Mapping Our World

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

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 2

EARTH
FINDING YOUR YOU
R CONTIN

LOCATION
EN
T
R COUNT
SCHOOL

YOU
SCHOOL
SCHOOL
RY
Where in the world are you? Can
R STA
you tell someone exactly where YOU TE
you are?
Earth is a big place. You take up UR TOW
YO N
a small piece of it. Your location
is where you are on Earth. It can R STRE
U
be as local as the street you live YO E
UR HO
on, as global as the continent, or

T
somewhere in between. O

M
Y

E
A general location can give you
a rough idea of where something
is. A specific address can pinpoint YOU
an exact location. Do you know
your home address? Your school
address?
In w t general area is
ount us more? e
national memorial is in
t e western part of out
a ota. out a ota is
in t e midwestern part of
t e nited tates.
WHERE IS IT? GENERALLY SPEAKING

Pennington

UNITED STATES SOUTH DAKOTA

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 3

WHERE IS IT? SPOT ON!

SCHOOL

ere’s an elementary
sc ool on a illy road.
e road is in a little
town. e town is in a
small state. e state is in
big country. e country
is in a continent.

Pennington

PENNINGTON COUNTY MOUNT RUSHMORE

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 4

MAPS What’s
AND a globe?

GLOBES
A globe is a model of
Earth. Like Earth, a
globe is a sphere. A
sphere is a round,
solid figure. A globe
For thousands of shows the true
years, geographers and shapes of the land
mapmakers have known and water on Earth.
that we are on a planet,
one that is shaped like
a huge ball. People
have developed globes
and maps to help us
understand our planet.

Pictures were taken from

space to create this view of Earth.

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 5

North Pole

Northern What’s a map?

Hemisphere A map is a picture on a map stand for
or drawing made things in the real
Equator to show a place in world. Maps use
the real world in a two dimensions –
smaller way. Most length and width.
Southern lines and pictures
Hemisphere

South Pole

Globe makers the middle of Earth

and mapmakers is called the equator.
have come up The top half is
with some ways to called the Northern
describe Earth. They Hemisphere. The
split it into sections. bottom half is
The imaginary line called the Southern
going right around Hemisphere.

This is a and off a highway

photograph of in Los Angeles,
roads leading on California.

This is a map of not to show!

the same area. What did they add?
Mapmakers have What did they leave
to decide what to out?
show – and what

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 6

READING
MAPS
Legends and scales. Are we talking
Compass Rose
This is a direction
marker. Arrows or
Scale
The scale shows what
a distance on the map
lines point to north, is equal to in the real
about dragons or about maps? south, east, west, world. One inch on the
Both! Hundreds of years ago, and the places in map is the same as
mapmakers drew the parts of the between. 100 feet on Earth.
world that they knew. Some drew
legendary creatures – dragons,
monsters, and sea serpents – TRY THIS! TRY THIS!
beyond the places they knew. One
globe even has the words “There Use a ruler to figure To get from the
Be Dragons.” Today, people know out distance
Water Fountainon the ticket booth to the
map. How many roller coaster, in
much more about the world. inches is it from the which direction
On a map, the legend is a key. Ferris wheel to the would you have
Small pictures or symbols on entrance? How far to walk? Is the
the map represent things, and is that in the real entrance east or
world? How far is it west of the
the legend tells you what those Cash
fromMachine
the parking lot bumper cars?
things are. Many maps use the to the carousel?
same symbols. A red cross may
mean a hospital. A dollar sign may
indicate a bank. And, on a map, a
scale is not part of a dragon. It’s a
Parking
way to show the real distance.
Water Fountain

Legend
Legend The legend shows what the
symbols, or small pictures,
Cash Machine on the map mean.

TRY THIS!
Use this legend to find
Water Fountain Parking a water fountain. How
many are there?
Find the water fountain
that is closest to the
first aid station.

Cash Machine

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Inset
Sometimes you want a
closer look at something.
You need an inset map, a
small map set inside a larger
one, to get more detail. Can
you find the sand castle in
the mini golf course?

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DIVIDING THE EARTH

You might know exactly where you are. But Mapmakers put grids – lines that
go across and lines that go down,
how do you explain that to someone else? forming boxes – over a map. You can
How can you tell them where your home is, find things on the map by what box
on a map? Think of a football field. It has lines they are in. The boxes going across
going across the field, marking every five yards. usually have letters. The boxes going
up and down usually have numbers.
If the referee tells you to line up at the 20-yard
line, you know right where to go. Mapmakers Look at this grid map. What do you
use the same idea, using these two common see at B4?
techniques: grids, and latitude and longitude.

It’s hard to make a grid of boxes on a sphere like Earth. So mapmakers

draw imaginary lines going up, down, and around the globe.

The prime meridian –

an imaginary line
dividing the globe from
north to south – is
the starting line for
longitude.

Lines going up and

down – running
north and south –
are called lines of
longitude.

It’s a long
way up and
down. Get it?
Longitude!

Lines going
around –
running east The equator,
and west a line drawn
– are called around the
lines of middle of Let’s
latitude. Earth, is the climb a
starting line ladder of
for latitude. latitude!

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A B C D E F G

5 The Capitol building in

Washington, D.C., is about
39 degrees north of the
6 equator. It is about 77
degrees west of the prime
meridian. So its location
is written as 39°N, 77°W.
Those numbers are called
its coordinates.

79˚W 78˚W 77˚W 76˚W 75˚W 74˚W 73˚W 72˚W

You can describe

location in different 45˚N 45˚N

ways. One way is to give 0 100 Miles

VERMONT
an absolute, or exact, 0 100 KM
g location. Coordinates
nd are an absolute location.
44˚N 44˚N

it? They tell exactly where

e! something is. “My
town is 43°N, 74°W.” 43˚N
Saratoga Springs
NEW 43˚N
You can also describe HAMPSHIRE
NEW YORK
a place using relative Albany
MASSACHUSETTS
location. That’s when
you describe one place 42˚N 42˚N

by referring to another CONNECTICUT

place. “My town is
PENNSYLVANIA
about 35 miles north of
41˚N NEW 41˚N
Albany, N.Y.” “It is in the JERSEY
eastern part of the state
of New York.” Those are
relative locations.
79˚W 78˚W 77˚W 76˚W 75˚W 74˚W 73˚W 72˚W

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 10

THE WORLD
IS NOT FLAT?
Peel an orange and try to set it down flat. direction correctly. But when mapmakers
What does it look like? You have to cut project, or place, the world onto a flat
the peel and leave out spaces, or mush it map, at least one of those four things is
together. It doesn’t work so well! distorted.
When you try to make a flat picture Here are three common projections,
of a sphere, something ends up or ways to project Earth onto a flat
distorted – not quite true to life. Maps map. As you’ll see, not all maps are
try to show size, distance, shape, and created equal!

Mercator This projection keeps direction and shape pretty

accurate, especially near the equator. But sizes of
large areas are not correct. For instance, Greenland
(conformal) appears larger than South America. South America
is actually eight times larger than Greenland.

Greenland

South America

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 11

Robinson This projection combines a

mix of all other projections.
Nothing is exactly right, but
(compromise) nothing is terribly wrong!

Mollweide This projection tries to

keep continents the
correct size, but the
(equal area) shapes are not true to life.

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 12

MORE MAPS
(p

Maps contain all sorts of information. Look at all the

different things you can learn about the same state.

Maps often show borders. Inside the

state border of Texas, you can see the
borders of all the counties. Texas has 254
counties, more than any other state!

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Legend
(population by county) What is population
0–7,100
density? Here’s an
7,101–14,000
example. Thirty people
live in a building
14,001–22,000
at 10 Main Street.
22,001–34,000
Four people live in a
34,001–56,000 building at 12 Main
56,001–140,000 Street that is the
140,001–9,820,000 exact same size. The
building at 10 Main
Street is more densely
populated than 12
Main Street.

This map shows

the population in
Texas by county.
Lighter colored areas
have fewer people.
Darker colored areas
are more densely
populated. You can
guess where big
cities are!

Legend
Elevation (feet above sea level)
Over 6,000
40
4,500–6,000 Amarillo

3,000–4,500
1,800–3,000
1,200–1,800 27
Wichita Falls
600–1,200 Lubbock
300–600 30
Dallas
150–300 Fort Worth
20
0–150 20
20
35W 45
Midland
El Paso 35
20

10

10
45
The surface of the land 10
35 Austin 10
is called topography. That 10
Houston Pasadena
includes both natural San Antonio 45
features, such as hills, Galveston

deserts, rivers, and lakes,

as well as human-made 37

features, such as cities and 35

roads. A map that shows Corpus Christi

the surface of the land is Laredo

called a topographic map.

Brownsville

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 14

THE KNOWN
WORLD
Long ago, people could
only draw maps of places
they could see with their
own eyes. Early mapmakers
used both their own
observations and stories,
told by explorers, to draw
maps. Now, we’ve got eyes
in the sky and computers
to sort through mountains
of information for us. Does
the world seem smaller or
larger now?
About 2,500 years ago:
The very first maps were made on clay
tablets. This shows the known world as a
circle surrounded by a “bitter river” and “four
shores,” like the points of a compass. The
center of the world was the ancient kingdom
of Babylonia (the region that is now Iraq).

Astronomy started it Clocks that were Math really is

all. Early mapmakers accurate made the useful! If you know
used the movements difference! Sailors the length of two
of the sun, moon, and and travelers could sides of a triangle,
stars to figure out calculate correct you can figure out
Tools how Earth moved. latitude and longitude
only with very precise
the length of the
third side. Once
and Rules Telescopes helped
astronomers see
clocks. They had to
know exactly how long
mathematicians
figured this out,
People have been these objects. it took to get from one mapmakers could
making maps for point to another. Only then use this to
thousands of years. Compasses, devices then could they figure make better maps.
They use many different that show you out the distance
tools. They apply rules which way north is, between those points.
from math and science helped explorers and
to draw and map Earth. mapmakers.

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 15

About 1,850 years ago:

This map was made
using data collected by
Claudius Ptolemy (TALL-
uh-mee). He was the
first to use the ideas of
latitude and longitude.
Ptolemy did get one
thing wrong: He thought
Earth was the center of
the solar system, not
the sun!

About 450 years ago:

Gerardus Mercator, a
European scholar, was
one of the first to try to
make a flat but accurate
map of a round Earth. He
made globes and maps.
His collection of maps
was published in the
first-ever atlas.

About 200 years ago:

By the 1700s, several
explorers had sailed
around the world.
English explorer and
mapmaker James Cook
did it three times! He
used very scientific
methods. That led to
even more accurate
world maps. His voyages
especially helped with
making maps of the
Pacific Ocean and the
Americas.

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HIGH-TECH
MAPPING
First we made kites and hot-air
balloons to rise above Earth. Now, Lake Mead 1984
with planes, satellites, and computer
technology, we have information
about the world that we never had
before. We can see things about
Earth besides just its shape and
landforms. We can see how hot or
cold it is, where there’s rain, where
rivers flow or dry up, and how Earth
changes over time. If you could look
down on the world, what would you
want to see?

A Global Positioning pinpoint your exact Lake Mead 2016

System, or GPS, is a location. If you want
network of about 30 to go somewhere, GPS
satellites that orbit can find that location,
Earth. Once it gets and tell you the fastest
information from way to get there.
four satellites, it can

Some satellites help us see many

carry cameras. things, including
The cameras take how the world is
pictures that are changing. Did this
sent back to us on lake get bigger or
Earth. These pictures smaller?

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 Satellites can carry helped scientists
remote sensors. measure the
These are tools that highest point in
can sense change the United States:
in things like light, Denali, in Alaska.
heat, and radio
waves. By studying Scientists want sent to orbit other
the changes, to know about the planets. The satellites
geographers can physical world send back photos.
track hurricanes, beyond Earth. That’s how we’ve
see how cities are Human-made been able to map the
growing, or watch satellites have been surface of Mars!
forests shrink.
Remote sensing

The age of
exploration is not over!
One part of the world
that is still a mystery
is the ocean floor. New
technology is helping.
Scientists send sound
waves from the
bottom of ships to the
bottom of the ocean,
and back. This helps
them map underwater
hills and valleys.

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 18

Activities

AREA ATLAS
Work with two or three
classmates to make an
atlas, or book of maps,
for your area. Your atlas
should include a physical
map, a population map, a
land use or resource map,
and a political map that

WHERE IN
shows the different counties
and/or municipalities

THE WORLD? in the area. It can also

include charts and other
The exact coordinates of your information. Together,
community are unique. No other decide which group
place on Earth has them. Even so, member will create each
your community shares its lines map, chart, or page of
of latitude and longitude with information. When you’re
communities around the world. Find finished, put the pages
out what they are. Use a map or a together to make the atlas.
globe to find the lines of latitude and
longitude nearest your community.
Then, find three cities or towns in
the world with the same latitude.
Find three cities or towns with the
same longitude. Imagine what your
community might have in common
with them.

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 19

MAKE CONNECTIONS WITH THESE RELATED TITLES

U.S. Geography People and the Communities Change

From flowing rivers to towering Environment Every community has a history. And
mountains, the study of geography All of the living and nonliving all communities change in some
helps explain where and why people things around you are part of your ways and stay the same in other
live where they do. Learn about the environment. People live all over the ways. Sometimes change happens
regions and landforms of the United Earth, in all types of environments. slowly, and sometimes it happens
States, with a focus on California The connection we share with our fast. Learn about how changes
geography, through maps, charts, surrounding environment shapes the within a community’s economy,
and breathtaking photographs. way we live, from the resources we population, and even topography
use to the activities we do. can have a lasting impact on its
citizens.

CALIFORNIA
STANDARDS

HSS 3.1 Students describe the

physical and human geography
and use maps, tables, graphs,
photographs, and charts to
organize information about
people, places, and environ-
ments in a spatial context.

Historical and Social Sciences

Analysis Skills
Chronological and Spatial
Thinking
4. Students use map and globe
skills to determine the absolute
LEARN locations of places and interpret
MORE information available through a
map’s or globe’s legend, scale,
ONLINE! and symbolic representations.
Historical Interpretation
2. Students identify the human
• There are many • Not everything can • An atlas is a book and physical characteristics of
the places they are studying and
kinds of maps with be located with four of maps that gives explain how those features form
many different uses, points! Sometimes information about the unique character of those
such as trail maps, you need to locate a particular place, places.
weather maps, and places that are in such as a state or
physical maps. between. These are country.
called intermediate
directions: northeast,
southeast, northwest,
and southwest.

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 hmhco.com

Editor: Jennifer Dixon Fact-Checker: On the Cover: This spectacular “blue marble” image is the
Art Direction: David Stienecker most detailed true-color image of the entire Earth to date. NASA
Goddard Space Flight Center: Reto Stöckli.
Brobel Design
Designers: Ian Brown, Author: Melissa Kim Picture Credits: Alamy: Natural History Museum, London:
Ed Gabel, David Ricculli, Author Team Lead: p.15 bottom right (Cook world map, 1784). British Museum,
Jeremy Rech Mary Pearce London: p.14 top right (Babylonian tablet map). Getty Images:
Photo Research: Thinkstock: p.5 top right (Los Angeles freeways). Granger
Collection, NYC: p.15 top left (Ptolemy world map). NASA:
Ted Levine, President and CEO:
Earth Observatory: Joshua Stevens: p.16 right (Lake Mead
Elisabeth Morgan Ted Levine comparison); JPL: p.17 middle right (map of Mars); NASA Goddard
Activities Writer: Chairman and Founder: Space Flight Center: pp.4–5 (Earth from space). Public Domain:
Marjorie Frank Mark Levine p.15 center (Mercator world map, 1569). Science Source:
Proofreader: p.17 bottom right (midocean ridge). Shutterstock: Alpha_7D:
p.19 top left (map of United States); Billion Photos: p.14 bottom
Margaret Mittelbach
left (compass); BlueRingMedia: p.18 top (globe); Chris Parypa
Photography: p.9 top right (U.S. Capitol); design56: p.4 top right
GRADE 3 TITLES (plastic globe); Lorelyn Medina: p.18 bottom (kids making an atlas);
Maleo: p.16 bottom left (GPS navigation); Orgus88: p.19 bottom
Mapping Our World Communities Change (vintage compass); Rvector: p.5 top left (simple globe); Tatiana
Bobkova: p.19 top center (kids fishing); Trekandshoot: p.19 top
U.S. Geography Role of Citizens right (San Diego freeway). U.S. Geological Survey: pp.16–17
top (Denali, Alaska); The National Atlas of the United States of
People and the How America Works America: p.12 and p.13 top left (maps of Texas counties).
Environment
America: Heritage Original Illustrations:
Protecting Resources and Culture
Brobel Design: Maps: Close Enough!, pp.2–3, Los Angeles
The First People Producers and Consumers Freeway, p.5 bottom, Globe, p.8, Map of New York State, p.9,
Texas Elevation Map, p.13.
Settling the Land Saving and Spending
Michael Kline Illustration: Earth to You, p.2; Spot On!, p.3;
Cartoon Faces, p.2, p.3; Crazy Days Amusement Park, pp.6–7,
p.9, Ladder of Latitude, p.8.

Wood Ronsaville Harlin, Inc.: Maps: Mercator, Robinson,

Mollweide, pp.10–11.

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