Maps that define America

Probably one the best and most notable attributes about this country is that we set aside areas that can not be developed and are protected from industries like timber and mining. There are numerous parks both at the state level and the federal level.

Fact or fiction

It's been said that cartography is the last honest science. The last profession that people trust without a second thought. Maybe this shouldn't be the case though. People have been lying with maps for as long as people have been making and reading them. The only difference between cartographers and other people is that cartographers are better at lying in a believable way. They will skew the data just a little to make something look a little more like what they want it to. The can adjust the map type so it doesn't quite tell what a casual reader thinks it is saying making them misinterpret the map. Politicians have the skill of "manipulating" the appearance maps down to a science to make them look more popular than they are.
At a quick glance, the 2000 presidential election looks like a runaway for Bush since there is a lot more red than blue but add up the small numbers in parenthesis and it wasn't a runaway at all!