Learning How to Read Maps

Video Transcript

"How to learn to read a map. First know where you are. Maps are always orientated so that when you open a map, the top is going to be north, the bottom being south, the left is going to be your west and the right is going to be your east. Usually on a map there will be a legend at the bottom or the side of the map and that will help you navigate where you are and where you want to go. Second is know where you're going. You must have a general knowledge for geography to be able to use a map. For instance if you're in Florida and you want to drive to Denver, Colorado, you must know that Denver, Colorado is going to be northwest. Different colors denote different terrains on a map. Green typically means a national forest or the mountains like the Rocky Mountains and blue is going to mean your oceans and your lakes. To find distances on a map, they'll usually be a graph either on the bottom, the side or the back of a map with all of your different major cities going across the top and those same cities going along the left side. There you'll find the city where you're starting and the city where you're ending and that should be able to tell you the amount of mileage you're going to be driving and sometimes the time it's going to take to get there. Once you do all of those steps, that is how you're going to learn to read a map. For further instructions there is a new tool out there and you can go to a website called map-reading.com. There it's a free online book that will give you some tools for map reading and land navigation."