How To Read A Topo Map

After using topo maps outdoors you eventually can see the topography through the lines drawn.

How to read a topo map. How to read topographic maps method 1of 4. Identifying features with contour lines. Contour lines show more than just the steepness of a slope or the elevation of. Every fifth contour line is a thicker index line.

How to read topographic maps contour lines. First look for the maps scale which will let you know how much detail the map contains. Topographic maps use green to denote vegetation such as woods while blue is used to denote water features like lakes swamps rivers and drainage. Elevations are provided on.

Assessing the contour lines. For example a scale of 124000 means that 1 inch on the map is the equivalent of 24000 inchesor38 milein reality. A topographic map can be easy to read once you know the details. The smaller the scale the more detail the map has.

The color brown is used to denote most contour lines on a map which are relief features and elevations. The next step in reading topographic maps is learning the elevations. The scale on any topographic map will tell you how many miles or fractions of a mile one inch represents. This is the scale used by most usgs topo maps the first number map inches is always 1.

Map scale is. Scale of topographic. Studying a topo map of a familiar area is a great way to learn how to match terrain features with the contour lines on a map. Use the thicker contour lines to determine the elevation.

Offers easy to read maps and creates shareable maps for friends and other adventurers. They show the shape of the. Contour lines are the primary and most important feature on a topo map.