I found this map at this web address http://www.ing.unitn.it/~grass/conferences/GRASS2002/no_background/italy1.jpg. This map is an illustration of Italy. The reason why I chose a map of Italy is due to my family being from there. We travel there often, and I have traveled to many places within Italy, so I find it to be a country that I know quite well outside of the United States. This map is interesting to me because it separates the distinct districts that encompass Italy. The way in which these various districts are separated is through the contrasting colors that lay next to one another. Furthermore, it highlights the main cities of Italy, which I have visited many of them. 
I found this map at the web address: http://del-mar.sandiegorealestateagent.com/images/del-mar-map3.jpg. This second map that I chose is a map of Del Mar, which is a small town in San Diego, CA. This map is interesting to me, because it illustrates an extremely realistic portrait of Del Mar, it as if someone took a picture of Del Mar from a plane high above, while it still reveals the details of the town. The reason why I chose a map of Del Mar is because I grew up in this beach city right on the sand. This map perfectly represents Del Mar, with its clean blue water and huge racetrack in the upper left hand corner that is a city landmark. Furthermore, this map illustrates the grid like system of how the city is planned, which can be shown through the red lines covering the surface of this map.
I found this map at http://www.nees.uni-bonn.de/biomaps/worldmaps.html. This map illustrates the diversity patterns of plants on the earth’s surface around the world. It reveals the range of biodiversity throughout the world, and also shows the places in which there are a plethora of plant species as well as where there are low levels. I found this map to be interesting due to it illustrating the difference in the species number of vascular plants throughout the world, while making it simplistic enough for anyone to read. This allows for anyone to look at the map and have an understanding of where most of the variety of plant species exist, which can be shown near the equatorial regions, rather than the other regions that are at a further distance from the equator and have less diversity in vascular plants.
