How To Read A Topographic Map
Your map will then be able to tell you a richly detailed tale about the terrain you ll be exploring. The land survey information is a good example.
How To Read A Topographic Map Howstuffworks
These lines connect points of equal elevation.
How to read a topographic map
. How map scales work. Instead to represent a large area cartographers make maps on a ratio scale. Reading a topographic map whenever you re in a remote or unfamiliar area a topographic map and compass are a must. This is your map s unit of measurement in the united states it is generally an inch.A topographic map can be easy to read once you know the details. In each of these cases contour lines are also drawn in blue. Then take a class with the rei outdoor school or another outdoor organization and. The first number on any scale legend is one.
The smaller the scale the more detail the map has. Note the contour lines on the map. You can then orient yourself using the map so you do not get lost or turned around. How contour lines let you visualize your terrain.
Obviously there are no life sized maps. Other useful map details. If you re holding the map in front of you and the letters and numbers are right side up then the direction of true north is located at the top of the map. To read topographic maps you can assess the contour lines as well as the colors and symbols on the map.
On these maps you ll see large expanses of green for vegetation blue for water and gray or red for densely built up areas. Method 1 assessing the contour lines. The second number on the scale is the. How to read topographic maps.
This means that one unit of measurement on the map correlates with a larger unit in the real world. Where to find topo maps. The scale on any topographic map will tell you how many miles or fractions of a mile one inch represents. Also read our companion article how to use a compass.
This article covers these concepts. To read a topographic map you need to understand the representations of the many circles and lines scrawled all over the terrain. At higher elevations mountains may be snow capped year around or the terrain may actually be a glacier. Topographic maps are created from aerial photographs and reveal the contours of the land including hills ridges and valleys as well as lakes rivers creeks trails and roads.
Some lines will have the recorded elevation written in the line. They have a lot going on with different colors lines and labels all over the place. When learning how to read a topographic map it s important to be aware of the scale of your map. Topographic maps use green to denote vegetation such as woods while blue is used to denote water features like lakes swamps rivers and drainage.
Learning to read that paper topo map short for topographic map is every bit as essential. While most topo map users aren t trying to read the township range and section information it is still on the maps. First look for the map s scale which will let you know how much detail the map contains. Houses are small black squares.
Another example is that roads trails power lines railroads and property boundaries are all black lines on topo maps but they only vary slightly. Topographic maps are complicated to say the least. Topographic maps are oriented to true north. The first step in learning how to read a topographic map is to understand how to interpret the lines colors and symbols.
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