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Reading maps is exciting.
When you are older you will need to know how to read a map when you
travel. Let's get on the road!
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| What is a map?
A map is a picture
or representation of the Earth's surface, showing how things
are related to each other by distance, direction, and size.
Maps are a way of showing many things about a portion of the
earth's surface on a flat piece of paper that can be carried
and transported easily. A map is not a photograph of the
Earth's surface. It can show many things that a picture
cannot show, and as a result, a map looks different in many
ways from a photograph of the Earth's surface.
Maps have been used for centuries. A
person who creates map as a profession is
called a cartographer.
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| This lesson will teach you about some of the things you
will find on a map that you must be familiar with and it will discuss a variety of different kinds of maps. |
| The first
thing you need to do when you read a
map is read the title. The title will tell you what you are
looking at and what type of map it is. |
| There are many types of maps, but during this
lesson we will discuss four types. Click here to view these types of
maps. |
- Political maps:
show political features like the outlines of countries, states, and
cities.
- Physical maps:
show natural features such as mountains, rivers, lakes, and
shorelines. Different
land elevations and ocean depths are represented by different
colors.
- Road maps:
show major and minor highways, cities and towns, often with
campgrounds, parks, and other tourist features.
- Globe:
a small model or copy of Earth.
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| The second thing you should read on a map is the
map key or
legend. The map key is usually located in a box on
the bottom right hand of the map and is labeled map key or legend.
The key will explain the information shown on the map. Here
is an example of a map key.
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The third
thing you should locate on a map is the
compass rose.
The four cardinal directions,
north, south, east, and
west are
indicated on the compass rose. North is the direction toward the
North Pole and south is the direction toward the South Pole. Most maps will have a compass rose
which will
help you with directions. On the compass rose you will see
N,
E, S, and
W. N stands for
north,
E stands for
east,
S stands for
south, and
W stands for
west. A good way to
remember the letters and order on a compass rose is
Never Eat
Shredded Wheat.
Here is an example of what a compass rose might look like.
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The
fourth thing you should locate is the
map scale, which is often found in or near the map key. The
scale is a bar that shows you how much real land is represented on
the map. It is a good way to measure the real distance between
places. Not all maps have the same scale so it is important to
really examine the scale so that you can accurately measure the
distance you are looking for. Look at the map scale below.
Each section represents 50 miles that can be used to measure
distance on a map.
0
50 miles 100 miles
150 miles
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The
fifth thing to
look at to help you read a map is the
map grid. The
grid consists of lines running east-west and lines running north-south.
The lines running east-west across the maps are lines of
latitude. Lines running north-south, from top to
bottom, are lines of longitude. Together, the
lines of latitude and longitude create grids
on the map which help you locate places. Look at the world map
below and locate the Equator.
The Equator is the major
line
of latitude. All the other lines going east-west,
like the Equator, are lines of latitude. Now locate
the Prime
Meridian. The
Prime Meridian is the major
line of longitude. All the lines that run north-south, like
the Prime Meridian, are
lines of longitude. Together, the lines of
latitude and longitude make a
map grid.
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Now it's time to take a quiz to see how much
you learned!
Click here for quiz. |
