There are mainly 3 types of maps:

1. PHYSICAL MAPS

   Maps showing natural features of the earth such as mountains, plateaus, plains, rivers, oceans etc. are called physical or relief maps.

2. POLITICAL MAPS

   Maps showing cities, towns and villages, and different countries and states of the world with their boundaries are called political maps.

3. THEMATIC MAPS

   Some maps focus on specific information; such as road maps, rainfall maps, maps showing distribution of forests, industries etc. are known as thematic maps.

Major Components of a Map:

1. Distance

   How do we show large distances on a map? We use “Scale” for it –  Scale is the ratio between the actual distance on the ground and the distance shown on the map.

   For example, the distance between your friend’s home and your home is 10 km. If you show this 10 km. distance by 2 cm on a map, it means, 1 cm on the map will show 5 km. on the ground.
   The scale of your drawing will be 1cm = 5 km.

   Thus, scale is very important in any map. If you know the scale, you will be able to calculate the distance between any two places on a map. There can be small scale maps or large scale maps.

2. Direction

   Maps contain an arrow marked with the letter ‘N’ at the upper right hand corner. This arrow shows the north direction. It is called the north line. Similarly a magnetic needle (compass) always points towards North-South direction.

   When you know the north, you can find out other directions, for example east, west and south.
   The four major directions are called as the “Cardinal Points”.

3. Symbol

   Since, we cannot show big places and monuments as such by drawing on the map, we use symbols for different things. There is an international agreement regarding the use of these symbols. These are called conventional symbols.

   For eg. see below

   

Comments

comments