Maps and map reading

Watch here for map reading skills made easy. Of course you could just download the easy peasy guide from the ordnance survey!

Scales the Ordnance survey and the National Grid
The national grid divides the UK into squares. Maps are made by the Ordnance survey based on this grid and we commonly use 1:50000 and 1:25000 scale maps. A 1:25000 map is one where 1 cm = 25000 cm or 4 cm = 1 kilometre. What about miles I ask you say. Although we still have miles on road signs the national grid has been measures in kilometres since the Davidson committee report of 1935 and the whole of Great Britain was re triangulated under the direction of Major-general Malcolm McLeod. Metric measuring makes calculating distances really easy, but with 12 inches to a foot, 3 feet to a yard and 1760 yards to a mile think how difficult it is to estimate distances to travel. No wonder the old 1inch to a mile have been replaced by the 1:50000 maps. With satellite and digital maps now common calculation of distances can be done almost instantly so people have little idea of distances at all and rely on numbers rather than their own judgment. Is this why so many people get lost when they go walking I wonder?

Working out grid references
Contours
Walking to time

Find more information

Ordnance survey

The authority on maps in the UK. They publish some guides on map reading which are difficult to beat
The history of maps at the ordnance survey
Map reading made easy peasy
Map reading made easy
Advanced map reading

Barcelona Field Studies centre

This is a school type site that has ways of reading maps and compasses and also a whole load of tests. If you want to check out how good you are then take the tests
Map reading resources

The BBC has an interactive beginners guide for young people to introduce the ideas of map reading in its landscapes section
Landscapes