🗺️ Map Elements
This map element tells you what the symbols and colors on a map mean.
What is a key/legend?
Mountains, rivers, and deserts are examples of this type of geographic feature.
What are physical features?
People grow crops and raise animals for food in this type of activity.
What is farming/agriculture?
A very high area of land with steep sides is called this.
What is a mountain?
What are the four main directions?
North, South, East, and West (N, S, E, W).
This map element shows which direction is north, south, east, and west.
What is a compass rose?
Roads, cities, bridges, and farms are examples of this type of feature.
What are human features?
People build dams, reservoirs, and pipes to help move and store this important resource.
What is water?
A large, mostly flat area of land that is higher than the land around it is called this.
What is a plateau?
What are the four directions that are between the main directions?
Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, and Northwest (NE, SE, SW, NW).
This map element explains what the map is about.
What is a title?
True or false: A river is a human feature because people use it for transportation.
False! A river is a physical feature. How people use it is a human activity.
Why might people build roads through or around mountains?
To make transportation and travel easier.
This type of place gets very little precipitation and can have extremely hot or cold temperatures.
What is a desert?
If you are facing North and turn right, which direction are you facing?
East (E).
A map scale helps you figure out this.
What is the real-world distance between places?
A city with tall buildings, roads, schools, and houses is an example of a place mostly shaped by which type of geography?
What is human geography?
Give one way people change the environment to help them get food.
Farming, such as clearing land, planting crops, or creating irrigation systems.
A low area of land between hills or mountains, often with a river running through it.
What is a valley?
If you are facing North and turn left, which direction are you facing?
West (W).
If a map has a scale that says 1 inch = 10 miles, and two cities are 3 inches apart on the map, how far apart are they in real life?
What is 30 miles?
Explain the difference between a physical feature and a human feature. Give one example of each.
A physical feature is naturally occurring, such as a mountain or river. A human feature is made or changed by people, such as a road or building.
A community builds a dam to control a river, prevent flooding, and provide water and electricity. What is this an example of?
What is people modifying the environment to meet their needs?
Classify these as landform, body of water, or region/environment:
mountain, river, desert, lake, plain
Mountain → landform
River → body of water
Desert → region/environment
Lake → body of water
Plain → landform
⭐ If you are facing North and turn halfway between right and straight ahead, which direction are you facing?
Northeast (NE).