What type of map shows relief and elevation

They are mounted on the walls of classrooms throughout the world. They show the geographic boundaries between governmental units such as countries, states, and counties. They show roads, cities and major water features such as oceans, rivers and lakes. Political maps help people understand the geography of the world. They are usually the first type of map that students are introduced to in school. They are also known as "reference maps" because people refer to them again and again as they have questions.

Political maps are often printed on paper or another physical medium, but they can also be produced in digital form, suitable for viewing online. Every day millions of people visit search engines to find political reference maps. Some of the most popular searches are for " united states map ", " world map ", " europe map ", and " florida map ". Thousands of different political reference maps have been prepared to show the current geography of the United States. There are maps of the entire nation, maps for each of the 50 states, maps of the counties parishes in Louisiana, and boroughs in Alaska that make up the states.

Most counties, boroughs and parishes are further subdivided into even smaller political units. An incredible number of political maps have been prepared just to display the geography of the United States.

The maps most commonly seen in classrooms and offices are political maps of the world, countries and continents. They are often annotated with push pins, sticky notes, photographs, marker flags and string to show the travels of a family, locations of a business, or other locations and activities worthy of display.

Election Results Map: Sometimes considered to be a different variety of "political map", "election results maps" show the results of an election by geographic subdivision or voting district. In recent years they show states won by Republican candidates in red and states won by Democratic candidates in blue. The example above shows the results of the Presidential election of the United States. Map and caption from Wikipedia. Election results maps might be considered to be a variety of "political maps".

These maps show the geographic areas where a candidate for public office received a majority of support from voters. The geographic areas are usually political subdivisions of a country states , of a state counties , etc. States won by a majority of votes for the Republican candidate are known as "red states", and those won by a majority of votes for the Democratic candidate are known as "blue states". The accompanying map is an example.

It maps the results of the United States presidential election. These maps might be considered "thematic maps" while the election is in progress and while the results are in the news. However, shortly thereafter they might be considered as "reference maps" of historical significance.

Physical Map: This physical map of Eurasia shows the topography of the land in a color-gradient relief. Dark greens are used for near-sea-level elevations, and the green grades to tan and brown as elevation increases. The highest elevations are shown in shades of gray. If you are familiar with the physical features of Eurasia, you can probably recognize the Himalaya Mountain Range, the Tibetan Plateau, the Alps, and the more subtle Ural Mountains.

Lake Baikal, the world's largest freshwater lake by volume, can be seen in central Asia. Physical maps are designed to show the natural landscape features of Earth. They are best known for showing topography, either by colors or as shaded relief. Physical maps often have a green to brown to gray color scheme for showing the elevation of the land. Darker greens are used for near-sea-level elevations, with the color grading into tans and browns as elevations increase.

The color gradient often terminates in shades of gray for the highest elevations. Rivers, lakes, seas and oceans are usually shown in blue, often with a light blue color for the most shallow areas and darkening in a gradient or by intervals for areas of deeper water.

Glaciers and ice caps are shown in white colors. Physical maps usually show the most important political boundaries, such as state and country boundaries. Major cities and major roads are often shown. This cultural information is not the focus of a physical map, but it is often included for geographic reference and to increase the utility of the map for many users. Google Map of Washington, D. It superbly presents road and street maps. It is also the world's favorite route planning and street view service.

The service has been specifically designed for those tasks. Google Maps also has special tools that enable you to query "nearby" restaurants, hotels, bars and pubs, museums, pizza, bike shops, schools, attorneys, etc.

If you allow Google Maps to use your current GPS location, you can use the "add destination" tool to plot a car, walking, bike, or public transportation route. Google Maps will even estimate the amount of time required for your trip.

The author uses this feature of Google Maps more than any other mapping tool. The digital mapping revolution caused an explosion of map creation in the s. In , MapQuest , the first popular online mapping service, allowed anyone with internet access the ability to create customized maps of almost any location in the United States.

Within a few months, millions of people had become "cartographers". They were soon producing more unique maps in a single day than had been created during the entire history of paper cartography! Today, Google Maps is the world's most popular online mapping system.

In addition to maps, the service also provides travel route directions. It can create directions for people who are driving, taking public transportation, walking, cycling or taking a plane.

Billions of unique maps, millions of travel routes, and millions of street views are created each day with Google Maps. It is the first place millions of people go to plan any type of travel. Google has another product named " Google Earth " that allows people to view streets, roads and satellite images within a single interface.

Google Earth is a free download - the software installs on your computer and fetches the image directly from the Google Earth server. The maps present a combination of road, topography, cultural and recreational information.

These "hybrid maps" are a favorite of people who work and play outdoors in rural areas. This map shows Earth's topography using brown contour lines with a contour interval of 20 feet. Roads, place names, streams and other features are also shown.

Areas on the map where the brown contour lines are close together have steep slopes. Areas where the contour lines are spaced far apart have gentler slopes. If you would like to view the full 7.

This map is a very large file over 30 megabytes and will take a few minutes to download on some desktop computers and mobile phones. They usually do this with lines of equal elevation known as "contour lines", but elevation can also be shown using colors second map , color gradients , shaded relief and a number of other methods.

Topographic maps are frequently used by hunters, hikers, skiers, and others seeking outdoor recreation. They are also essential tools of the trade for geologists, surveyors, engineers, construction workers, landscape planners, architects, biologists and many other professions - especially people in the military.

Topographic maps also show other important natural features such as lakes, rivers and streams. Their locations are determined by topography, making them important natural elements of topographic maps. Important cultural features are also shown on topographic maps. These include roads, trails, buildings, place names, bench marks, cemeteries, churches, schools and much more.

A standardized set of special symbols has been developed for this use. Topographic maps have traditionally been printed on large sheets of paper with their four boundaries being lines of longitude and latitude.

The United States Geological Survey is the most widely known organization for producing them. They produce a series of 7. These maps and maps of many other scales are available from USGS in both print and digital form.

Commercial publishers of topographic maps include the DeLorme Atlas paper maps in books with state-wide coverage and MyTopo a source of digital and paper maps in traditional topographic and topophoto formats - we are affiliates of MyTopo and receive a commission on referred sales. World Time Zone Map: On this map, the world's 24 time zones are shown as colored bands. By looking at the numbers along the top and bottom of the map, you can determine the time difference between two locations.

Time zones do not follow lines of longitude. Instead they mostly follow political boundaries, with many variations made for social and commercial convenience.

Click to enlarge this time zone map compiled by the Central Intelligence Agency. Time zones are regions of the world where people set their clocks to display the same time of day.

This synchronization of time has many commercial, navigational, and social benefits. By international agreement there are 24 time zones around the world. These 24 zones are shown in the accompanying time zone map. A typical example of a political map would be one showing the 50 U.

A physical map is one that documents landscape features of a place. These maps generally show things like mountains, rivers, and lakes. Bodies of water are commonly shown in blue. Mountains and elevation changes are sometimes shown with different colors and shades to show elevation. On physical maps, greens usually indicate lower elevations while browns usually indicate higher elevations. This map of Hawaii is a physical map.

Low elevation coastal regions are shown in dark green, while the higher elevations transition from orange to dark brown. Rivers are shown in blue.

A topographic map is similar to a physical map in that it shows different physical landscape features. Unlike physical maps, though, this type of map uses contour lines instead of colors to show changes in the landscape. Contour lines on topographic maps are normally spaced at regular intervals to show elevation changes e. When lines are close together, it means the terrain is steep.

A climate map shows information about the climate of an area. These maps can show things like the specific climatic zones of an area based on the temperature, the amount of snow an area receives, or the average number of cloudy days. These maps normally use colors to show different climatic areas. This climate map for Australia uses colors to show differences between the temperate area of Victoria and the desert region in the center of the continent.

An economic or resource map shows the specific types of economic activity or natural resources present in an area through the use of different symbols or colors depending on what is being depicted.

This economic activity map for Brazil , for example, uses colors to show different agricultural products of given areas, letters for natural resources, and symbols for different industries. A road map is one of the most widely used map types. These maps show major and minor highways and roads depending on the degree of detail , as well as things like airports, cities, and points of interest such as parks, campgrounds, and monuments. Contour lines connect all the points on a map that have the same elevation and therefore reveal the location of hills, mountains, and valleys.

While a road map shows where a road goes, a topographic map shows why. For example, the road bends in order to go around a hill or stops at the top of a mountain. On a contour map:. How would you calculate the contour interval on the map of Stowe, Vermont see Figure above? This map does not represent the landscape. The green line indicates the main road, black dotted lines are trails, and there are markers for campsites, a picnic area, and a shuttle bus stop. With contour lines to indicate elevation, the topographic map in Figure below shows the terrain.

How does the map of Bryce Canyon reveal the terrain of the region? Several principles are important for reading a topographic map:. Contour lines show the 3-dimensional shape of the land Figure below. What does the spacing of contour lines indicate? Just to the right of the city of Stowe is a steep hill with a sharp rise of about ft that becomes less steep toward the right. Concentric circles indicate a hill.

When contour lines form closed loops all together in the same area, this is a hill. The smallest loops are the higher elevations and the larger loops are downhill. On the Stowe map, which hill has an elevation of feet? If you found Cady Hill, on the left side of the map, you are right. Hatched concentric circles indicate a depression, as seen in the Figure below. The hatch marks are short, perpendicular lines inside the circle. The innermost hatched circle would represent the deepest part of the depression, while the outer hatched circles represent higher elevations.

V-shaped expanses of contour lines indicate stream valleys.