How To Read Latitude And Longitude On A Topographic Map

Each degree is then broken down into 60 minutes.

How to read latitude and longitude on a topographic map. In this sample map the right hand longitude is listed as 121 degree 30 minutes and 0 seconds zero is assumed and not explicitly printed. If for example an area has a lot of land you ll see a lot of brown on the map. The earth is nearly 25 000 miles around so once divided into 360 degrees it means each degree is about 69 miles wide. For example the closer the spaces the more rapid the change in elevation.

Latitude longitude and topographic maps reading supplement latitude and longitude a key geographical question throughout the human experience has been where am i in classical greece and china attempts were made to create logical grid systems of the world to answer this question. The ancient greek geographer ptolemy created a grid system and listed the coordinates for places throughout the known world in his book geography. To read the coordinates of any location start with the number of degrees on the latitude line and clarify whether it is in the northern or southern hemisphere. To read topographic maps look at the thicker contour lines and the number next to them to determine the elevation.

As a hiker this form of numbers being latitude longitude has never held any interest for me as this isn t the format of numbers favoured for wilderness map reading. These numbers are called graticules. Additionally use the map s colors to get an idea of the landscape. Look for numbers along the edges of the map giving coordinates for each line.

You can also figure out the elevation change by looking at the space between the contour lines. Latitude is indicated on a map by a series of evenly spaced horizontal lines running from one side of the map to the other while longitude is indicated by a series of evenly spaced vertical lines running from top to bottom. Topographical map representation of longitude and latitude because of it s popularity topographical maps almost always contain longitude and latitude values expressed in degrees minutes and seconds.