Geology 1 Laboratory

Topographic Maps – A computer-based exercise. Name ______________________

Instructions: This exercise is to be done on your own – not in groups.

Part 1 – brief history of maps.

Log on to the following web site to answer the questions in this section:
https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/HistTopics/Cartography/
1. How old is the earliest map from Catal Hyük in Anatolia? 6200 BC

1300 BC.
2. The oldest extant (existing) example of a local Egyptian map is the Turin papyrus, which dates from ______

3. True or false? Early maps reflect religious beliefs. True

4. Who is believed to be the first to put forward the belief in a spherical Earth?
Pythagoras
5. When did scholars generally accept that the Earth was a sphere?
350 BC
6. Do you think Christopher Columbus thought the world was flat and proved it is round?
I think some people still thought he would fall off the face of the Earth for going in the direction that he did.
7. Who first accurately measured the circumference of the Earth? Eratosthenes When? 205 BC

8. Click on Eratosthenes' map of the world. List the names of three countries on his map.

Athens Brettania Massilia

____________________ ____________________ ____________________

9. In about 140 A.D., who produced the most up to date maps? Ptolemy
Why were his maps inaccurate? He used Posidonius's circumference of the Earth value, which was wrong. This
made his maps inaccurate.
10. Who was Al-Biruni? An Islamic scholar who wrote "Cartography" in 995.

What did he accurately measure in approximately 1010 A.D., which the western world didn’t measure until the
16 century? He found the radius of the Earth - 6339.6 km

11. How does a Mercator Projection show the Earth? With the rhumb lines shown on it.

What are the problems with this kind of projection? The distances near the poles were distorted making it hard to
use the map to measure distances.

Part 2 – Latitude and Longitude

Go to the following link http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/geology/leveson/core/linksa/latlong_menu.html
Click on Latitude and read the descriptions.
12. Describe what Latitude tells us:
the 180 horizontal lines made up by parallel circles that divide the Earth above and below the equator,
perpendicular to the N-S axis.
Go back to the menu and click on Longitude. Read this section too.
13. Describe what Longitude tells us:
the 360 vertical lines that divide the earth from pole to pole.
Now click on “Latitude and Longitude - Putting it all Together”, read through this section.
14. What is the latitude and longitude of the Blue dot?
40degrees N, 60degrees W
15. What is the latitude and longitude of the Pink dot?
(you can check your answers if you take the quiz)
10degrees S, 30degrees E
Near the end of this section, click on the “LINK TO ANGULAR MEASUREMENT”. After reading the article, at the
bottom is another quiz where “Lulu” says "Once again, very good, Lou!! Now we'll focus on seconds! I've given you

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another table! This one tells you the locations of A, B and C in degrees, minutes and seconds of latitude and
longitude!"
On this last figure, what is the Latitude and longitude in degrees minutes and seconds of points D and F?
(Be sure to use the proper notation in your answers – again you can check your answers if you do the quiz)

16. Point D Latitude ____________________

5degrees 59' 30" N 71degrees 00' 45" W
Longitude _______________________

17. Point F Latitude ____________________

5 degrees 59' 09" N 71degrees 00' 00" W
Longitude _______________________

Part 3 -- reading topographic maps.

Now that you know something about the history of maps, and how latitude and longitude work, it’s time to learn
about topographic maps. This is important since we will be using these throughout the rest of the semester.
The next step is to log onto http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topographic_map and read the articles to answer the
following questions:
topographic sheet
18. Topographic maps are also commonly called _____________ maps or _______________ maps.

19. Click on the “topography” link, describe what topography is.

The study of the forms of land surfaces

20. Contour lines connect points of ____________

100m elevation.

21. Look at the Example of a topographic map with contour lines, it shows “Lower Village” near the center of the
map, click the map to enlarge it. Assume the contour lines are in meters, what is the approximate elevation of the
letter “E” in the word “STOWE”?

Next log on to https://www.slideshare.net/mjcnavarro/topographic-map and read through the PowerPoint

there and examine the examples.

22. Describe the rule of “V’s”.

23. Describe the rule of “O’s”.

24. Describe what the spacing of contours tells us.

Now go to https://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/topomapping/topo.html This site is operated by the USGS (United States

Geological Survey) and here you can read about topographic maps.

25. Scroll down to the section labeled “What is a topographic map?”. After reading this section, list 3 things or
activities that topo maps are used for.

26. Scroll down again and read the section entitled “Topographic mapping and the USGS”. What map scale is
used for the 48 contiguous states? __________ What scale is used for Alaska? __________

27. Scroll down to “Common Mapping Scales”. List the three common scales shown.

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28. Which scale is the largest (shows the least amount of area – be careful, this is a bit tricky).

29. Scroll sown and read the section “What’s in a name”. When did the standardization of geographic names begin
in the United States?

Now logon to https://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/TopographicMapSymbols/ and click on Report on the right-hand side, this
should open Adobe so you can view the information. Scroll down to the map symbol guide and answer the following
questions. You can use drawings if you want to. Pay attention to both color and shape.

30. What symbol shows a National boundary?

31. What do the contours look like that show a depression?

32. What symbol is used to show a water tank?

33. What symbol is used to show a campground?

34. What symbol is used to show a perennial stream?

35. What symbol is used to show a quarry or open pit mine?

36. What symbol is used to show a primary highway?

37. What symbol(s) is used to show buildings?

Part 4 – using topo maps.

Now you will find the latitude and longitude of where you live or an address of your choice. First, logon to
https://www.latlong.net enter your chosen address, city, state and then click the search button. Look at the
“Results from your location search:” (Note, the negative sign indicates a West longitude).

38. What is the Latitude and Longitude of your address in Decimal Degrees?

Latitude ____________________________ Longitude _____________________________

Now logon to https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/dms-decimal scroll down to the purple box and enter the numbers
you put as your answer for question 38, in order to convert decimal degrees into degrees, minutes and seconds.

39. What is the Latitude and Longitude in Degrees, Minutes and Seconds?

Latitude ____________________________ Longitude _____________________________

Now go to http://www.latlong.net/Show-Latitude-Longitude.html and enter the following numbers in decimal

degrees: in the Latitude box enter 33.970871 and in the Longitude box enter -117.382119.

40. What is at this location?

41. Now go back and remove the negative sign from the Longitude number and get the map again, what country is
this location in? What is the significance of the negative sign, i.e. what does it indicate?

Now go to http://www.latlong.net/degrees-minutes-seconds-to-decimal-degrees and convert the following into

decimal degrees:
Latitude Degrees 44 Minutes 35 Seconds 25.5 Longitude Degrees -104 Minutes 42 Seconds 55

42. What National Monument is at this location?

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