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1.3 Basic Skills of Map Reading

 A map is
 a two-dimensional scaled representation part or whole of the
Earth surface on a flat body such as piece of paper, black board,
wood or cloth.

 A map is a simplified, diminished, plain representation

of all or part of the earth’s surface as viewed vertically
from above.

 Map reading encompasses

 a systematic identification of natural and manmade
features.
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Basic skills…
 Although many disciplines use maps, they have a
special significance for Geographers as primary
tools for;
 displaying and
 analyzing spatial distributions,
 patterns and relations.

 Since these features cannot easily be observed and

interpreted in real landscapes, maps are essential to
Geographers.

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Importance of maps
 Provide the basis for making geographical
details of regions represented i.e. the
geographical facts of an area such as relief,
drainage, settlement etc.
 Maps are powerful tools for making spatial
analysis of geographical facts of areas
represented.
 Maps are useful for giving location of
geographical features by varied methods of
grid reference, place naming etc.

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Cont.
 Maps are used on various disciplines like
land use planning, military science, aviation,
tourism, marine science, population studies,
epidemiology, geology, economics, history,
archaeology, agriculture etc.
 Map makes storage of the geographical
data of areas represented.
 Maps are potentially used to asses reliable
measurements of the geographical
features. The measurements can be of area,
distance etc.
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Cont.
 Generally the use of map can be categorized
into;
 Identifying the location of places
 Identifying the direction of places
 Measuring the distance between two places
 Measuring the area of places
 Spatial analysis of geographical facts

location
 Four conventional methods are used by map
makers to give the location of places.
A. Position by the use of place names
 This is the most commonly used and the
simplest way of giving the position of a place.
 The place is marked with a dot on the map in
its accurate position.
 Once this is done a place name is attached to
that dot and if any one wants to find the
location of such a place, he has to look all
over the map until he found the place.
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Political Map of Africa

Cont.
B. Position by the use of bearing and distance
◦ This method uses both direction and distance
from a well known major place.
◦ Here the position of a certain place is given in a
text with reference to bearing and distances
from well known major places.

Example 2:
• Find the location of Addis Ababa in relation to
Khartoum.
• Answer: Addis Ababa is located at a straight line distance
of about 1000km. southeast of Khartoum.
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Cont.
C. Position by geographical grid
 This is a method by which the position of a place can be given
accurately with the help of a grid composed of a network of lines
known as latitudes and longitudes.

The Geographic Grid System

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Cont.
 Example: Find the location of “D” using latitude
and longitude lines given on the above map.

 Answer: the position of “D” is 200 south latitude
and 450 west longitude.

 You have to write latitude first and then longitude

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D. National Grid References

• National Grid references are used to
accurately pinpoint your location on a map.
• A series of faint blue lines on every map
makes up a numbered grid that is used to
create the National Grid reference.
• This is a simple way of finding points and
places on a map.

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Types of grid reference

 There are two main types of grid reference:
1. Four-figure grid reference,
such as ‘19 45’, indicates a 1 km by 1 km
square on the map; and
2. Six-figure grid reference,
such as ‘192 454’, indicates a 100 m by
100 m square on the map.

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Four-figure grid references

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Cont.

The numbered squares on the

diagram have the following
four-figure grid references:
1 = 18 45
2 = 19 45
3 = 18 44
4 = 19 44

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Six-figure grid reference

 To get the six-figure grid reference, you have to
imagine that the four-figure square is further
divided up into tenths.

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Cont.

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Direction
 The direction of one place from another can be
found from a map.
 North direction is shown on a map as a reference
to show all other directions.
 Direction from one point to another can be given in
two ways; namely,
◦ by using compass points and
◦ by using compass bearing
 Compass cardinal points and compass bearings
correspond to one another.

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Cont.
Compass cardinal points and their bearings

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Cont.
 Example: determine the direction of the post office from the school on the map

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Cont.
 To determine the direction of the post office from the school on the
map:
A. Locate the school and the post office on the map.
B. At the center of the school from which direction is measured, draw a
line parallel to the true north direction as indicated by the arrow
indicating true north.
C. Draw a line to connect the center of the arrow (school) to the
center of the post office.
D. Determine the direction assuming the top of the map is always the
grid north.
E. The direction of the post office from the school is:
A. roughly East-North-East of the school or the post office bears
East-North-East from the school.
B. The direction using compass bearing i.e., the direction from the
school to the post office is 67.5°.
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Distance
 Distance may be measured between two given
points on a map using the scale of the map. The
types of distances that could be measured on the
map are:-
A. Air route distance which connects points along a
straight line;
B. Irregular or bending distance such as rivers, roads
and railway lines.
C. Field distance, which considers the effect of altitude
difference

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Cont.
 A scale is the ratio of the distance between two
points on a map and the actual distance between the
two points on the earth's surface.

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Cont.
 It can be expressed as;
 Representative/Ratio/fraction scale 1: 24,000
 statements/verbal scale, 1 cm to 24 km
 Linear/graphic scale.

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Cont.
 Example
 A straightline of 650 meters is measured
on the ground. This line is to be plotted
onto a map scale of 1:2,500. What is the
length of the line on the map?

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Distance Calculation
𝟏𝒎 = 𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝒄𝒎
𝟔𝟓𝟎 =?

650 𝑐𝑚 × 100𝑐𝑚
= 65,000𝑐𝑚
1𝑚

𝑀𝑎𝑝 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 1𝑐𝑚 𝑀𝐷
𝑆𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑒 = = =
𝐺𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 2500𝑐𝑚 65,000𝑐𝑚

= 2,500 𝑚 𝑀𝐷 = 65,000𝑐𝑚

2,500𝑐𝑚 65,000𝑐𝑚
= 𝑀𝐷 = = 𝟐𝟔𝒄𝒎
2,500 2500 27

Area
 There is a semi circular figure on a map
whose diameter is 12cms. The map scale is
found to be 1:50,000. What will be the
actual area of this semi circular figure?

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Area Calculation
𝑀𝐷 1𝑐𝑚 12
𝑆𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑒 = = =
𝐺𝐷 50,000 𝐺𝐷
= 𝐺𝐷 = 50,000 12
𝐺𝐷 = 600,000𝑐𝑚
600,000𝑐𝑚
= 𝐺𝐷 = 6𝑘𝑚
100,000𝑐𝑚
6𝑘𝑚
𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑢𝑠 = = 3𝑘𝑚
2
𝜋3 3.14 × 3
𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑒𝑚𝑖 𝑐𝑖𝑟𝑐𝑙𝑒 = =
2 2
3.14 × 9 28.26
= = = 𝟏𝟒. 𝟏𝟑𝒌𝒎𝟐
2 2
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Types of Map
 There are many types of maps based on
 the purpose and
 Functions of the map.
 Here topographical and statistical maps are considered.
A. Topographical maps:
Shows /depict/ one or more natural and cultural features of an
area. Could be;
 small,
 medium or
 large scale depending on the size of the area represented.
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Cont.
Topography map

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Cont.
 Contents of topographical maps depend on
 the purpose of a map,
 scale of a map,
 date of compilation, and
 nature of the land represented.

B. Special purpose/statistical maps:

 These are maps, which show distribution of different
aspects such as;
 temperature,
 rainfall,
 settlement,
 vegetation etc.
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MEAN ANNUAL RAINFALL AND TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION OVER ETHIOPIA

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Marginal Information on Maps (Elements of Maps)

 It is shown on a map to enable the reading

and interpretation of the geographical
information of an area represented.
This includes:
A. Title:
 It is the heading of the given map which tells
what the map is all about.

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B. Key (legend):
It is the list of all convectional symbols and signs shown on the
map with their interpretation.

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Cont.
C. Scale:
 It is the ratio b/n the distance on the map and the actual ground
distance.
 Scales enable the map user to interpret the ground measurement like
road distance, areal sizes, gradient etc.
 It can be expressed as;
 representative fraction, 1: 24,000
 statements/verbal scale, and 1 cm to 24 km
 linear (graphic) scale.

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Cont.
D. North arrow

 It is indicated with the north direction on a map; used to know the

other important directions of the mapped area like east, west, and
south.

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Cont.

E. Margin:
 It is the frame of the map. It is
important for showing the end of
the mapped area.

F. Date of compilation:
 It is a date of map publication.
 Enables users to realize whether the map is updated/outdated.

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Basic Principles of Map Reading

 Map Readers must have ideas about the symbol and

the real World (landscapes).
 Every map symbol must be visualized by the reader
to read a map.
 The first symbols introduced should be those, which
refer to landscape features of which the reader
already has some images.
 secondly, knowledge of directions is an important
principle in reading maps.
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Basic skills…
A basic functions of maps is to orient ourselves and
locate places on the earth.
 Unless a reader knows the basic directions, he or
she may not use a map effectively.
 Before locating features using a map, north (the north
arrow) should be determined and the readers should
have practice in finding this direction.

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