WHAT ARE Maps Suppose you want to find your way around a new neighborhood or school the country or the world A map is Maine Vermont Washington New Montana North Dakota Hampshire Minnesota Massachusetts Oregon New York Rhode Island Wisconsin Idaho South Dakota Michigan Wyoming Pennsylvania Connecticut New Jersey Delaware lowa Nebraska Nevada Illinois Colorado Ohio Maryland West Virginia 3 Virginia Kentucky North Carolina Tennessee South Carolina Missouri California Kansas Oklahoma Arizona New New Mexico Arkansas Alabama Georgia Louisiana Florida Alaska Hawaii
Many maps and globes show invisible boundaries including those between nations an easy way to discover where things are Imagine how hard it would be to travel to a new place without a map A map is a drawing of all or part of Earth’s surface Most maps are drawn on a flat surface A map displayed on a round surface is called a globe Globes give the same kinds of information that flat maps do Because Earth is almost round a globe represents it best A globe shows Earth as it looks when seen from space Maps may show visible features such as rivers forests Think About It Can you name other invisible things that can be shown on a map buildings and roads They also may show things that cannot be seen such as where one state is separated from the states around it Special maps show other invisible things like weather patterns No matter the type maps give us lots of information This map of the United States shows all fifty states 5
This world map is an example of a political map Two common kinds of maps are topographic maps and political maps Topographic maps show the location and shape of features on Earth’s surface These features often are natural things such as mountains and lakes Topographic maps also can show things that humans have built such as roads and railroads Political maps show the boundaries of countries states provinces counties and cities Boundaries are the unseen lines that separate places run by different governments Some visible features like rivers and mountain ranges also can act as boundaries These features physically separate one place from another 6
A star map is useful for science students scientists and people who look at stars as a hobby Most maps combine features of both topographic and political maps Some special maps show things that are not on Earth’s surface For example star maps Compare and Contrast show the stars in all or part of the sky Transportation maps like subway or underground railway maps show things that may be all or partly underground How are political maps similar to topographic maps How are they different 7
