Map Assignment

Get the Map:
Locate the appropriate topographic map from the United States Geological
Survey (USGS) site 2011, http://www.usgs.gov/

• Go to: Maps, Imagery, and Publications, Then, under Maps, Click on: download free topo maps.
• Then, on the search bar of the Map Locator & Downloader, type: Washington, DC, then click Go.
• The Map that appears will be broken into four quadrangles with a Red Balloon.
• Click on the Red balloon, and select the first option,Washington West US Topo, 7.5 X 7.5 GRID,
2011.
• To download the map you will first add it to your download cart by clicking on the plus sign under
the box to the right.
• After that, click download from your download cart, and open the map from your download folder
with Acrobat Reader.
• To zoom in and out on the PDF map press and hold the ctrl key and then the + and – buttons map and
move around with the hand tool.
• Also zooming in and out using the + and – buttons plus the ctrl key on the map itself gives very
high resolution.
• It is also okay to use the control key and mouse scroll button to zoom in and out while
maintaining high resolution.

Find the U.S. Naval Observatory Location:
• Navigate using the + and buttons on the PDF map and the hand tool.
Zooming in using the + and buttons on the map itself gives very high resolution. Do not use the control
key and mouse scroll button to zoom in. This map covers parts of Washington, D.C., Maryland, and
Virginia.
Put a Dot on the Observatory and Label “Observatory”:
• Zoom in on the area that includes the observatory so that the vertical dimension on your map is
about one to two kilometers. Each square on the map is one square kilometer. Using the annotation
feature on the map, mark where the observatory is with a dot. Make sure your dot is a contrasting color
so that a viewer can see it.
• Again using the map’s annotation features, create a text box next to the dot that says “U.S.
Observatory.” Use an appropriate size font and color.
Prepare a Word Document with the Following:
• A screen shot of your map showing the U.S. Naval Observatory. The shot should include a
vertical distance of one to two kilometers.
• The approximate elevation of the observatory.
• A paragraph describing the topography near the observatory. Include a large enough
area to make your description interesting.
• Go to Google Earth and take a screen shot of the same area as covered by the
screen shot of your topographic map. Put this on your Word document.
(Hint: take a little larger screen shot than your topographic map. Then resize and crop in Word to make
it the same area as your topographic map screen shot.)
Compare and contrast the view and information available from the two maps/images, and answer the
following questions:
1.What is the elevation of the U.S. Naval Observatory?
2. What does it mean when the contour lines are close together? What does it mean when the lines are
far apart?
3. Generally describe topography of Rock Creek Park on the map. Describe how you know from the map what
the
topography is.
4. What is the lowest land elevation on the map? Why is that an easy question?
5. Using the map, what is the distance in kilometers (to the nearest tenth of a kilometer) between the
Smithsonian
Institution and the Library of Congress?
(Hint: Use the scale at the bottom of the map. Use a ruler gently against the monitor. You cannot zoom
in and out once you measure.)