What are the three components of maps answer in 80to 100 words
Answers
Answer:
Here's your answer.
Explanation:
There are three Components of Maps – distance, direction and
symbol.
DISTANCE
Maps are drawings, which reduce the entire world or a part
of it to fit on a sheet of paper. Or we can say maps are
drawn to reduced scales. But this reduction is done very
carefully so that the distance between the places is real. It
can only be possible when a small distance on paper
represents a large distance on the ground.
Therefore, a scale is chosen for this purpose. Scale is the
ratio between the actual distance on the ground and the
distance shown on the map.
For example, the distance between your school and your
home is 10 km. If you show this 10 km. distance by 2 cm on
a map, it means, 1 cm on the map will show 5 km. on the
ground. The scale of your drawing will be 1cm = 5 km.
Thus, scale is very important in any map. If you know the
scale, you will be able to calculate the distance between any
two places on a map.
When large areas like continents or countries are to be
shown on a paper, then we use a small scale. For example 5
cm. on the map shows 500 km. of the ground. It is called a
small scale map.
When a small area like your village or town is to be shown
on paper, then we use a large scale that is 5 cm. on the map
shows 500 metres only on the ground. It is called a large
scale map.
Large scale maps give more information than small scale
maps.
DIRECTION
Most maps contain an arrow marked with the letter ‘N’ at
the upper right hand corner. This arrow shows the northern
direction. It is called the north line.
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When you know the north, you can find out other directions,
for example east, west and south. There are four major
directions, North, South, East and West. They are called
cardinal points.
Other four intermediate directions are north-east (NE),
southeast (SE), south-west (SW) and north-west (NW).
We can locate any place more accurately with the help of
these intermediate directions.
CARDINAL DIRECTIONS
We can find out the direction of a place with the help of a
compass. It is an instrument used to find out main
directions. Its magnetic needle always points towards northsouth direction.
MAGNETIC COMPASS
SYMBOLS
It is the third important component of a map.
It is not possible to draw on a map the actual shape and size
of different features such as buildings, roads, bridges, trees,
railway lines or a well.
So, they are shown by using certain letters, shades, colours,
pictures and lines.
These symbols give a lot of information in a limited space.
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With the use of these symbols, maps can be drawn easily
and are simple to read. Even if you don’t know the language
of an area and therefore cannot ask someone for directions,
you can collect information from maps with the help of these
symbols.
Maps have a universal language that can be understood by
all.
There is an international agreement regarding the use of
these symbols. These are called conventional symbols.
Various colours are used for the same purpose. For example,
generally blue is used for showing water bodies, brown for
mountain, yellow for plateau and green is used for plains.
CONVENTIONAL SYMBOLS
SKETCH
A sketch is a drawing mainly based on memory and spot
observation and not to scale.
Sometimes a rough drawing is required of an area to tell
where a particular place is located with respect to other
places.
Suppose, you want to go to your friend’s house, but you
don’t know the way. Your friend may make a rough drawing
to show the way to his house. Such a rough drawing is
drawn without scale, and is called a sketch map.
A SKETCH MAP
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PLAN
A plan is a drawing of a small area on a large scale. A largescale map gives lot of information, but there are certain
things which we may sometimes want to know for example
the length and breadth of a room, which can’t be shown in a
map. At that time, we can refer drawings drawn to scale
called a plan.