Topographic Maps

 

Topographic Maps – Understand the World Better

Maps help with navigation and lay out a plot of place. Various types of maps are made to enable easy understanding and direction-finding. However, nowadays, people are more prone to find maps fascinating and use them for decoration.

Topography, as the name suggests, is a type that lays down large-scale details and quantifiable information about that area. It may include parts of the land, water, mountains, forest, etc. The topographical map uses different contour lines to highlight different important factors about that place.

In today’s world, everything is just a click away. We have easy access to all sorts of maps and information via google and other search engines. Even then, old maps are important for those who love history or collect vintage things. We can’t deny that a map hanging on your living room wall can be intriguing and appealing.

Even though topographic maps are telltale, it is important to understand them better. For alternative you can always choose city maps.

What are Topographic Maps?

These indicate and portray all the fine details of the area or place. They have all the things of importance and are worth mentioning in different colors and use symbols to represent them.

The topographical plots are a two-dimensional illustration of the world’s multi-dimensional existence. Each has its ratio of calculation of the area and its space on the paper. For example, most Canadian maps are on a scale of 1:50,000

In a topographical chart, there will be elevations, pipelines, towers, etc. all these things will be shown in separate colors to give the plot reader a true picture of the area. They also show man-made landmarks. They make outdoor adventures and trips safe and more enjoyable!

In a chart, generally, there will be symbols indicating certain things, and all these symbols will mean something significant. Therefore, it is important to know the details and their meaning to read maps and understand them. In addition, several of the old charts and plots have been popular and serve the purpose of entertaining and amusing the masses in museums and homes.

Greek geography evolved in the 2nd century based on Ptolemy’s map. Plans like these were famous and treasured as they were the guiding lights for travelers for centuries to come.

 

Their Significance:

With time, the significance and use of these might have decreased, but maps still hold a great value. It can be highly valuable, monetarily, if it is ancient! Besides that, it can also show you a picture of what a certain part of the world looked like 100 years ago.

To truly understand the importance, one should understand that the information may be factual and real.

Factual information is based on the books and additional material you must go through to determine the map’s accuracy. The person who would have constructed the plan hundreds of years ago may have had limited sources of information and may not have portrayed a hundred percent of information related to it. So the reader will have to co-relate information using multiple sources.

Real information is based on more accurate information. Therefore, it is advised to recheck and determine the originality of the information given.

It was the only way to find locations and different countries or places for almost a century. Still, it needs to be thoroughly studied with more advanced technologies and ways.

Map making and reading are both very particular skills. It requires analytical and critical thought-process to understand and comprehend them.

What is on the Map?

A chart with more than one detail or feature has much to offer. Simply looking at them and taking in the details can be a treat to the viewer.

The features include:

• Transportation: the layout of all types of roads, railways, etc., will be shown on the chart.
• Vegetation: the forest or wooded areas will be on it.
• Toponymy: it will also have the names of significant places like rivers, etc.
• Man-made things: the plan will represent all the man-made developments like urban buildings, etc.
• Relief: mountains, plains, valleys, etc.
• Boundaries and connections to other neighboring countries or places

The chart uses several colors to indicate different things. The colors represent a specific detail.

• Green: it is for vegetation or the forest and wooded areas.
• Black shows the toponymy and the man-made features on the map.
• Blue: it represents the waterbodies. The areas with rivers, oceans, etc. Even the names are mentioned in blue.

The projection for the map is used in UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator).

Where can you get Topographic Maps?

Typically, getting hold of a globe or a paper chart would be easier if you look for a general world map. But it is not easy to find something so accurate and precise. There are mainly four ways to get hold of such precious plans:

• An authentic website like OldMapster
• Map dealer who is known and genuine
• The regional center or some regional government office
• Certified map printer

How to Read the Map Without getting lost in the terminologies?

These plans are not easy to understand for an underqualified. However, one should know a few things to understand and read the plan correctly.

If you plan to get a map, don’t just let it be hanging on the wall or just a paper locked and forgotten in your library! Instead, get informed and entertained the right way. Here is how you can understand and read the map.

• Scales: you will have to understand the map’s scale, latitude, and longitude. This will give you a proper perspective of how big of a piece of land you dig into by just going through this chart!
• Symbols: these plans cannot be as long as the books, right? Even though it would be great to have all the details just put there, the map-makers have to use symbols to put on the map to indicate things. For the map you are looking into, you will have to know what the symbols of that particular plan mean. Those symbols will open their world if you give them a chance.
• Associate: the world nowadays is not one bit of what it used to be a century ago. These maps allow us to compare and associate the geographical changes and developments of areas. You can take a few maps of the same location or place but of different times, and then you will know how significant the evolution has been, or maybe you will like the not-so-technologically advanced world better. For a larger area check also: area maps.
• Chief Directions: in the older times, the four most fundamental directions were studied through a compass or by the direction of the stars. North, East, South, and West are the four directions shown on mostly all the maps using arrows. This help knows the direction of certain and all places on the plan. This is very helpful and life-saving if you follow a map to return to your home from an unknown place.
• Choose the right map: now that you know the basics, you need to have the right chart to start reading. Do you want a paper map or a big canvas one? Is it a digital chart that you need?
• Placement: now that you have the map, you will have to hold it correctly to be able to read it. Orientate the map to the ground, as it is the best way to read and see a map.

All the above points are helpful for a beginner to start map-reading the right way. However, to read a topographic map, you will have to know the basics to know the grandness of the place you are looking into.

 

Uses of Topographic Maps

In this era, when everything is digital, and one can reach anywhere at any time, the use and need of maps may seem obsolete. But hold on, it is not! Instead, the maps open an era that no word could describe.

There are certain reasons for which the maps are still cherished and endeared:

• They are valuable as they have information that could date back to the beginning of the time. Check also historical maps for more history info.
• The information in the maps needs to be preserved to know what the world looked like when there was not much advancement in development.
• The maps show the unity of the areas that may now be distributed and divided by boundaries.
• Many events hold great importance in human history to know about the history and what has happened in the past.
• Particular dates and places of important events like wars, democratic developments, the end of an era, etc.
• Evolution and expansion of humans to almost everywhere in the world.
• Man-made developments in areas and countries.

 

Conclusion

The use of maps and the art of map reading are still imperative and celebrated. It helps to link humans to the past in a way no other way can. It is indeed a skill to read and interpret a map correctly. It is important to have knowledge and information about places and development through time; that topographical map will give you the best picture possible.