ASSIGNMENT- 1

A) USES OF IMPORTANT TYPES

OF MAPS

-Tania Fredrick
9c

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About Maps~
The map is considered as a
symbiotic relationship between
elements such as objects, reins and
also themes. Many maps are usually
static and also fixed to paper or
some medium. Maps represent
space that could be real or may be
fictional. The space which is
mapped could be two dimensional
such as the surface of the earth and
also three dimensional.
What is a Map?
A map is a representation or a drawing of the earth’s surface, or a part of it,
drawn or printed on a flat surface, according to a scale. A map helps you to
identify the places and locations within an area helping one to navigate from
one place to another.

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A compilation of many maps is called an atlas.

Specification on different types of Maps

Maps are of varied types which attempt to show different classifications. These
maps are placed in two groups:
•Reference Maps
•Thematic Maps.

Reference maps: show the location of the geographic areas which the data has
been tabulated. The maps also display the boundaries, names and also many
geographic areas and also all the physical features. The physical features include
roads, rail, coastlines, rivers, lakes and mountains.

Thematic maps: A thematic map shows the spatial distribution of one or more
specific data themes for selected geographic areas. The map may be qualitative
(e.g., predominant farm types) or quantitative (e.g., percentage population
change).

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Some Commonly used Maps are as follows:

Political Boundary Maps

Political Maps are those maps that show boundaries between the countries,
states, and other political units. A commonly used political map in the US
shows almost 50 states.

Election Result Maps

They are considered some type of political map which shows election results
by the geographic subdivision or by voting district. In the US, for the
presidential election, the red-state/blue-state maps are in use.

Physical Maps
This map shows the topographic land structure. There are different color
gradient reliefs. Like for example, Dark greens are used for sea-level
elevations, green grades to tan, and brown for elevation increase. While the
highest elevation is the shades of gray.

Species Distribution Maps

These maps show specific plants and animals which are to be found in that
place.
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Digital Road, Street, and Highway Maps
Google Maps has special tools which enable the feature for us to search the
“nearby” restaurants, hotels, bars and pubs, museums, bike shops, pizza hub,
schools, etc. If Google Maps is allowed to use our current location then we
can easily reach our destination following the google direction.

Topographic Map
This type of map shows the earth’s topography by using brown-colored
contour lines. Roads, place names, streams, and other features are shown on
this map distinctively.

Time Zone Maps

In this type of map, the world’s 24-hour time zones are displayed in different
color bands. By following the numbers on the top and bottom of the map, we
can determine the time interval between these two locations.

Maps represent the real world on a much smaller scale. They help you travel
from one location to another. They help you organize information.

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Difference between globe and map:

1. A globe is a three-dimensional sphere while, a map is two-dimensional.

1. A globe represents the whole earth, whereas a map may represent the
whole earth or just a part of it.
2. A globe can be used to get a broad-level picture of the world while,
map provides more specific information about different places.
3. A globe, being spherical in shape, spins around an axis. However, a
map, being a representation on a piece of paper, does not spin.
4. A globe is made of hard material and cannot be folded making it
difficult to be carried around, unlike maps, which are made on paper
and can be easily folded and carried around.
5. Maps can be referred to for navigating from one place to another while
globes don’t provide enough specific details to help you in navigation.

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 ASSIGNMENT- 2

b) Directions and how to identify them- an

illustrative diagram

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Directions of the map~
Direction is the most important thing you need to know when you're lost in the
rainforest. Direction is the way that you have to travel to get from one place or object
to another place or object. It's usually measured in terms of compass directions:
north, south, east, and west. North is directly up on standard maps; south is directly
down; east is directly right; and west is directly left. If this is ever not the case, there
will be something on the map that tells you this. This will usually be an arrow, a cross,
or some kind of pointed star that shows which direction is north.

If you know roughly where you are on a map, and you

know where you need to get to, you can use the map
to see whether you should travel north, south, east, or
west. If you have a compass, traveling that direction is
easy. If it's at night, you could also use the North Star,
which is called Polaris. Unsurprisingly, the North Star
is always in the north.

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Identifying directions~

Every map has three essential components:

Distance
Direction and
Symbols

A Scale is a ratio that represents the relationship between the actual distance on
the ground and the distance on the map. The scale indicates how many units of the
earth’s surface are equal to one unit on the map.

You use a large scale map to represent a small area, and a small scale map to
represent a large area. A map that represents a small area, such as a residential
colony, a village or a town, in relatively greater detail is called a large scale map.

Small scale maps are used to represent such large areas. The letter ‘N’ with an
arrow pointing upwards at the upper right hand corner of most of the maps is
called the North line and it represents the northern direction.

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Using the north line as a reference, one can easily
figure out the East, West and South directions in the
map. One can refer to these four main directions as
the cardinal points.

There are four intermediate directions:

North-East (NE)
South-East (SE)
South-West (SW)
North-West (NW)

You can use these directions to locate a place

accurately on a map.

You can use a compass to find out the main

directions of a place. A compass is an instrument
with a magnetic needle that always points in the
north-south direction. Often, pilots and sailors refer
a compass to check if they are moving in the right
direction.

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 ASSIGNMENT- 3

c) Reading of town guide map

(recognising the symbols and colours used, identifying directions and distances)

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Reading of town guide maps~

• In order to read a town map, the first task is to select the correct type of map out
of the different types available, such as topographic, road map, tourist map etc. in
the next step, the correct scale of the map is selected. following this, the map is
pointed north, and the location to visit is identified on the map.

• Topographical maps drawn approximately where as town maps are

drawn strictly from Tourists point of view based on topographical maps.

• First time city visitors can take a help from town maps.

• Town guide maps are based on the topographical survey map sheets.

• Town guide maps gives the complete sketch of city along with symbols
for roads, buildings, transport lanes and all.

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Symbols and colours used-
a) While studying a topographical sheet one has to familiar with colours
used in a topo sheet

b) These colours are called as Conventional colours.

c) These conventional symbols are accepted all over the world.

d) Examples of conventional symbols or colours representing particular

features are shown in below figure.

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Directions use-

a) Measuring distances and calculating area.

b) Measuring distances in a straight line or crow flies from place A
to place b or one place to another place.
c) The crow flies refers to the shortest distance between two points
using scale or divider by placing the divider legs at two points
and then by placing it on the linear scale the distance can be
calculated.
d) The distance of crow fly is as shown below in figure.

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 Others terms-

Town guide maps gives the complete

sketch of town along with the symbols
for different colonies, road boundaries,
public places, monuments, hospitals,
hotels, bus stands, banks, taxi stands,
art gallery and information centres,
and etc.

Town guide maps importance are of

providing complete information about
transportation and communication
network of the city using appropriate
symbols hence town guide maps are of
great asset for tourists department.

Town guide map of Kolkata

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Acknowledgement-

I would like to express my thanks of gratitude to my

geography teacher Mrs. Sneha Premkumar ma’am as well as
our Principal Mrs. Christy Glory Shanti who gave me the
golden opportunity to do this beautiful assignment based on
the topic ‘ The study of Maps’ , which also helped me in
doing a lot of research and learn new things

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Bibliography-

•www.wikipedia.com
•www.encyclopedia.com
•www.geographynotes.com
•www.nextgurukul.com
•www.brainly.com
•A textbook of ICSE geography class 9
- Veena Bhargava

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