Basic Map Skills

Map Skills

​Learning Objective: Understand the purposes of various mapping tools to analyze information provided on maps and the globe

​Continents vs. Countries

What is a continent?

• ​One of Earth's major landmasses, including both dry land and continental shelves

  • Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Europe, Australia, Antarctica

What is a country?

• ​Typically, it is a smaller piece of landmass located within a continent

• A political state or nation​

  • Ex.: USA, Russia, Canada, France, South Africa, etc. ​

​

Australia is only place on earth that is both a country and a continent

• Main set of directions

• North, East, South, West

  • Never Eat Soggy Waffles

• ​sometimes a compass rose only shows N or North

​Cardinal Directions

• Secondary set of directions

• Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, Northwest

• Gives a more specific direction​

​Intermediate Directions

​Important Parts of a Map

• Compass Rose - shows direction on a map. Read it clockwise.

• Scale - shows what a distance on a map is actually equal to on Earth

  • Example: 1 inch on a map = 1 mile in real life

• Key​ - tells us what different symbols, colors, and lines mean on a map

Multiple Choice

Tool used to explain symbols on a map

• Scale

• Compass Rose

• Key

• Equator

Multiple Choice

What does a map scale do?

• Tells the meaning of symbols on a map

• Tells what timezone you are in

• Tells what the map is describing

• Tells how much the map has been reduced

Multiple Choice

Which is not a basic/cardinal direction

• North

• Southwest

• East

• South

Multiple Choice

Which is not an intermediate direction?

• Southwest

• Southeast

• North

• Norhtwest

Multiple Choice

What is this object known as?

• map symbol
• map key
• map scale
• compass rose

​Latitude

• Imaginary horizontal lines that run east to west and tell us if a location is North or South of the equator​

• 90°S to 90°N

• Important ​Latitude Lines

  • Equator: 0°

  • Tropic of Cancer: 23.4°N

  • Tropic of Capricorn: 23.4°S

  • Arctic Circle: 66.3°N

  • Antarctic Circle: 66.3°S

  • North Pole: 90°N

  • South Pole: 90°S

​Longitude

• Imaginary vertical lines that run from the North Pole to the South Pole and tell us if a location is East or West of the Prime Meridian

  • Longitude lines are sometimes called meridians

• 180°W to 180°E

• Important Latitude Lines:

  • Prime Meridian: 0°

  • International Date Line: 180°

Multiple Choice

Imaginary vertical line that specifies if a location is east or west

• Latitude

• Longitude

• Key

• Scale

Multiple Choice

Imaginary horizontal lines that specify if a location is north or south

• Latitude

• Longitude

• Key

• Scale

Multiple Choice

The equator is located at...

• 180°

• 0°

• 23.4°S

• 66.3°N

Multiple Choice

What line of LONGITUDE is Point B located?

• 105^o W
• 60^o N
• 150^o W
• 80^o W

​Hemispheres

• Hemi = half

• Hemisphere is one half of the earth

• Earth has 2 sets of different hemispheres

• Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere are divided by the equator

• Eastern Hemisphere and Western Hemisphere are divided by the Prime Meridian and International Date Line

• The two sets are independent of one another, you cannot combine them

  • Canada would be in the Northern Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere, not the Northwestern Hemisphere (which doesn't exist)

Multiple Choice

A _______________ is exactly half of the earth.

• Equator
• Hemisphere
• Tropic of Cancer
• Arctic Circle

Multiple Choice

The equator divides what two hemispheres?

• East and West

• North and South

Multiple Choice

Which hemisphere is shown above the equator?

• Eastern Hemisphere

• Western Hemisphere

• Northern Hemisphere

Multiple Choice

An imaginary line that divides the eastern and western hemispheres?

• equator

• longitude

• latitude

• prime meridian

Multiple Choice

Which hemisphere is highlighted in blue?

• Western

• Eastern

• Southern

Multiple Choice

Which hemisphere is highlighted in blue?

• Southern

• Northern

• Western

Multiple Choice

Which hemisphere is highlighted in blue?

• Northern

• Southern

• Western

Multiple Select

The continent Africa is found on which hemispheres? Choose all that apply.

• Northern

• Southern

• Western

• Eastern

Multiple Select

South America is found in which hemispheres? Choose all that apply

• Northern

• Southern

• Western

• Eastern

Multiple Select

North America is found in which hemispheres? Choose all that apply

• Northern

• Southern

• Western

• Eastern

​Types of Maps

• Political Map

  • Shows man made borders for countries and states, along with cities, towns, and other landmarks​

​Types of Maps

• Thematic Map

  • Shows many different types of things but it has a specific theme in mind, such as population, clim​ate, crime rate, etc.

​Types of Maps

• Physical Map

  • shows the physical features of the land, such as, elevation, different landforms, and bodies of water

Multiple Choice

Click on the physical map

Multiple Choice

If a certain subject or theme is being focused on, you'd look on a...

• elevation map

• political map

• physical map

• thematic map

Multiple Choice

Which map would show you borders of different counties in Iowa?

• physical

• political

• thematic

• elevation

​Map Projections

• Projection = representation of any part of the earth (or any sphere) onto a plane (flat surface)

  • Taking a 3D object and making it 2D​

• Problems with maps

  • taking a globe and flattening it creates distortions

  • distortion = misrepresentation aka it is not accurate

• Most accurate projection = a globe

​Map Projections

• Mercator Projection

  • Most commonly used projection

  • Projects globe onto a cylinder

    • Makes the map more accurate at the equator

    • Very distorted at the Poles

      • Further away from equator, worse the distortion is​

​

​

​ https://thetruesize.com

Mercator Projections will typically show Greenland as being larger than South America and Antarctica as much, much larger than in real life.

​Map Projections

• Robinson Projection

  • most common projection in textbooks

  • Goal is to minimize distortions

    • Landmasses still have distortions (Antarctica) but not as much as Mercator

  • ​Longitude lines will be curved

Multiple Choice

Which projection is this?

• Robinson
• Mercator
• Eckert IV
• Goode's Homolosine

Multiple Choice

Which projection is this?

• Lambert
• Mercator
• Goode's Homolosine
• Robinson

Multiple Choice

A way of representing the spherical Earth on a flat surface.

• Map Projection
• Distortion

Multiple Choice

The change in shape, size, or location of a place when shown on a map.

• Map Projection
• Distortion

​Coordinates

• Combine latitude and longitude to give an exact location on earth

• Coordinates are always written latitude first, then longitude

  • Ex.: ​Sierra Middle School is located at 39.5465° N, 104.7629° W

  • If a map does not use degrees, it will look similar to this

    • 39.5465, -104.7629

    • If latitude has a negative sign, it means it is S

    • If longitude has a negative sign, it means it is W

• The map projection used changes how you locate coordinates

  • Mercator = longitude lines are straight up and down; easy to follow

  • Robinson = Longitude lines are curved; need to follow the curve to find the degrees

​On your map, mark the following coordinates:

​

0°, 20°E​

​

25°S, 60°W

​

38°N, 127°E​

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