How Do You Read a Map?

What You'll Learn

• A map is a picture of a real place seen from above
• The map key (legend) explains what each little symbol stands for
• The compass rose shows north, south, east, and west
• The scale bar turns a tiny distance on paper into a real distance on the ground
• A globe is the most accurate map of Earth, because Earth is a ball, not a sheet of paper

Words to Know

Map key

The little box that tells you what each symbol means

"The key says a blue line is a river."

Compass rose

The star shape that shows which way is north

"Find the compass rose first."

Scale

How much real distance a small line on the map stands for

"One inch on here equals one mile."

Symbol

A tiny picture that stands for a real thing

"A little cross means a hospital."

Cardinal directions

The four main directions: north, south, east, west

"Walk north two blocks."

Check What You Learned

Fun Facts

• A map is a representation of a real place drawn as if seen from directly above

  Source: National Geographic Education, "Map"

• The map key, also called the legend, explains what each symbol on the map stands for

  Source: National Geographic Education, "Map Key"

• The compass rose shows the cardinal directions — north, south, east and west — and on most maps north points to the top of the page

  Source: National Geographic Education, "Compass Rose"

• The scale bar tells you how much real-world distance a measured length on the map represents

  Source: USGS, "Map Scales"

• No flat map of Earth can be perfectly accurate, because a sphere cannot be flattened without stretching something — every projection distorts shape, area, distance or direction

  Source: USGS, "Map Projections"

• On a Mercator world map Greenland looks about the size of Africa, but Africa's land area is roughly 14 times larger: about 30.4 million square kilometres against Greenland's 2.2 million

  Source: CIA World Factbook; USGS Map Projections