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Year 6 Geography — Reading a map

Find the four things nearly every map carries — its title, its direction arrow, its key and its scale — and use the key to say what a symbol or a colour on the map stands for.

Name: ________________________

  1. 1.A map has no room to draw a real school building, so it puts a small mark on the paper to stand for one instead. What is that mark called?

  2. 2.Why does a map use small marks instead of drawing everything as it really looks?

    • a) There is nothing like enough room on the paper to draw every real thing
    • b) Because a map is always drawn by a machine
    • c) Drawing things properly is against the rules of map making
    • d) Because most people cannot recognise a drawing of a building

  3. 3.A map has no direction arrow drawn on it anywhere. What can you no longer be sure of?

    • a) What each of its marks stands for
    • b) Which place it is a map of
    • c) How far apart the places on it are
    • d) Which way up the map is meant to be read

  4. 4.Put these steps in the order you would use them to work out how far apart two towns really are, using a map.

    • Measure the length between them on the paper
    • Find the two towns on the map
    • Write down the real distance on the ground
    • Read what the scale says that length stands for

  5. 5.Tap the part of this map that tells you what each symbol on it stands for.

    Write the number of the part.

    12345

  6. 6.A map's key gives blue for water. A long blue line winds across the map from the hills down to the coast. What is it most likely to be?

    • a) A railway line
    • b) A road
    • c) The border of a region
    • d) A river

  7. 7.Which of a map's four helpers do you need if you want to know how far apart two places really are?

  8. 8.Match each of a map's four helpers to what it tells you.

    • The title
    • The key
    • The direction arrow
    • The scale
    • How much real ground a length on the paper stands for
    • What each mark and colour stands for
    • Which place the map is showing
    • Which way north lies on the page

Answer key — Year 6 Geography — Reading a map

  1. 1.
    • a symbol
    • symbol
  2. 2. a) There is nothing like enough room on the paper to draw every real thing
  3. 3. d) Which way up the map is meant to be read
  4. 4. 1. Find the two towns on the map 2. Measure the length between them on the paper 3. Read what the scale says that length stands for 4. Write down the real distance on the ground
  5. 5. 4 — The key
  6. 6. d) A river
  7. 7.
    • the scale
    • scale
  8. 8. The title → Which place the map is showing; The key → What each mark and colour stands for; The direction arrow → Which way north lies on the page; The scale → How much real ground a length on the paper stands for