Learning About Maps

Not many people realize the importance of maps until they actually need one. In today’s technology driven world, old-fashioned things like maps tend to get laid to the wayside in favor of high tech things like online maps or GPS systems that tell you where you are and how to get where you’re going. Nevertheless, learning to read maps is important because gadgets like GPS devices and computers may fail, and there may be a situation where you will need to utilize a map.

Maps have been in use for as long as people have been traveling. They were extremely important in the old world because people relied on maps to travel to faraway areas. There were no images, no internet connections to connect them to other places. All they had to identify another country were the maps travelers used to give them. In modern times, people have become over-reliant on technology. It’s believed somewhere around 20% of Americans don’t know how to read and use a map.

Maps are most often used on road trips. Many people are unfamiliar with areas that they are traveling to so they need a guide to tell them how to get to their destination. Maps can tell you lots of interesting information such as the main highways nearby an area, natural landmarks, even the size of a city, depending on its layout. There are many things that can be learned from maps.

Introduction to Maps

Maps represent different places in the world around us. They can tell us if a place is at sea level or high up in the mountains or if there are forests and lakes. They can show us where the roads are and what villages, towns or cities they go through. Maps can tell us something about the people who live in different places, such as their opinions, jobs, ages or languages. When maps illustrate information that's collected about places, the information is called “statistics.”

Because they can show so many different things about places, maps are used almost every day. In the newspaper, you'll find a weather map showing conditions all across the country and sometimes in different parts of the world. Or you will see them in articles about different places so that readers know where these unfamiliar places are located.

Understanding maps, how to read them, what they are telling you, finding information you want to know are all reasons that you need to learn about maps. They can help you understand the world around you in many different ways.

• Add Features to a Base Map: Interactive map allows students to add cities, counties, highways and other features to a state map.

• How Maps are Made: Article about what cartographers are and what kind of information some of them use to make maps.

• Regional Maps of the World: Select a region of the world to pull up a map of the countries, oceans and other land masses in the area

What You Need to Know to Read a Map

Reading a map can be tricky, especially if the map has a complicated legend. A legend is a box that identifies all the symbols on a map. For instance, some maps have little triangles to identify bathrooms and little crosses to identify hospitals or churches. You absolutely have to understand how to read a legend to be able to read a map. Maps will also have a compass showing north, south, east and west. You have to have a good sense of direction to make sense of all this information. Maps will also include a distance scale. A distance scale is basically a scale that relates the distance on a map to the distance in the real world. For instance, one inch on the map equals one mile on the actual road. All of these small components are necessary in learning how to read a map.

• Using Maps to Learn History: Explains how reading maps can help one discover an area’s history.

• Distance Scale: An article that discusses using a distance scale on a map.

• Brief Guide to Reading Maps: Offers a brief tutorial on how to read maps.

• Map Reading and Land Navigation: Detailed sections that discuss maps and how to use them.

• How to Read Maps: Explains how to read maps when they’re different from each other.

Topographic Maps

Topographic maps are maps that represent a real object on two-dimensional paper. On topographical maps, lines are drawn to outline the object’s elevation, not just its location. These lines are called contour lines. Most examples look just like circles drawn around each other with the center circle representing the highest point that’s surrounded by larger circles. With topographical maps, if you could reach in and pull the middle circle up out of the paper, the other lines would follow and you would have a 3D map of a mountain or hill. When reading these maps, you’d use those lines to help visualize the object in 3D. Lines that are close together indicate that the terrain is very steep and lines that are open mean the terrain is flat.

• Topographic Mapping: Discusses how topographical maps are made.

• Map Overview: Provides general information on topographic maps.

• Topographic Map Examples: An example of a topographical map and instructions on how to use them.

• Topographical Map Basics: Some important facts about these maps.

• Map Examples: Many good examples of topographical maps.

Shaded Relief Maps

Shaded relief maps have shaded areas that represent things like mountains, valleys, canyons, and plateaus. These maps are usually computer generated and used for various purposes. A flat area typically appears “smooth” while steep areas appear “rough.” On the computer, the map will also feature shaded areas because the computer automatically generates shadow to account for the sun. This creates a pattern which gives the maps a 3D illusion even though they are not. Shaded relief maps also use color to indicate an area’s elevation. Legends will include the elevation level, which you need when you read such maps.

• Relief Maps of the US: Several relief maps of the United States stored on it.

• Color Landform Atlas: Another site with an archive of relief maps from the US.

• Shaded Relief Maps: An overview of relief maps and links to more information.

• World Relief Map: A relief map of the world.

• NASA Maps: A few shaded relief maps from NASA.

Road Maps

Road maps are probably the maps people are most familiar with. They identify things like highways and rest stops. These maps can have all kinds of different markings. Some identify restrooms and rest stops along roads. These maps identify major and minor roads, which may not be found on other types of maps. Sometimes, road maps even have things like speed limits and road restrictions. Legends on road maps often have more symbols than any other kind of maps because they identify rest stops, fast food restaurants, motels, and other areas that may be useful on a road trip.

• Road Maps around the World: Archive of different road maps from around the world.

• Sample Road Maps: A compilation of some road maps.

• How to Read a Road Map: An article that shows how to read a road map.

• Reading Maps: Discusses about how to read maps.

• California Road Map: Another example of a road map.