SFU-Geography Lab 1 Geography 111

Lab 1 – Physical Geography Essentials

Learning objectives:
1. Measure angles between direction of travel and geographic north
2. Transfer a direction of travel to a magnetic compass azimuth reading
3. Use map scale to convert from map distance to ground distance.
4. Interpret map symbology.
5. Identify the contextual information on a topographic map.

Materials
• Pencil
• Eraser
• Ruler
• Scientific calculator
• Protractor
• Lab Manual
• A hard surface on which to write (clipboard or book)

Your Submission
Pre-lab: There is no pre-lab submission for this lab.

In-lab: Submit the fully completed response sheet and hand-drawn map to your TA at the end of the lab
session.

Opportunities for Review

If you need to further review some of the concepts in this lab, check out the resources below (these
links should also be available on CANVAS):

• Latitude and Longitude: https://mediaplayer.pearsoncmg.com/assets/secs-geog-chr-lmplv-

latitude-and-longitude
• Finding geographic position: https://mediaplayer.pearsoncmg.com/assets/secs-geog-chr-lmplv-
the-geographic-grid-and-time
• Directions and Compass: https://mediaplayer.pearsoncmg.com/assets/secs-geog-chr-lmplv-
directions-and-compass-readings
• Map Projections and Interpretation: https://mediaplayer.pearsoncmg.com/assets/secs-geog-
chr-lmplv-map-projections-map-reading-and-interpretation
• Unit Conversions: https://serc.carleton.edu/mathyouneed/units/index.html

Part 1 – What is North?

The concept of North is an important idea in western culture and forms the dominant cardinal direction
from which other directions are measured. Most maps made in modern western culture have north at
the top, but it has not always been this way. Some of the first world maps were oriented with south at

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the top, and in medieval times East was often oriented at the top of the map. The concept of north is
derived from the axis of rotation of the Earth and referenced to the equator, a planar surface bisecting
the Earth through its centre, 90° from the north/south axis (Fig. 1). The Earth rotates from west towards
the east, or counter-clockwise when looking down at the North pole.

Figure 1: A) Rotation of the Earth on its axis. From the North Pole the rotation appears to move in a counter-clockwise
fashion. (CC - public domain). B) The equator forms a plane that bisects the centre of the Earth at 90° to the axis of rotation.
(Image Credit: Pearson eDucation, Inc., 2014).

A system of imaginary grid lines parallel to the equator form lines of latitude (Fig. 3). These lines
increase in quantity from 0° at the equator to 90° at the north and south pole. Lines of latitude run
parallel east to west and never meet. The distance between each degree of latitude is consistent from
the equator to the north or south pole. A system of imaginary grid lines perpendicular to the equator
form lines on longitude (Fig. 2). These lines increase in quantity from 0° at the prime meridian to 180°
over the Pacific Ocean. Lines of longitude converge at the poles, meaning a degree of longitude is largest
at the equator, but decreases in distance towards the poles. Lines of longitude converge where the axis
of rotation meets the Earth’s surface at the North Pole. This is GEOGRAPHIC NORTH.

Figure 2: PARALLELS (LINES OF LATITUDE) AND MERIDIANS (LINES OF LONGITUDE). (MODIFIED FROM: PEARSON
CANADA 2016)

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The most common instrument used to find the location of North is a compass (Fig. 3). Compass
directions are useful for communicating the orientation of a map or the direction of intended travel
(also known as azimuth). The compass rose is broken up into 360° of a circle, allowing one to
communicate how many degrees East of North an azimuth (line of travel) faces. It can also be broken
into general directions called “cardinal directions” known as east, west, north, south, and their
subcomponents (northeast, north-northeast etc.).

Figure 3: A) Components of a standard compass; b) Compass rose broken down into cardinal directions and azimuthal
degrees East of North.

A compass relies on the Earth’s magnetic field to orient a magnetic needle towards the Magnetic North
pole. This is somewhat reliable, but problematic for two inter-related reasons: 1) The Earth’s magnetic
field is not perfectly aligned with the axis of rotation for the Earth; and 2) The orientation of the Earth’s
magnetic field changes over time. This means that a compass does not point to Geographic North, but to
Magnetic North (Fig. 4). Therefore, when using a compass, a correction must be applied to move from
the Magnetic North reading to the Geographic North reading.
Fig. 4:

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Application: Recording a compass azimuth

Step 1: Align the direction of travel arrow on the compass with the object/landform you want to record
your azimuth towards (Fig. 5).

Step 2: Rotate the graduated dial until the orienting arrow underlies the magnetic north arrow.

Step 3: Read the value on the graduated dial where it intersects the direction of travel arrow.

Step 4: Correct for magnetic declination and record the geographic north azimuth in degrees East of
North.

Example: What is the Geographic North azimuth to the tree?

Fig. 5: Example compass reading (modified from GSC, 2017).

Part 2 – Basic map information

Map Distance:
Maps are scaled down representations of the real world, meaning the distance measured on a map is
directly related to an equivalent distance in the real world. Indeed, map scale can be calculated by
relating a known ground distance to the same distance on the map. For example, if a line on a map is 1
cm long and the distance that the line represents on the ground is 50,000 cm (500 m or 0.5 km), then the
ratio scale of the map is 1:50,000. The ratio is independent of the units, so that 1:50,000 as map scale
could mean 1 mm on the map represents 50,000 mm on the ground, or 1 inch on the map represents
50,000 inches on the ground. Ratios do not have units. Sometimes ratio scales are expressed as fractions,
so functionally 1:50,000 is the same as 1/50,000.

Once you have converted a map distance into a ground distance, it is likely that you will want to convert
units (it can be really inconvenient to measure ground distances in mm!). The metric system makes this
very easy, given that all conversions are based on a 10-based system. For example, there are 10 mm in
every 1 cm.

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CONVERSIONS Number of
between each metric unit. FOR METRES: metres in:
One decimal place

Millimetre 0.001 m/mm

Centimetre 0.01 m/cm
Decimetre 0.1 m/dm
Metre 1
Decametre 10 m/dam
Hectometre 100 m/hm
Kilometre 1000 m/km
Table 1.1 Metric system conversion table.

Application: Calculating a ground distance using map or airphoto scale

Step 1: Measure the map distance (measure to the nearest 0.5 mm)

Step 2: Convert to ground distance using the map scale

Step 3: Convert to required ground distance units (metres, kilometres, etc.)

Example: What is the distance across Chatham Reach?