Page 17 - sst_class_06

Physical maps commonly uses colours to show different relief features. Colours are used to
show differences in land elevations.

Blue : Water bodies such as lakes, rivers, streams, oceans, reservoirs, etc.
Red : Major highways, roads, urban areas, airports, special interest sites, military sites,

place names, buildings, borders.
Yellow : Built-up or urban areas.

Green : Plains, parks, golf courses, reservations, forests, orchards, highways.

Brown : Mountains, deserts, historical sites, national parks, military reservations or bases,
contour (elevation) lines.
Black : Roads, railroads, highways, bridges, place names, buildings borders.

2. PoliTiCal MaPS :

Political maps show the boundaries between different countries and cities, towns, states,

etc.
3. TheMaTiC MaPS :

Thematic maps provide us specific information about roads, railways, air routes, locations
of mines, industrial centres, crops, rainfall, population, etc.
Components of maps : There are three basic concepts to understand the map.

1. Distance 2. Direction 3. Symbols

1. Distance : Maps are drawn according to a scale. Big distances are shown in small units like
centimetres, millimetres, etc. which represent the actual distance on the earth.
We measure the distance between any two places on the map (in small units) and convert it to
the actual distance between the same two places on the ground according to the given scale.

The distance between any two places on a map, measured along a straight line, is called
the map distance and the distance between the same two places on the ground measured
along a straight line, is called the actual or ground distance.

We use different types of scales on different types of maps. For example, on small scale
map, we use—
1 cm = 1000 km, i.e., 1 cm : 1000 km or 1 cm = 500 km, i.e., 1 cm : 500 km
On large scale map we use—

1 cm = 1 km, i.e. 1 cm : 1 km or 1 cm = 200 m, i.e., 1 cm : 200 m

Suppose distance between two places on a map is 2.5 cm; and scale is 1 cm : 500 km, then
actual distance on ground = 2.5 × 500 km = 1250 km
Sometimes a numeric fraction is given as a scale such as

1/1,00,000. This is also called representative fraction or A scale is the ratio between the
RF. In this ratio, numerator represents the map distance and actual distance on the ground and
the distance shown on the map.
the denominator represents actual distance on the ground.

Social Studies-6 17