Terms
Parallels & Meridians
Basic Map Skills
The Five Themes
Reading Latitude & Longitude
Map Reading
100
The seven largest areas of land on Earth.
What are continents?
100
This imaginary line is located at 0° latitude.
What is the equator?
100
This map component tells you which direction is north.
What is the compass rose?
100
This tells you where someplace can be found. It can be given in either absolute or relative terms.
What is location?
100
This state is located at 45°N, 100°W?
What is South Dakota?
100
This shows the relationship between a distance on a map and the corresponding distance on the ground.
What is map scale?
200
It is where a place is located in relation to another place.
What is relative location?
200
This imaginary line marks 0° longitude and runs through Greenwich Observatory in London, England.
What is the Prime Meridian?
200
Consisting of a series of horizontal and vertical lines, this map component helps a reader find absolute locations.
What is the map grid?
200
This theme involves grouping areas together according to unifying characteristics.
What is region?
200
This country is located at 60°N, 120°W?
What is Canada?
200
- Map Scale: 1 inch = 10 miles
- The distance between two cities on a map is 3 inches, so this is the actual distance between the cities in miles.
What is 30 miles?
300
This is a person who studies the physical features of the Earth, including its regions, climate, and natural resources, as well as human activity as it relates to these subjects.
What is a geographer?
300
This imaginary line is located at about 66.5° south latitude and marks the northern edge of the southern polar zone.
What is the Antarctic Circle?
300
This map component shows what symbols and colors on a map are meant to represent.
What is a map legend, or key?
300
This theme studies how the environment impacts people, and how people impact the environment.
What is human-environment interaction?
300
This country is located at 20°, -100°?
What is Mexico?
300
- Map Scale: 1 inch = 5 miles
- The distance between two landmarks on a map is 4.5 inches, so this is the actual distance between the landmarks in miles.
What is 22.5 miles?
400
This is the study of the physical features of the Earth and its atmosphere, and of human activity as it affects and is affected by these features.
What is geography?
400
This imaginary line is located at about 23.5° north latitude and marks the southern edge of the northern temperate zone.
What is the Tropic of Cancer?
400
These are the four properties of a map.
What is area, shape, distance, and direction?
400
This theme describes the human and physical characteristics of a location.
What is place?
400
This continent is located at -10, -50?
What is South America?
400
Map Scale: 1 inch = 30 miles
The distance between two cities on a map is .5 inches, so, this is the actual distance between the cities in miles.
What is 15 miles?
500
The change in the shape, size, or position of a place when it is shown on a map.
What is distortion?
500
This imaginary line is located at 180° longitude. Travelers who cross over it will find that the date on their phones has changed.
What is the International Date Line?
500
These are methods used by cartographers to compensate for distortion when displaying the globe on a flat map.
What are map projections?
500
This theme examines how and why people, goods, and ideas are transferred from one place to another.
What is movement?
500
North America is located in these hemispheres.
What are the northern and western hemispheres?
500
A map has a scale of 1 inch = 10 miles. The actual distance between two cities is 50 miles. This is how far apart are the cities are on the map.
What is 5 inches?