PROBLEM: What types of landforms can be found in using maps or globes?

MATERIALS: 5 different maps or globes

Using the set of various maps answer the questions on the lab sheet.

1. Name the five maps. Give the original publication date, date of last revision, and contour interval.

2. Which of the five maps is the oldest?
  

3. Map scale defines the relationship between the measurements of the features as shown on the map and as they exist on the Earth's surface as a proportion or ratio. Scale is generally stated as a ratio or fraction. The numerator, customarily 1, represents map distance, and the denominator, a large number, represents horizontal ground distance. Therefore, a scale of 1:50,000 in inches means that 1 inch on the map = 50,000 inches on the ground, or 1 meter = 50,000 meters on the ground.

List the scales of each map. State if you can’t find a scale.
  

Which map covers the most area?
  

Which map covers the least area?
  

4. What do you think the green and brown colors represent?
  

5. What is the symbol for a forest?

Which map covers the most forest? the least?

6. What is the symbol for a mine shaft?   Which map contains the most mine shafts?     

7. Which map covers the greatest amount of water? 

8. Is the water different colors?  

Why?
  

9. Why are there contour lines in the ocean?
  

10. Which map has the most "relief." 

Why?
  

11. How can you determine the type of area a topographic map covers by just glancing at it?
  

12. Which map has the most rivers? 

13. Compare all of the maps. How are they different?

14. Do highways and roads seem to follow the topography?
  

How can topographic maps be useful for planning roads, building sites, and cities?
  

15. Could a topographic map help you find your way through a city? 

Why?
    

16. How does a topographic map differ from a road map?
  

17. If you were planning on going hiking, would you take a road map or a topographic map?

Why?