Read layered maps the way GIS does: overlay and find the pattern

Grade 9 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Card A (made up for practice). A valley drawn as three see-through layers on one base map. Scale: 1 cm on the map = 2 km on the ground. Layer 1 (water): a river flows south from a lake in the north to the sea. Layer 2 (towns): Ash, Birch, Cedar and Dale stand beside the river, in that order from north to south; Hilltop stands on a ridge 5 km east of the river. Layer 3 (roads): a road follows the river and links the four river towns; a narrow track climbs from Cedar to Hilltop. Measured on the map: Ash to Birch 2.5 cm; Birch to Cedar 3.5 cm; Cedar to Dale 2 cm; Cedar to Hilltop along the track 3 cm. Key: blue line = river; dot = town; thick line = road; dashed line = track.

2. 1.

   Ari says a truck can use roads but not tracks. Which towns on Card A can it reach from Ash, and which overlay shows it?

   • Birch, Cedar and Dale, found by overlaying the towns layer on the roads layer
   • Birch and Cedar, the two towns that stand between Ash and the track, since the road ends at the track
   • Cedar alone, because it is the one town where the road layer and the track meet in the towns layer
   • Birch, Cedar, Dale and Hilltop, because the roads layer includes the narrow track that climbs to Hilltop
3. 2.

   Luz measures on Card A: the track from Cedar to Hilltop is 3 cm and the road from Cedar to Dale is 2 cm. Which is longer on the ground?

   • The road to Dale, because a road is built to the bigger town and so it is the longer of the two
   • They are equal, since both end at towns and the scale treats a road and a track the same way
   • The track, but just 1 km longer, since 3 cm is 1 cm more than 2 cm and the scale changes both lengths
   • The track, 6 km against 4 km, so 2 km longer once the scale is used

4. Use this

   Card A (made up for practice). A valley drawn as three see-through layers on one base map. Scale: 1 cm on the map = 2 km on the ground. Layer 1 (water): a river flows south from a lake in the north to the sea. Layer 2 (towns): Ash, Birch, Cedar and Dale stand beside the river, in that order from north to south; Hilltop stands on a ridge 5 km east of the river. Layer 3 (roads): a road follows the river and links the four river towns; a narrow track climbs from Cedar to Hilltop. Measured on the map: Ash to Birch 2.5 cm; Birch to Cedar 3.5 cm; Cedar to Dale 2 cm; Cedar to Hilltop along the track 3 cm. Key: blue line = river; dot = town; thick line = road; dashed line = track. Card B (made up for practice). Two more layers for the valley on Card A. Layer 4 (farms): farms cover the flat land within 3 km of the river, on both banks. Layer 5 (height): the river valley lies below 100 m; the ridge lies between 300 m and 400 m; Hilltop stands at 350 m. Key: green = farms; a contour line every 100 m. Note: a GIS (geographic information system) stacks layers like these so that a pattern shows where layers line up.

5. 3.

   Tala looks for a layer that offers a reason why Hilltop has a narrow track and not a road. Which overlay fits?

   • Farms: Hilltop has no farmland within 3 km of the river, so there was no need for a proper road there
   • Height: Hilltop stands at 350 m on the ridge, over 250 m above the river towns that lie below 100 m
   • Water: Hilltop is the one town away from the river, so being away from the river caused the track
   • Roads: the road follows the river because rivers are the easiest places to bridge, so no other route was built
6. 4.

   Jun overlays the farms layer on the towns layer on Cards A and B. Which towns have farms within 3 km of the river?

   • Ash and Dale alone, the towns at the two ends, where the river meets the lake and the sea
   • The four river towns, which lie beside the river, but not Hilltop, 5 km from it
   • Five towns, because the farm layer covers the whole valley and the ridge as well
   • Hilltop alone, because forests and farms both cover the high ground and its flat patches
7. 5.

   Pia sees that the river, the four towns, the road and the farms all run along the same line. What does the overlay show?

   • The river is the line four layers share, but the overlay does not say which came first
   • The towns grew first and the river was moved to meet them, which is how the layers line up
   • Each layer follows the river, so Hilltop's track also follows the river up to the ridge
   • The road caused the farms, because the farms lie along the road and a road brings people to farm nearby

8. Use this

   Card A (made up for practice). A valley drawn as three see-through layers on one base map. Scale: 1 cm on the map = 2 km on the ground. Layer 1 (water): a river flows south from a lake in the north to the sea. Layer 2 (towns): Ash, Birch, Cedar and Dale stand beside the river, in that order from north to south; Hilltop stands on a ridge 5 km east of the river. Layer 3 (roads): a road follows the river and links the four river towns; a narrow track climbs from Cedar to Hilltop. Measured on the map: Ash to Birch 2.5 cm; Birch to Cedar 3.5 cm; Cedar to Dale 2 cm; Cedar to Hilltop along the track 3 cm. Key: blue line = river; dot = town; thick line = road; dashed line = track.

9. 6.

   Bo walks the road from Ash to Dale on Card A. Using the scale, how far is it?

   • 8 km, because the three stretches add to 8 cm and the scale is just a label for the map
   • 16 km, because the three stretches add to 8 cm and each centimeter is 2 km
   • 9 km, because the road from Birch to Cedar is the same river that Ash to Birch already covers
   • 10 km, because Cedar to Hilltop by the track (6 km) and Cedar to Dale (4 km) make the trip
10. 7.

    Milo asks what Card A's key lets a reader tell apart. Which pair of symbols could be mixed up if the key were missing?

    • The dot for a town and the dot for a hill, because both show a place where people live
    • The blue river line and the thick road line, which both run north to south through the whole valley
    • The thick road line and the dashed track line, which would hide that Hilltop has only a narrow track
    • The lake and the sea, because both are at the ends of the river and both show as blue

11. Use this

    Card B (made up for practice). Two more layers for the valley on Card A. Layer 4 (farms): farms cover the flat land within 3 km of the river, on both banks. Layer 5 (height): the river valley lies below 100 m; the ridge lies between 300 m and 400 m; Hilltop stands at 350 m. Key: green = farms; a contour line every 100 m. Note: a GIS (geographic information system) stacks layers like these so that a pattern shows where layers line up.

12. 8.

    Zee reads Card B's contour lines (every 100 m). Where does the land first rise above 200 m, and what does that say?

    • Between the valley (below 100 m) and the ridge (300 m up), so a steep slope lies between them
    • Along the whole river, because a river flowing to the sea must drop 200 m along the way
    • At Hilltop alone, because the track's climb shows exactly where the land rises, and nowhere else
    • At the lake in the north, because lakes sit at the top of a valley and so mark the highest ground

13. Use this

    Card A (made up for practice). A valley drawn as three see-through layers on one base map. Scale: 1 cm on the map = 2 km on the ground. Layer 1 (water): a river flows south from a lake in the north to the sea. Layer 2 (towns): Ash, Birch, Cedar and Dale stand beside the river, in that order from north to south; Hilltop stands on a ridge 5 km east of the river. Layer 3 (roads): a road follows the river and links the four river towns; a narrow track climbs from Cedar to Hilltop. Measured on the map: Ash to Birch 2.5 cm; Birch to Cedar 3.5 cm; Cedar to Dale 2 cm; Cedar to Hilltop along the track 3 cm. Key: blue line = river; dot = town; thick line = road; dashed line = track. Card B (made up for practice). Two more layers for the valley on Card A. Layer 4 (farms): farms cover the flat land within 3 km of the river, on both banks. Layer 5 (height): the river valley lies below 100 m; the ridge lies between 300 m and 400 m; Hilltop stands at 350 m. Key: green = farms; a contour line every 100 m. Note: a GIS (geographic information system) stacks layers like these so that a pattern shows where layers line up.

14. 9.

    Kira wants a market town reachable by road with farms nearby. Which overlay picks Cedar over Hilltop?

    • Roads or farms: Hilltop meets one of the two conditions through its track, so it ties with Cedar
    • Height alone: Cedar is lower than Hilltop, and lower land is the better place for a market
    • Water alone: Cedar is on the river and Hilltop is not, so rivers make the market
    • Roads and farms: Cedar is on the road and in the farm band, while Hilltop has only a track and no farms

15. Use this

    Card B (made up for practice). Two more layers for the valley on Card A. Layer 4 (farms): farms cover the flat land within 3 km of the river, on both banks. Layer 5 (height): the river valley lies below 100 m; the ridge lies between 300 m and 400 m; Hilltop stands at 350 m. Key: green = farms; a contour line every 100 m. Note: a GIS (geographic information system) stacks layers like these so that a pattern shows where layers line up.

16. 10.

    Noah climbs from Cedar, in the valley below 100 m, to Hilltop at 350 m on Card B. How many contour lines (every 100 m) does the climb cross?

    • Three and a half, because 350 m divided by 100 m is the number of lines a climb crosses
    • Two: the 200 m and 300 m lines, because the ridge begins at 300 m and the valley ends at 200 m
    • Three: the 100 m, 200 m and 300 m lines, because Hilltop at 350 m stays under the 400 m line
    • Four: the 100 m, 200 m, 300 m and 400 m lines, because the ridge reaches 400 m in places