Geography 120

Mental Maps

Mental Maps are windows into your mind’s perception of space. The quality of the map is, unlike most other maps, irrelevant. The relevance is in what it tells you about the way you perceive space, and how your spatial habits assemble themselves inside your head. After completing your mental map of Seattle, respond to the following:

1. What specific features did you include (List as many as you like)? What is their location? Why did you include them?
2. What features did you not include? Why did you leave them out?
3. What areas of your map are most detailed? Why was this detail important?
4. What are you surprised that you forgot to include?
5. What are you surprised that you depicted incorrectly?
6. What types of things does your map reveal about your understanding of the Seattle area?

Pause for a class discussion.

7. Reflect on this activity. Discuss how you now think differently about your perceptions of space.