. IsochronesStrahler Stream Order animation: what looks like the silhouette of a tree with branches but no leaves, is actually a plan view of a large river network. Starting at the outermost, narrowest parts, each time two tributaries of the same order merge together the order of river size increases until it flows out into the sea. Strahler stream order: Streams, rivers, the Amazon and how to organise them.Antipodes illustration: the earth is shown as a sphere with an axis drawn straight through the centre. The example of an antipode shown is where the axis passes through Spain in the northern hemisphere and through New Zealand in the southern hemisphere. AntipodesWhat is the Union Jack flag and how it is constructed explained showing the three flags that make it up of Scotland, Ireland and EnglandThe Union JackWhat's the difference between Great Britain and the United Kingdom - explained in a sketch with mapsGreat Britain and the United Kingdom: What’s the difference?How to remember if it's a Stalactite or Stalagmite (or stalagtite or stalacmite): Stalactites Cling tight to the Ceiling of a cave. Stalagmites Grow on the GroundStalactites, StalagmitesCamel identification: 1 hump dromedary, 2 humps bactrianCream tea: Cornwall vs DevonIllustration of divergent, convergent and transform platesTectonic plate interaction boundariesHow to find south using the Southern Cross and The Pointers in the Southern hemisphere using the stars and the night skyUse the Southern Cross to find South (Southern Hemisphere)Origins of mandarins world map: including Tangerine from Tangiers, Morocco, Mandarin from China, Clementine from Oman and Satsuma from JapanOrigins of mandarinsKnow your poles: Arctic polar bears, frozen sea, and Antarctic, penguins, frozen landKnow your polesThe different types of surfing breaks: beach break, reef break, and point breakThe 3 Main Types of Surf Breaks ExplainedRain shadowShapes of ValleysThe sun rises Early in the EastThe Zanclean Megaflood: 3 illustrations showing Africa pushing into Europe, a giant rushing of the Atlantic filling the basin of the Mediterranean, and the map of how the Mediterranean sea appears todayThe making of the MedWhy do birds migrate sooooo far?
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