How Do You Read A Topographic Map

The land survey information is a good example. When navigating in the backcountry you ll usually bring a topographic map that shows the terrain so you can tell if there will be steep slopes or cliffs that might make the route difficult. You can then orient yourself using the map so you do not get lost or turned around.

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How To Read A Topographic Map Rei Co Op

What Are Contour Lines How To Read A Topographical Map 101

Reading A Topographic Map

Topographic Map Contour Lines Howstuffworks

Topographical Maps

How To Read A Topographic Map Rei Co Op

Another example is that roads trails power lines railroads and property boundaries are all black lines on topo maps but they only vary slightly.

How do you read a topographic map. Watch the video it s quite good every point of the same contour line has the same elevation. This article covers these concepts. A topographic map can be easy to read once you know the details. Topographic maps use green to denote vegetation such as woods while blue is used to denote water features like lakes swamps rivers and drainage.

Where to find topo maps. Then take a class with the rei outdoor school or another outdoor organization and. To read topographic maps you can assess the contour lines as well as the colors and symbols on the map. A topographical map introduces you to the peaks and valleys and gives you an understanding of how difficult the terrain might be in the area where you re headed.

Also read our companion article how to use a compass. In each of these cases contour lines are also drawn in blue. Your map will then be able to tell you a richly detailed tale about the terrain you ll be exploring. The scale on any topographic map will tell you how many miles or fractions of a mile one inch represents.

How contour lines let you visualize your terrain. To read the contour lines on a map first note the direction your map faces. At higher elevations mountains may be snow capped year around or the terrain may actually be a glacier. They have a lot going on with different colors lines and labels all over the place.

Other useful map details. Method 1 assessing the contour lines. How to read topographic maps. Most maps are oriented with north at the top of the map.

First look for the map s scale which will let you know how much detail the map contains. While most topo map users aren t trying to read the township range and section information it is still on the maps. The smaller the scale the more detail the map has. Topographic maps are complicated to say the least.

How map scales work. It was originally developed as a. Reading and interpreting contour lines may seem intimidating at first but it s actually quite simple and is a valuable skill for learning to how to read a topographic map. Learning to read that paper topo map short for topographic map is every bit as essential.

When reading a topographic map there are a couple of things you should remember about the contour lines. One side of a contour line is uphill and one is downhill.