Social. Unit 4: Where am I?

Plans
A cartographer is someone who draws maps or plans.
Plans represent: towns/villages, streets, houses/other buildings, rooms, objects.
Plans are smaller than the real thing and show the view from above. They help us find
streets/buildings in a city/town. They help us measure distance and size.
The parts of a plan are called the elements. They include:

• Directional markers  lines that tell us which way the plan is facing  Cardinal
points (North, south, east and west.
• Toponymy  the places on a plan (streets, squares, parks).
• The scale  the relation between real size of something and the plan.
• The conventional symbols  drawings, numbers, texts and colours that represent
distances, objects and buildings.
• They key  explains the meaning of the conventional symbols.

Giving directions

Directions help us find our way from one place to another. Types:
• Address.
• Map.
• Coordinates: letters and numbers that indicate the location of a place.

Map: drawing of the Earth’s surface.

World map: map that represents the whole Earth (5 oceans, six continents). It can
represent:
Natural features: mountains. Artificial features: roads. Political borders.

Types of maps

• Physical map: shows the land, mountains, oceans and

rivers.
• Political map: shows countries, cities, towns and
borders.
• Thematic maps: show information on a particular
topic.

Globe  three dimensional representation of Earth. We can see:

• Two poles: North Pole and South Pole.
• The Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
• Imaginary lines: parallels, meridians. - Equator  divides the hemispheres
- Greenwich Meridian  joins the two poles.