Chapter One Discovering Digital Maps 4 C h a p t e r o n e D i s c o v e r i n g D i g i t a l m a p s Your family has decided to visit Washington D C this summer You’ll be driving there and your parents are letting you help plan the trip You know Washington D C is the capital of the United States but you have a lot of questions about the city Where is it How long will it take to get there Are there any interesting places to stop along the way What is there to do once you get there You will need to do a little research to answer these questions Where do you start there are many different things to see in Washington D C
5 A digital map is a good place to begin Digital maps can be accessed using the Internet They can show you everything from the street layout of a small town to an overview of the entire world A digital map also allows you to look at many different kinds of information about the area you are interested in Most digital maps can be set to show political features such as roads highways and city names You can also use them to look at physical features such as rivers lakes and mountains Depending on which digital map application you choose you may also be able to save your own notes and pins to the map Digital maps can help you and your family plan a road trip
6 There are different digital maps for different purposes Weather Web sites such as Weather com and WeatherBug use digital maps to show satellite images of moving storms or temperature changes MapQuest is a digital map Web site designed specifically for travelers It gives driving directions and helps users find hotels restaurants and shops Google Earth is actually a digital globe It reflects the way the earth curves and it shows buildings mountains and even the ocean floor in 3D These map sites are useful in different situations You will need to determine which one best suits your needs You might even need to use more than one at a time satellite images are sometimes animated on digital weather maps C h a p t e r o n e D i s c o v e r i n g D i g i t a l m a p s
7 Try This Compare and contrast three popular digital map applications google maps http maps google com bing maps www bing com maps and mapQuest www mapquest com search for your hometown on each Web site then ask yourself questions how easy is this map site to use What kind of information does it show What does it have that the other map sites do not make a chart to help you organize your thoughts to get a copy of this activity visit www cherrylakepublishing com activities
