A map is a drawing of the earth's surface on a flat piece of paper. Maps can how boundaries, physical features, distribution, comparative data, etc.
Sample some of the following activities and find maps of the earth, the continents, the countries of the world, the United States, Utah, and your own community.
The following are places to go (some real and some virtual) to find out about maps.
Locate maps of cities, states, countries, and the world. You can find all types of maps, from physical to topographic to outline to road and street maps online.
Use Google Maps to find maps, traffic, photographs, directions, satellite photos, and terrain images.
See several maps at the Lewis and Clark Archives related to the journey of the Corps of Discovery created by William Clark.
This site has the largest map library in the world. They have embarked on a program to scan many of the important maps in North American history.
Youve got the whole world in your hands and nearly 600 maps at your fingertips. There is no better place to find maps.
An atlas is a big book of maps. Make the acquaintance of Dutch cartographer Abraham Ortelius and Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator. They developed some of the earliest atlases in the 1500s.
Ptolemy was the most influential of Greek astronomers and geographers of his time. He propounded the geocentric theory that prevailed for 1400 years.
Read short descriptions of many cartographers.
Get to know Lewis and Clark. On their famous expedition, they mapped the west.
Get to know John Wesley Powell. His expeditions were instrumental in helping to map the western United States.
Check out Mr. Rand and Mr. McNally. This well-known map company has an educational section with lesson plans for teachers.
Type in a street number, street name, and zip code. You'll receive census-type information--not for that particular household--but for the general neighborhood area.
Play GeoNet and save the planet! To start the game, click on the Northeast, the South, or the United States.
Find out how a compass works and who first used a compass. Then learn how to use a compass yourself.
Discover the many ways to navigate the globe.
Horizontal = latidude. Vertical = longitude. One degree of latitude is about 69 miles. Latitudinal lines are also called parallels because they run parallel to the equator. Lines that run north and south are lines of longitude that are also called meridians.
You can visit anyone you want by using MapQuest. This site will generate maps for you and provide step-by-step driving instructions for wherever you want to go.
A map projection is a way to show a drawing of the earth on a flat surface. All flat maps have distortion, so we use different map projections to meet different needs.
"It's important that we use a map whose purpose is to give us a geographically accurate image of the world. The Peters Projection map is that map."
Go to this site and find out what time it is at the Tokyo Disneyland, at the Euro Disneyland, at Disneyland in California, and at Disney World in Florida.
Find out what time it is in Darwin, Australia; in McMurdo Station, Antarctica; and in Kigali, Rwanda.
- Bramwell, Martyn. How Maps Are Made. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1998.
- Bramwell, Martyn. Mapping Our World. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Company, 1998.
- Chrisp, Peter. Mapping the Unknown. Austin, Tex.: Raintree Steck-Vaughn, c1997.
- Ganeri, Anita. Maps and Map Making. New York: F. Watts, 1995.
- Pratt, Paula. Maps: Plotting Places on the Globe. San Diego, CA: Lucent Books, c1995.