MAPWORK NOTES

GRADE 8
MAPS AND ATLASES

Atlas maps
Key Words
1. Atlas: a book of maps showing different parts of the world.

2. Physical map: shows height of the land and location of mountains,

rivers and lakes.

3. Political map: shows information about borders, countries, cities and

transport routes.

5. Thematic map: shows information about one topic or theme, for

example climate or population.

ACTIVITY ONE
1. Refer to an Atlas and locate the above maps.

2. With a partner, go through all the different features of each map.

3. Write down these features in your notebook.

 Most Atlases have a number of sections. Each section focuses on a specific

kind of map or part of the world.
 All atlas maps show the direction of North at the top of the page. A compass
rose or north arrow indicates the exact direction of True North.
 Colour is an important way to give information on a map, such as the shape,
size and location of different countries.

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  There are certain set ways of using colour in an atlas. Blue always
shows water, for example to show oceans, seas, lakes, dams and
rivers.
 On physical maps, dark brown colours show land that is high, while the
light greens represent lower- lying land.

Latitude and longitude

IMPORTANT WORDS

 Lines of latitude: lines drawn on maps that circle the world from
east to west.
 Lines of longitude: lines drawn on maps that circle the world from
north to south.
 Coordinate: the point where one line of latitude and one line
of longitude cross.
 Poles: the two points at the north and south extremities
of the earth where all lines of longitude meet.

 Map grids help you to find places more easily. You already learnt how to
locate places using letters and numbers on a map grid.
 Lines of latitude and lines of longitude also form a grid on a map.
 We can locate places more accurately using a map grid that shows lines of
latitude and lines of longitude.
 Atlas maps include information about latitude and longitude.
 Mapmakers draw lines of latitude and longitude on maps to make finding
places easier.
 Lines of latitude and longitude are not real lines on the land. They only appear
on maps.
 Lines of latitude are marked east and west of the Greenwich Meridian, the
Prime Meridian, from 0 to 180.
 Remember to always give the latitude (north and south) first- the across lines,
then give the longitude (west and east) – the down lines.

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 KEY SKILL: HOW TO USE COORDINATES TO LOCATE PLACES ON ATLAS
MAPS.

Remember: A coordinate is the point where a line of latitude crosses a line of

longitude. Refer to the map below.

1. Locate the line of latitude that is close to Washington DC on the

map below.

2. Locate the line of longitude that is close to Washington DC.

3. The point where these lines cross give you the approximate

coordinates for Washington DC.

4. We write the coordinate for Washington DC as 40° N, 80° W.

Map,pg 29

ACTIVITY TWO
State the latitude and longitude (to the nearest degree) of the places numbered
1-5. Refer to page 4 (Figure1)

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 FIGURE 1

Page 1 of old notes

SUMMARY

Lines of latitude are:

 Drawn from west to east

 Parallel to the equator and to each other
 Circles of different size
 Used to tell how north or south of the equator a place is
 Numbered in degrees ( ° ) from (0 °) (the equator) to 90 N (the North
Pole), and to 90 S (the South Pole).

Lines of longitude:

 Drawn from the North Pole to the South Pole.

 Semi-circles that are the same length as each other.
 Furthest apart at the equator but meet each other at the poles.
 Used to tell how far west or east a place is from the prime meridian (the line
of longitude passing through Greenwich, England
 Numbered in degrees from 0° (the prime meridian) eastward to 180° E, and
westward to 180° W.

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ACTIVITY THREE
Use the figures on this page and an atlas.

1. a) Which line of latitude is the biggest circle?

b) Every line of latitude has a number. The equator is 0.
What is the highest latitude on the globe?
2. a) What are the biggest numbers you can find for a line of longitude?
b) What is the name given to the line of longitude with the smallest number?
c) Find the lines of longitude for 180° W and 180° E.
Why are they the same line?

Degrees and minutes on atlas maps

 Maps of larger areas such as provinces show lines of latitude and longitude at
one or two degree intervals.
 To locate places more accurately on these maps, it is useful to divide each
degree grid square using smaller spaces between lines. These lines represent
minutes as part of one degree.
 There are sixty minutes in every degree. The symbol for minutes is
 On the drawing below, the minute lines are shown for every 10 minutes. The
0ʹ lines and the 60ʹ lines always fall on a degree line.

FIGURE 2 FIGURE 3

Copy page 31 – map skills bk

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 Page 3 old notes

Figure 4-Locating places using latitude and longitude

 The latitude position of point A on the drawing above is 20 degrees and 30

minutes north. We can write this as 20° 30ꞌ N.
 The longitude position of point A is 71 degrees and 50 minutes west of
Greenwich Meridian. We can write this as 71° 50ʹ W.
 When we combine latitude and longitude position we are giving the
coordinates of a place. The coordinates for point A are: 20° 30ʹ N, 71° 50ꞌ W.
 Remember we always give the latitude position before the longitude position.


ACTIVITY FOUR
Locate places using degrees and minutes

1. Give the coordinates for the letters B, C and D in Figure 4.

2. What letters are at these coordinates?
a) 20° 10ꞌ N, 71° 30ꞌ W
b) 20° 20ꞌ N, 72° 00ꞌ W
3. Name the two hemispheres where each of the above places is situated.

USING THE ATLAS INDEX TO FIND PLACES ON A MAP

 If you look at the back of an atlas, you will see the index. This is used
to locate places.
 The index entry for Middelburg shows:

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 Middelburg - 31° 29ꞌS, 25° 01ꞌ E 35. This means it is on page 35 at
the latitude and longitude shown.
 Find Middelburg on page 35 using the coordinates above.

ACTIVITY FIVE
1. Using the atlas index write down the latitude and longitude of the

following places:

a) Graaff - Reinet

b) Cradock

c) Somerset East

d) Steynsburg

2. Refer to page 35 and locate the places above on the map using the coordinates
you have written.

KINDS OF SCALE IN AN ATLAS (WORLD, REGIONAL, LOCAL)

Definition of scale: scale is used to work out the real distance or area shown on a
map. It tells us how much smaller the map distances are than the same distances in
real life.

Small scale: shows a large area of the earth’s surface, for example, the whole of
Africa or the whole world. However, these maps show very little detail about these
large areas. You cannot see local features of your home area on a small-scale map.

Large scale: shows a small area of the earth’s surface.

Regional: shows a larger area such as a country or province. These maps show
main roads, towns and provincial boundaries. The map does not show types of land
use or street patterns of the town. The scales of a regional map are 1: 500 000 to
1:250 000.

Local: shows your neighbourhood and its immediate environment. Local maps are
large scale maps. A large scale map shows a smaller part of the world in greater
detail. These maps show features such as roads, rivers, farms and urban areas. The
scale of local maps is 1: 50 000 to 1: 10 000.

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SCALE ON MAPS

1. WORD SCALE
 A word scale tells you in words how to work out distance on the map. A word
scale is a sentence for example:

1 cm on the map represents 2km on the ground.

2. RATIO SCALE

 A ratio or number scale shows the relationship in numbers of distance on the

map to the distance in reality on the earth’s surface.
 A ratio is expressed as 1:10, which means that one unit of measurement on
the map is equal to 10 units on the earth’s surface. It has the same meaning
as if it was written as a fraction: ⅟10.
 Ratio scales are often called representative fractions or RF. A representative
fraction (RF) of 1:50 000 means that one unit of measure on the map is equal
to 50 000 units of the same measure on the ground or 1cm on the map
represents 50 000 cm on the ground.
 50 000 cm is a meaningless distance, so we must convert 50 000cm to
metres or km. 50 000 is the same as saying 500m or half a kilometre.

3. LINE SCALE

 A line scale is visual. It is a line divided into blocks, (looks like a thin ruler) is
found at the bottom of the map. The distance on the scale represents the
distance in reality on the earth’s surface.

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 A table to help you convert ratio scale from
centimetres on the map to metres or kilometres on
the ground.

Ratio scale Centimetres on the Metres/kilometres on

ground ground
1: 10 000 1000 cm 10 metres
1:10 000 10 000 cm 100 metres
1:50 000 50 000 cm 500 metres
1: 100 000 100 000 cm 1km
1: 1000 000 1000 000 cm 10 km
1: 5000 000 5000 000 cm 50 km
1: 10 000 000 10 000 000 cm 100 km

ACTIVITY SIX
1. Write the following word scales in the form of ratio scales:

a) One centimetre on the map is equal to a hundred thousand centimetres on the

ground.

b) One centimetre on the map is equal to six million on the ground.

c) One centimetre on the map is equal to fifty thousand on the ground.

1. Change the following ratio scales into word scales:

a) 1: 10 000
b) 1:250 000
c) 1:8 000 000
2. Convert the following number scales from their fraction form to a) ratio
form. b) word form.
a) 1 b) 1
5 000 100 000

TEST YOURSELF

1. How many cm are there in 2m?

2. How many metres are there in 3km?
3. How many cm are there in 500m?
4. Draw a line scale to show 1cm represents 100m.
5. On a map scale of 1:10 000, the distance between 2 points is 1cm. How
far apart are they on the ground?

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 6. On a map scale of 1: 1000 000, two places are 3cm apart, how far apart
are they on the ground?

CALCULATING DISTANCES BETWEEN SETTLEMENTS

2 maps

ACTIVITY SEVEN
Study Figure 1.6 and calculate the distance between:

1. Cape Town and Maputo

2. Maputo and Harare
3. Luanda and Cairo
4. Cape Town and Dakar
5. Cape Town and Cairo

Study figure 1.7 and calculate the distances between:

6. Cape Town and Polokwane

7. Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg
8. Bloemfontein and Durban

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PLACES IN THE NEWS

 There are always new stories about different places around the world.
 Reading the newspapers gives you an understanding of the world and the
many processes always at work in it.
 It also helps you learn about the world and practice your map skills.

ACTIVITY EIGHT

1. Find at least 2 news stories about events that are happening in the world.
You can use newspapers and magazines, television, radio programmes
and the internet as sources of news stories.
2. Make a short summary of each story. Write the summaries in your
exercise book. Number each summary.
3. Read out or explain the news to the whole class.
4. Using an atlas, locate the places where these events are happening.
5. Give the co-ordinates in degrees and minutes for the places where the
news stories happened.

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 THE GLOBE
HEMISPHERES

 Our solar system includes the sun and eight planets. The planets, in
order from the sun are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus and Neptune.
 We can divide the earth along the equator into the northern and
southern hemispheres.
 We divide earth along the Greenwich Meridian (the 0 line of longitude)
and the 180 line of longitude into the eastern and western
hemispheres.
 The 180 line of longitude is on the opposite side of the world to the
Greenwich Meridian.
 This division is important in understanding the world’s seasons.
 When we in the southern hemisphere have summer, it is winter in the
northern hemisphere.
 Each place in the world is always in two hemispheres.

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 Page 14- Platinum

ACTIVITY ONE- LOCATE PLACES USING HEMISPHERES AND CO –

ORDINATES

1. In which 2 hemispheres is South Africa situated?

2. Use an atlas or wall map to name 3 countries in Africa through which the
equator passes.
3. Name the 3 countries in Africa that the Greenwich Meridian passes
through.
4. Copy the table below. Use an atlas to answer the questions.

a) Name the hemispheres that each city is situated in.

b) Find the co ordinates of the 5 cities. Follow the example in the table.

CITY HEMISPHERES CO ORDINATES

Nairobi Southern, eastern 1 17' S, 36 50' E
Cape Town
Cairo
Accra
Lisbon
Moscow

EARTH’S ROTATION ON ITS AXIS-DAY AND NIGHT

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 Earth’s axis is the imaginary line that passes between the north and south
poles.
 Earth spins or rotates on its axis.
 We cannot feel earth rotating because it is so big.
 Because Earth is round, the sun’s rays can only shine on one side of earth at
the same time.
 The round shape means that one half of the world experiences night while the
other half experiences day.
 Earth takes 24 hours to complete one rotation.
 As the earth rotates, different parts of the Earth’s surface move in and out of
the sun’s rays.
 Earth’s rotation is the cause of day and night.
 Earth rotates from west to east.


KEY WORDS

 Earth’s axis- an imaginary line between the north and south pole
around which Earth rotates.
 Rotation- turning around a fixed point.

Page 15- platinum

Figure 2- Half of Earth has day and the other half has night.

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Figure 3- This satellite image shows Africa moving from day towards night as earth
rotates from the west towards the east.

ACTIVITY 2 Do an experiment to show the causes of day and night

You need a torch and a globe of the world. A ball can also be used as the globe.

1. Shine the torch on the globe or ball. Move the torch closer or further away
from the globe until you cover one side of the globe with torch light.
2. Slowly spin the globe from west to east. Notice how different parts of the earth
move in and out of the light. Look for places where there will be sunset and
sunrise.

DAY AND NIGHT

 As the Earth rotates from west to east, the sun appears to rise in the east and
set in the west. This is seen in the diagrams below.

Page 8- spot on

WORLD TIME, TIME ZONES AND THE INTERNATIONAL DATE LINE

 Time differences are caused by the earth’s rotation. As the earth
rotates from west to east, different parts of the world are having day
and night at different times.
 Time changes as you travel round the world.
 We use lines of longitude to work out these time differences.

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  There are 360 degrees of longitude. The earth makes one complete
rotation in 24 hours. This means that the earth rotates through 360 of
longitude in 24 hours.
 There is one hour time difference every 15 longitude.
 Four minute time difference every 1 longitude.

 In one hour, the earth rotates through 360 ÷24 longitude =15 longitude.
 If the Earth rotates through 15 longitude in 1 hour or 60 minutes the earth
rotates through 1 longitude in 60 ÷ 15 minutes = 4 minutes.
 So we can say that there is:
 One hour time difference every 15 longitude.
 Four minutes time difference every 1 longitude.

GREENWICH MEAN TIME

 The world uses the Greenwich meridian,0 longitude, for world standard time.
The time at Greenwich is called Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) OR
Coordinated Universal Time.
 The earth rotates from west to east, so places east of the Greenwich meridian
in the eastern hemisphere are ahead of GMT. Places west of the Greenwich
meridian in the western hemisphere are behind GMT.
 Look at the diagram below- GMT is 12 midday. Notice that east of the
Greenwich meridian it is one hour later every 15 longitude and west of the
Greenwich meridian it is one hour earlier every 15 longitude.

See page 13(old notes)

SOUTH AFRICAN STANDARD TIME

 It would be very inconvenient if every town and village in South Africa had a
different time. For this reason, we use one standard time for the whole of
South Africa.

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 Every country chooses a line of longitude that chooses a line of longitude that
passes through their country as a reference line for time.
 Countries choose a line of longitude that is a multitude of 15 a number that 15
divides into exactly) as their standard line. South Africa has chosen 30 E as
our standard time line. So South Africa is two hours ahead of GMT.
 See diagram below:

See page 14-old notes

INTERNATIONAL DATE LINE

 The International Date Line is the 180 line of longitude where the -12
and +12 time zones meet. The International Date Line is an imaginary
line. In reality, the time zone cannot follow a straight line of longitude as
there are nation states it must avoid.

See page 14 – old notes-map

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 ACTIVITY

1. Write an explanation for each of these abbreviations:

a) GMT
b) UTC
c) IDL
d) SAST
2. The International Date Line does not follow 180 in straight line.
Suggest a reason why this is so.
3. On which line of longitude does South Africa base its time?
4. Refer to the map of the world time zones. Answer the questions based
on this map:

4.1When it is 07:00 on Monday in Perth in Western Australia (120 E), what

time and day is it in:

a) Johannesburg, South Africa(30 E)

b) London, England(0 )
c) San Francisco, Califonia, USA? (120 W)

4.2 When it is 15:00 on Friday in New York, USA,(75 W) what time and
day is it in:
a) Paris, France (15 W)
b) Tokyo, Japan? (135 E)

NB: REFER TO THE TIME ZONES MAP TO ANSWER QUESTION FOUR.

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19
20
THE EARTH’S REVOLUTION AROUND THE SUN
ANGLE OF AXIS
 The earth rotates on its axis which is always at an
angle of 23,5 . The tilt of the Earth’s axis is
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 maintained for the 365,25 days it takes to complete one
orbit in its revolution around the sun. This takes one year.
 The angle of axis and the orbit causes the northern
hemisphere to be tilted towards the sun when the southern is
tilted away from the sun. The opposite occurs six months
later when the southern hemisphere is tilted towards the sun
and the northern hemisphere is tilted away from it.

See viva- pg 22

DID YOU KNOW?

 The time it takes for the Earth to make one revolution

around the sun is 365,25 days. We drop the quarter of
a day from our calendar, but every four years we make
it up by adding one full day to the month of February.
This is called a leap year. February has 29 days in a
leap year.

EQUINOX, SOLSTICE AND THE CHANGE IN ANGLE OF THE

MIDDAY SUN

EQUINOX
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 Equinox means equal night. The equinoxes are on an exact date
when the length of day and night is the same number of hours
long.
 An equinox occurs when the sun’s rays shine directly over the
equator at noon.
 The equinoxes occur on 21 or 22 March and 22 or 23 September.
 On these days every place in the world receives an equal amount
of daylight and darkness(12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of
darkness)
 The equinoxes are associated with the spring and autumn
seasons.

See viva social science- pg 23

The diagram shows equinoxes for the northern and southern

hemispheres.

ACTIVITY 1

1. What is the constant measurement of the angle of the Earth’s

axis?

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 2. What is the difference between the words “rotation’ and
‘revolution’?
3. Why do we have a leap year?
4. What is an equinox?

SOLSTICE
 A solstice occurs when the sun’s rays are directly over the
tropics at noon. This happens twice a year- on 21 or 22 June
and 21 or 22 December.
 The summer solstice for the southern hemisphere is on 21 or
22 December. This is when the sun reaches its furthest point
south, shining directly over the Tropic of Capricorn at noon.
 The southern hemisphere receives the longest hours of
sunshine. Within the Antarctic Circle the sun never sets but
shines for 24 hours.
 South Africa has its winter solstice on 21 or 22 June, when
the sun is at its furthest point away, shining directly over the
Tropic of Cancer in the north at noon.
 The southern hemisphere has its shortest hours of sunlight.
 The northern hemisphere has its longest hours of sunshine.
 Within the Arctic Circle the sun never sets and it is light for
24 hours.
 When the southern hemisphere has its summer solstice, it is
winter solstice in the northern hemisphere. The sun never
rises within the Arctic Circle and it is dark for 24 hours.

SATELLITE IMAGES

 A satellite image is an image taken from a satellite.

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  A satellite is a highly complex piece of technology which is
positioned above earth in space. Sensors on the satellite collect
information about earth and send it back to satellite –receiving
stations on the ground.
 The information is used to make different kinds of satellite images.
 Satellite images are not photographs but are made from a
collection of data obtained by sensors on the satellite.
 Satellites send information to receiving centres on the ground.
 Computers process this data and produce different images that we
can view and interpret

See oxford-

INFORMATION FROM SATELLITE IMAGES

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 Satellite images provide a selection of information about Earth,
such as weather conditions, soil erosion, land use patterns, water
availability and vegetation cover.
 It also gives weather forecasters the information they need, by
providing data on cloud patterns.

HOW SATELLITE IMAGES ARE USED

 The satellite can take images of the same area on the Earth’s
surface every day as it passes in its orbit.
 This means we can compare the images and record changes,
such as:
 The extent of flooding and recovery from floods
 The loss of vegetation in an area
 The increase in area taken up by settlements
 On a satellite image, black areas are water, dark areas are
mountains and other shades show settlements and vegetation.

See page oxford

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