Tasa Topographic Maps Lesson Plan


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Introduction To Topographic Map Activities Draw Your Own Topographic Map Directions Advanced Level: 7th - 9th grade *These activities were created as supplemental material for the Introduction to Topographic Maps* CD-ROM.**

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Activity

Create your own topographic maps.

Materials

Two pieces of paper
Pencil
Map pencils
Ruler
Introduction to Topographic Maps CD-ROM by Tasa Graphic Arts, Inc.

Procedure

Follow instructions on the activity sheet and create two topographic maps of different elevations. Be sure to add a compass rose, scale, MARKED CONTOUR INTERVAL, and key for each map. REMEMBER: Use pencil for the map, and use correct map pencil colors on the map, for example, water should be blue, contour lines brown, buildings black and grass green. Return to the Introduction to Topographic Maps CD-ROM and review the rules for using contour lines under the title "Principles of Contour Lines." You may also want to review "Drawing a Contour Map."

1. Mark off an area 6 inches long and four inches wide on a piece of paper.

2. Indicate directions of map with a compass rose in the lower right-hand corner.

3. Let one-inch equal two miles. Indicate the scale in the lower left corner.

4. Make a key for the map.

5. USE A SEPARATE PIECE OF PAPER FOR EACH MAP

6. Indicate the following features on the first map:

a. Twenty-foot contour interval (CI should be in the left corner below scale)

b. Two hilltops with both tops over 250 feet in elevation

c. An east-west railroad

d. Three ponds or lakes (lakes can not go over contour lines or the water will fall out)

e. A stream coming from the top of one of the hills

f. Two schools, six miles apart

g. A four-mile trail leading from a school to a church

h. An index contour line on every fifth line

7. Repeat steps one, two, three, and four to set up the second map, then indicate the following features:

a. A ten-foot contour interval (CI should be in the left corner below scale)

b. A swampy sand region in the south

c. A depression starting at an eighty-foot elevation

d. A stream coming from a 120-foot elevation to the swamp

e. Three houses above 120-foot elevation

f. A north-south interstate highway

g. A trail running to the houses

h. An index contour line every fifth line

BE AS NEAT AS POSSIBLE ON EACH MAP

Introduction To Topographic Map Activities Draw Your Own Topographic Map Directions Advanced Level: 7th - 9th grade

Introduction To Topographic Map Activities
Draw Your Own Topographic Map
Directions
Advanced Level: 7th - 9th grade