Maps show all or part of earth's surface on a flat plane. The latitude is the # of degrees away the place is from the equator. The longitude lines shows how far away a place is from the Prime Meridian. You can use plaris(North Star) to find what your latitude is if you are in the norhern hemisphere. Every 15 degrees longitude is a 1 hour time difference. Topographic maps show elevation. It shows elevation by conecting equal points of elevation to show how steep some parts are, and you can create a profile of what the land region may look like. Different maos have different contour intervals. The contour interval is the difference in elevation between each contour line. There are also deppresing contour lines. They use little marks called hachure marks to show that a land region is getting lower in elevation. Sometimes in topographic maps, there are rivers. To find out which way the river is flwoing, you can use the contour lines. When contour lines reach a river, they make a V shape. A river flows the opposite way the that the V contour lines are pointing.There are different types of field maps. They show temperature and pressure. A temperature field map uses isotherms to show the temperature. Pressure field maps use isobars.
