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?

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

   • 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
   • The road to Dale, because a road is built to the bigger town and so it is the longer of the two

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.

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

   • Five towns, because the farm layer covers the whole valley and the ridge as well
   • Ash and Dale alone, the towns at the two ends, where the river meets the lake and the sea
   • Hilltop alone, because forests and farms both cover the high ground and its flat patches
   • The four river towns, which lie beside the river, but not Hilltop, 5 km from it
6. 4.

   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 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
   • The river is the line four layers share, but the overlay does not say which came first

7. 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.

8. 5.

   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
   • 10 km, because Cedar to Hilltop by the track (6 km) and Cedar to Dale (4 km) make the trip
   • 9 km, because the road from Birch to Cedar is the same river that Ash to Birch already covers
9. 6.

   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 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 dot for a town and the dot for a hill, because both show a place where people live
   • The lake and the sea, because both are at the ends of the river and both show as blue

10. 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.

11. 7.

    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

12. 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.

13. 8.

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

    • 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 or farms: Hilltop meets one of the two conditions through its track, so it ties with Cedar
    • Roads and farms: Cedar is on the road and in the farm band, while Hilltop has only a track and no farms

14. 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.

15. 9.

    Ren says: "Hilltop must have no farms, because it is high." What do the Card B layers allow?

    • Farms at Hilltop, because the track layer shows a line from Cedar up to the ridge for carrying crops
    • No farms at Hilltop, because high ground cannot be farmed, which is why the farm layer stops at the valley
    • Farms at Hilltop, since high ridges have good soil for farms and the farm layer does not need a river
    • No farms on that layer for Hilltop, because it is outside the 3 km band; height is not the layer's stated reason

16. 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.

17. 10.

    Esme wants town sites that are on the road, inside the farm band and below 100 m. Which towns on Cards A and B meet all three?

    • Dale alone, because it is nearest the sea and so must be the lowest town in the valley
    • Five towns, because each town meets at least one of the three conditions, and a query keeps those
    • The four river towns, which meet all three conditions; Hilltop meets none of them
    • Cedar alone, because it is the one town where the road, the farm band and the lowland all meet