SECOND CLASS SCOUT

WHAT MAP SYMBOLS MEAN

From an airplane you can look down and see roads, rivers, forests, cities, and towns. A map is like a painting of that land. Since mapmakers can't include every detail, they choose infomation they hope will be valuable to anyone using the map. Some of the most important data are represented by symbols located in a map's legend such as:

Open pit is crossed picks
Index contour is wavy lines

Directions

North is toward the top of most maps. The bottom is south, the left side is west, and the right side is eat. A map often will have a true-north arrow in its margin.

Distances

Bar scales can be used for measuring feet, meters, and miles on a map.

Scale

The scale of a map compares its size to the size of the area it represents. A map scale shown in the margin as 1:24,000 means that one unit of distance on that map (an inch, for example) equals 24,000 like units of distance on the ground (24,000 inches in this example).

Date

A map's date tells when it was drawn or last revised. An older map will not show new buildings, roads, trails, or other change$ on the land.