Map Skills
This tells you how far apart places are on a map; it helps you measure real distances.
What is the scale?
The flat lines that run east–west and measure north and south of the equator.
What is latitude?
The part of a map that shows North, South, East, and West.
What is the compass rose?
The study of Earth's features and how people interact with them.
What is geography?
This symbol on a map looks like a star and often marks the home of a government.
What is a capital?
The small map in the corner that shows where the main map is located relative to a larger area.
What is a locator map?
The vertical lines that run north–south and measure east and west of the Prime Meridian.
What is longitude?
The primary directions listed on a compass rose.
What are the cardinal directions?
One half of Earth created when split by the equator or Prime Meridian.
What is a hemisphere?
Name the 0 degree latitude line.
What is the equator?
The symbol or list that explains what colors and symbols on a map mean.
What is the legend or key?
The line defined as 0 degrees latitude that divides the Earth into Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
What is the equator?
The directions that are halfway between the cardinal directions, such as northeast.
What are ordinal directions?
The smallest unit listed in the document used to give a more precise measurement than degrees for latitude and longitude.
What are minutes?
These lines never cross and run parallel around the globe.
What are parallels / lines of latitude?
The lines on a map that form boxes used to find an exact spot using latitude and longitude.
What is the grid?
The line defined as 0 degrees longitude that divides Earth into Eastern and Western Hemispheres.
What is the Prime Meridian?
How a capital city is often shown on a map.
What is a star?
A system of lines used to determine absolute location by giving coordinates.
What is latitude and longitude ?
If a location is described as 45° S, 60° E, which two hemispheres is it in?
What are the Southern Hemisphere and Eastern Hemisphere?
A line that marks the limit of a governmental area or shows where one region ends and another begins.
What are boundary or border lines?
The unit used to measure positions on the globe; latitude and longitude are measured in these.
What are degrees?
This map feature helps readers understand map symbols and is sometimes called a key; name one reason a legend/key is important for interpretation.
What is to explain symbols/colors so the reader can interpret the map correctly?
Explain how you would write the coordinates for a location that is 30 degrees north and 90 degrees west.
What is 30° N, 90° W?
The location of a place that is at 0° latitude and 0° longitude.
What is at the intersection of the Equator and the Prime Meridian?