They are called conventional signs. Symbols on the map

Geography. Modern illustrated encyclopedia. - M.: Rosman. Edited by prof. A. P. Gorkina. 2006 .

See what “conventional signs” are in other dictionaries:

Symbolic, line and background designations of terrain objects, combat and meteorological conditions, used on topographic and other geographical maps, as well as on graphic documents. Depending on the purpose, they distinguish... ... Marine Dictionary

Conventional signs- Conventional signs... Geographical atlas

Graphic, alphabetic and numerical designations of objects and terrain elements, operational tactical and meteorological conditions, used on topographic and other geographical maps, as well as on graphic documents. Depending on the… … Dictionary of emergency situations

Conventional signs- graphic symbols and standard abbreviations of explanatory inscriptions to them, used in military operational documents, on diagrams, maps, report cards, etc. to indicate the position of troops, rear units (units) ... ... A brief dictionary of operational-tactical and general military terms

conventional signs- sutartiniai ženklai statusas T sritis Gynyba apibrėžtis Vietovės objektų, kovinės ir meteorologinės situacijos žymėjimo žemėlapiuose ir kt. koviniuose grafiniuose dokumentuose ženklai. Pagal paskirtį jie būna taktiniai, topografiniai ir… … Artilerijos terminų žodynas

conventional signs- sutartiniai ženklai statusas T sritis ekologija ir aplinkotyra apibrėžtis Grafiniai simboliai, kuriais žemėlapiuose reiškiamas jų turinys. Simboliais vaizduojami fiziniai Žemės paviršiaus objektai (jų padėtis, kiekybiniai ir kokybiniai… … Ekologijos terminų aiškinamasis žodynas

Conventional signs- signs used in drawing up plans and diagrams of the crime scene and other places of investigative actions. They are a set of standard topographical signs and designations of objects found in investigative... ... Forensic encyclopedia

Conventional signs- symbolic line and background designations of terrain objects, combat and meteorological conditions, used on geographical maps and graphic documents. There are topographical, tactical, and meteorological ultrasonic systems. They can… … Glossary of military terms

CONVENTIONAL SIGNS- GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE CONTINENTS Name of the continent Area in thousand square meters. km Coordinates of extreme points Highest altitude above sea level Lowest altitude from sea level Eurasia 54,870 north. m. Chelyuskin 77º43′ N. 104º18′ E south m.... ... Geographical atlas

Cartographic symbols are a system of symbolic graphic symbols used to depict various objects and phenomena, their qualitative and quantitative characteristics on maps. Conventional signs used on the map... ... Wikipedia

Books

• , . Conventional signs for topographic plans. Scales 1: 5000, 1: 2000, 1: 1000 and 1: 500 Reproduced in the original author’s spelling of the 1973 edition (Nedra publishing house).…
• Symbols for topographic plans, Main Directorate of Geodesy and Cartography under Sova. Shown are symbols of geodetic points, buildings, buildings and their parts, railways and structures attached to them, highways and dirt roads, hydrography, bridges, overpasses and...

"Plan of the area. Conventional signs"

6th grade

Today we are starting to study a new topic “Terrain plan. Conventional signs." Knowledge of this topic will be useful to you in the future. There are several types of terrain images: drawing, photograph, aerial photograph, satellite image, map, terrain plan (topographic plan).

To create topographic plans, modern technology is used (helicopters, planes, satellites) (Fig. 1).

Fig.1. The M-101T "Falcon" aircraft is designed for terrain surveys

(http://www.gisa.ru)

Photographs obtained as a result of aerial photography of the earth's surface are called aerial photographs.

Let's consider an aerial photograph (Fig. 2) and a topographic plan (Fig. 3) of the same area (the bed of the Moscow River in the Vorobyovy Gory area). Which image gives us more complete information about geographical objects? What type of image is more convenient to use to take a walk around Moscow?

A comparison will allow us to conclude that it is from the terrain plan that we can find out detailed information about geographical objects (for example, the name of a river, the name of streets, metro stations, parks).

Rice. 2. Aerial photograph (http://maps.google.ru)

Rice. 3. Site plan (http://maps.google.ru) Scale 1:50,000 U Green spaces Highway Building River Railway word symbols

Imagine that you are going on a hike far from the city. You need to prepare for the conditions of an unknown area that you have never been to, you need to think about what equipment, what clothes to take, perhaps prepare to cross a river, ravine, etc. You can get information about the hiking area by reading the map correctly.

Before you are two different images of the earth's surface: a satellite image (Fig. 1) and a topographic map (terrain plan) (Fig. 4-5).

Let's find out comparing satellite image And site plan. Let's find similarities and differences.

Using Figures 4 and 5, let’s fill out the table “Features of the terrain image.”

Let's summarize - what is a topographic map or area plan?

Let’s write down the definition of the concept “terrain plan” in a notebook.

Site plan or topographic plan (from the Latin “planum” - plane) - an image on a plane of a small section of the earth’s surface in a reduced form using conventional signs.

In order to work with a topographic plan, you need to be able to read it. The “alphabet” of the topographic plan is conventional signs. The symbols used to construct site plans are the same for all countries of the world, which makes them easier to use even if you do not know the language.

Conventional signs– designations used on maps or plans to depict various objects and their quantitative and qualitative characteristics. In other words, conventional signs indicate objects on the plan and are similar to these objects.

What can you find out using this site plan (Fig. 6)?

Rice. 6. Terrain plan (T. P. Gerasimova, N. P. Neklyukova, 2009)

And much more!

Topographical symbols are usually divided into: large-scale (or areal ), off-scale , linear And explanatory .

Z
Draw the following diagram in your notebook:
Large-scale , or areal conventional signs serve to depict such topographical objects that occupy a significant area and whose dimensions in plan can be expressed in scale given map or plan. An area conventional sign consists of a sign of the boundary of an object and its filling symbols or conventional coloring. The outline of an object is shown with a dotted line (the outline of a forest, meadow, swamp), a solid line (the outline of a reservoir, a populated area) or a symbol of the corresponding boundary (ditch, fence). Fill characters are located inside the outline in a certain order (randomly, in a checkerboard pattern, in horizontal and vertical rows). Area symbols allow you not only to find the location of an object, but also to estimate its linear dimensions, area and outline ( http://www.spbtgik.ru).

Z
Let's draw examples of symbols and add to our diagram!

Orchard Bush Meadow Vyr ubka L eu deciduous R edible forest ABOUT zero Garden Arable land Swamp Village

Linear Conventional signs are intended to depict extended objects on the ground, such as railways and roads, clearings, power lines, streams, borders and others. They occupy an intermediate position between large-scale and non-scale symbols. The length of such objects is expressed on the map scale, and the width on the map is not to scale. Usually it turns out to be larger than the width of the depicted terrain object, and its position corresponds to the longitudinal axis of the symbol. Horizontal lines are also depicted using linear topographical symbols.

Let's sketch examples of symbols and add to our diagram!

Explanatory Conventional signs are used for the purpose of additional characterization of local objects shown on the map. For example, the length, width and load-carrying capacity of the bridge, the width and nature of the road surface, the average thickness and height of trees in the forest, the depth and nature of the soil of the ford, etc. Various inscriptions and proper names of objects on maps are also explanatory in nature; each of them is executed in a set font and letters of a certain size.
Let's sketch examples of symbols and add to our diagram!

Orchard Bush Meadow Vyr ubka L eu deciduous R edible forest ABOUT zero Garden Arable land Swamp Village

Windmill Well School Forester's house Monument Power station Wooden bridge Metal bridge free standing tree Spring Factory Building Railroad station

Highway Clearing Trail Line power transmission Railway River Break Ravine

Let's take a closer look at this type of symbol.

If you want to get acquainted with other symbols, you can download the following document (Word file)

http://irsl.narod.ru/books/UZTKweb/UZTK.html

Now let's put theoretical knowledge into practice.

You must complete the following five tasks.

Exercise 1.

The site plan is used for:

A) studying a vast territory, for example, Russia;

B) construction, agricultural work in a small area;

C) travel to various countries of the world;

D) to plot a route if you want to go hiking.

Task 2.

The “alphabet of the plan” are symbols. But what corresponds to them on the ground? Select the number under which the symbol is depicted, corresponding to the letter indicating its meaning (Fig. 7).

For example: 1-A; 2-V.

A) break; B) swamp; B) path; D) bush; D) meadow

Rice. 7. Conventional signs of the area plan

(Baranchikov, Kozarenko, 2007)

Task 3.

Roads are indicated on the plan:

A) black solid or dotted lines;

B) brown lines;

B) blue lines;

D) green lines.

Task 4.

The following objects are indicated by scale or area symbols on site plans:

A) swamp, orchard, forest, arable land;

B) well, school, spring, isolated tree;

B) path, clearing, river, ravine;

D) railway, vegetable garden, factory, lake.

Task 5.

Carefully study the photograph (Fig. 8) and the adjacent plan (Fig. 9).

Answer the questions.

A) YES; B) NO.

Question 2. Is it possible to determine from the plan in which direction the Sona River flows?

A) YES; B) NO.

Question 3. Is it possible to determine from a photograph what the likely immediate goal of schoolchildren-tourists is?

A) YES; B) NO.

Question 4. Is it possible to determine from the area plan that tourists are heading towards the village of Sonino, where they can rest and replenish their food supplies?

A) YES; B) NO.

Question 5. Which lands occupy most of the territory shown on the plan.

A) swamps;

B) mixed forest;

B) bush;

List of literature used by the teacher when developing the lesson

1. 
   Geography of the Earth: 6th grade: tasks and exercises: a manual for students / E.V. Baranchikov, A. E. Kozarenko, O. A. Petrusyuk, M. S. Smirnova. – M.: Education, 2007. – P. 7-11.
2. 
   Basic geography course: textbook for 6th grade. educational institutions/T. P. Gerasimova, N. P. Neklyukova. – M.: Bustard, 2010. – 174 p.
3. 
   Work programs in geography. 6-9 grades / N.V. Bolotnikova. – 2nd ed., revised, additional. – M.: Publishing House “Globus”, 2009. – P. 5-13.

This material was prepared for you by the geography teacher of Central Education Center No. 109

Daria Nikolaevna Chekushkina.

E-mail address:chekushkina. daria@ gmail. com

Topographic maps and plans depict various terrain objects: the outlines of settlements, gardens, vegetable gardens, lakes, rivers, road lines, power transmission lines. The collection of these objects is called situation. The situation is depicted conventional signs.

Standard symbols, mandatory for all institutions and organizations preparing topographic maps and plans, are established by the Federal Service of Geodesy and Cartography of the Russian Federation and are published either separately for each scale or for a group of scales.

Conventional signs are divided into five groups:

1. Area symbols(Fig. 22) are used to fill the areas of objects (for example, arable land, forests, lakes, meadows); they consist of a sign of the boundary of an object (a dotted line or a thin solid line) and images or conventional coloring that fill it; for example, symbol 1 shows a birch forest; numbers (20/0.18) *4 characterize the tree stand, (m): numerator - height, denominator - trunk thickness, 4 - distance between trees.

Rice. 22. Area symbols:

1 - forest; 2 - cutting; 3 - meadow; 4 - vegetable garden; 5 - arable land; 6 - orchard.

2. Linear symbols(Fig. 23) show linear objects (roads, rivers, communication lines, power transmission lines), the length of which is expressed on a given scale. The conventional images show various characteristics of objects; for example, on highway 7 (m) the following are shown: the width of the carriageway is 8 and the width of the entire road is 12; on single-track railway 8: +1,800 - embankment height, - 2,900 - excavation depth.

Rice. 23. Linear symbols

7 - highway; 8 - railway; 9 - communication line; 10 - power line; 11 - main pipeline (gas).

3. Off-scale symbols(Fig. 24) are used to depict objects whose dimensions are not expressed at a given map or plan scale (bridges, kilometer posts, wells, geodetic points). As a rule, off-scale signs determine the location of objects, but their size cannot be judged from them. The signs give various characteristics, for example, the length of 17 m and the width of 3 m of wooden bridge 12, elevation 393,500 points of the geodetic network 16.

Rice. 24. Off-scale symbols

12 - wooden bridge; 13 - windmill; 14 - plant, factory;

15 - kilometer pole, 16 - geodetic network point

4. Explanatory symbols are digital and alphabetic inscriptions characterizing objects, for example, the depth and speed of river flows, load capacity and width of bridges, forest species, average height and thickness of trees, width of highways. These signs are placed on the main areal, linear, and non-scale ones.

5. Special symbols(Fig. 25) are established by the relevant departments of the national economy; they are used to draw up specialized maps and plans of this industry, for example, signs for survey plans of oil and gas fields - oil field structures and installations, wells, field pipelines.

Rice. 25. Special symbols

17 - route; 18 - water supply; 19 - sewerage; 20 - water intake column; 21 - fountain

To give a map or plan greater clarity, colors are used to depict various elements: for rivers, lakes, canals, wetlands - blue; forests and gardens - green; highways - red; improved dirt roads - orange. The rest of the situation is shown in black. On survey plans, underground communications (pipelines, cables) are colored.

Terrain and its depiction on topographic maps and plans

Terrain called a set of irregularities on the physical surface of the Earth.

Depending on the nature of the relief, the terrain is divided into mountainous, hilly, and flat. All the variety of landforms is usually reduced to the following basic forms (Fig. 26):

Rice. 26. Basic landforms

1. Mountain - a dome-shaped or conical elevation of the earth's surface. Main elements of the mountain:

a) apex - the highest part, ending either in an almost horizontal platform called a plateau, or a sharp peak;

b) slopes or slopes diverging from the top in all directions;

c) sole - the base of the hill, where the slopes pass into the surrounding plain.

The small mountain is called hill or fell; artificial hill called mound.

2. Basin- a cup-shaped, concave part of the earth's surface, or unevenness opposite the mountain.

In the basin there are:

a) bottom - the lowest part (usually a horizontal platform);

b) cheeks - lateral slopes diverging from the bottom in all directions;

c) margin - the border of the cheeks, where the basin passes into the surrounding plain. The small basin is called depression or pit.

3. Ridge- a hill elongated in one direction and formed by two opposite slopes. The line where the stingrays meet is called ridge axis or watershed line. The descending parts of the spine line are called passes.

4. Hollow- a recess extended in one direction; shape opposite to the ridge. In the hollow there are two slopes and a thalweg, or water connecting line, which often serves as the bed of a stream or river.

A large wide hollow with a slightly inclined thalweg is called valley; a narrow ravine with steep slopes that quickly descend and a thalweg cutting through the ridge is called gorge or gorge. If it is located in a plain, it is called ravine. A small hollow with almost vertical slopes is called beam, rut or gulley.

5. Saddle- a meeting place of two or more opposite hills, or opposite valleys.

6. Ledge or terrace- an almost horizontal platform on the slope of a ridge or mountain.

The top of the mountain, the bottom of the basin, the lowest point of the saddle are characteristic relief points.

The watershed and thalweg represent characteristic relief lines.

Currently, for large-scale plans, only two methods of depicting the relief are accepted: signing marks and drawing contour lines.

Horizontally called a closed curved line of terrain, all points of which have the same height above sea level or above a conventional level surface.

Horizontal lines are formed like this (Fig. 27). Let the hill be washed by the surface of the sea with an elevation equal to zero. The curve formed by the intersection of the water surface with a hill will be a horizontal line with an elevation equal to zero. If we mentally dissect a mountain, for example, by two level surfaces with a distance between them h = 10 m, then the traces of the section of the hill with these surfaces will give horizontal lines with marks of 10 and 20 m. If we project the traces of the section of these surfaces onto a horizontal plane in a reduced form, we will obtain a plan of the hill in horizontals.

Rice. 27. Image of the relief with horizontal lines

On the horizontal plan, the elevations and depressions have the same appearance. To distinguish a hill from a depression, short strokes are placed in the downward direction of the slope perpendicular to the horizontal lines - slope indicators. These strokes are called berg strokes. Lowering and raising the terrain can be established and the signatures of contour lines on the plan. An image of the main relief forms is presented in Figure 28.

In cases where the elements of the slope are not reflected by the section of the main horizontal lines, half-horizontals and quarter-horizontals are drawn on the plan at the height of half and a quarter of the main section.

For example, the protrusion and the bottom of the slope of a hill are not reflected by the main horizontal lines. The drawn semi-horizontal reflects the protrusion, and the quarter-horizontal reflects the bottom of the slope.

Rice. 28. Representation of the main forms of relief with horizontal lines

The main horizontal lines are drawn with thin solid lines in brown ink, semi-horizontal - broken lines, quarter horizontal - short dash-dotted line (Fig. 27). For greater clarity and convenience of counting, some horizontal lines are thickened. With a section height of 0.5 and 1 m, thicken each horizontal line that is a multiple of 5 m (5, 10, 115, 120 m, etc.), when cross-sectioning the relief through 2.5 m - horizontal lines that are multiples of 10 m (10, 20 , 100 m, etc.), with a section of 5 m, thicken the horizontal lines, multiples of 25 m.

To determine the height of the relief in the gaps of thickened and some other contours, their marks are signed. In this case, the bases of the numbers of the horizontal marks are placed in the direction of lowering the slope.

Any card has its own special language - special symbols. Geography studies all these designations, classifies them, and also develops new symbols to designate certain objects, phenomena and processes. Having a general understanding of conventional cartographic signs is useful for absolutely everyone. Such knowledge is not only interesting in itself, but will certainly be useful to you in real life.

This article is devoted to conventional signs in geography, which are used in the preparation of topographic, contour, thematic maps and large-scale terrain plans.

ABC cards

Just as our speech consists of letters, words and sentences, so any map includes a set of specific symbols. With their help, topographers transfer this or that terrain onto paper. Conventional signs in geography are a system of special graphic symbols used to designate specific objects, their properties and characteristics. This is a kind of “language” of the map, created artificially.

It is quite difficult to say exactly when the very first geographical maps appeared. On all continents of the planet, archaeologists find ancient primitive drawings on stones, bones or wood, created by primitive people. This is how they depicted the area in which they had to live, hunt and defend themselves from enemies.

Modern symbols on geographic maps display all the most important elements of the area: landforms, rivers and lakes, fields and forests, settlements, communication routes, country borders, etc. The larger the image scale, the more objects can be plotted on the map . For example, on a detailed plan of the area, as a rule, all wells and sources of drinking water are marked. At the same time, marking such objects on a map of a region or country would be stupid and impractical.

A little history or how the symbols of geographical maps changed

Geography is a science that is unusually closely related to history. Let's delve into it to find out what cartographic images looked like many centuries ago.

Thus, ancient medieval maps were characterized by an artistic representation of the area with the widespread use of drawings as symbols. Geography at that time was just beginning to develop as a scientific discipline, therefore, when compiling cartographic images, the scale and outlines (borders) of area objects were often distorted.

On the other hand, all the drawings on the old drawings and portolans were individual and completely understandable. But these days you have to use your memory to learn what certain symbols on geographical maps mean.

From about the second half of the 18th century, there was a tendency in European cartography towards a gradual transition from individual perspective drawings to more specific plan symbols. In parallel with this, a need arose for a more accurate display of distances and areas on geographic maps.

Geography: and topographic maps

Topographic maps and terrain plans are distinguished by fairly large scales (from 1:100,000 or more). They are most often used in industry, agriculture, geological exploration, urban planning and tourism. Accordingly, the terrain on such maps should be displayed in as much detail and detail as possible.

For this purpose, a special system of graphic symbols was developed. In geography, it is also often called the “map legend.” For ease of reading and ease of memorization, many of these signs resemble the real appearance of the terrain objects they depict (from above or from the side). This system of cartographic symbols is standardized and mandatory for all enterprises that produce large-scale topographic maps.

The topic “Conventional signs” is studied in the school geography course in the 6th grade. To check the level of mastery of a given topic, students are often asked to write a short topographical story. Each of you probably wrote a similar “essay” at school. Sentences with symbols on geography look something like the photo below:

All symbols in cartography are usually divided into four groups:

• scale (area or contour);
• off-scale;
• linear;
• explanatory.

Let's take a closer look at each of these groups of signs.

Scale signs and their examples

In cartography, scale signs are those that are used to fill in any area objects. It could be a field, a forest or an orchard. Using these symbols on the map, you can determine not only the type and location of a particular object, but also its actual size.

The boundaries of area objects on topographic maps and site plans can be depicted as solid lines (black, blue, brown or pink), dotted or simple dotted lines. Examples of large-scale cartographic symbols are presented below in the figure:

Off-scale signs

If a terrain feature cannot be depicted on the real scale of a plan or map, then non-scale symbols are used. We are talking about too small things, for example, a windmill, a sculptural monument, a rock outcrop, a spring or a well.

The exact location of such an object on the ground is determined by the main point of the symbol. For symmetrical signs this point is located in the center of the figure, for signs with a wide base - in the middle of the base, and for signs based on a right angle - at the apex of such an angle.

It is worth noting that objects expressed on maps by out-of-scale symbols serve as excellent landmarks on the ground. Examples of off-scale cartographic symbols are presented in the figure below:

Linear signs

Sometimes the so-called linear cartographic signs are included in a separate group. It is not difficult to guess that they are used to designate linearly extended objects on plans and maps - roads, boundaries of administrative units, railways, fords, etc. An interesting feature of linear designations: their length always corresponds to the scale of the map, but the width is significantly exaggerated.

Examples of linear cartographic symbols are presented in the figure below.

Explanatory signs

Perhaps the most informative is the group of explanatory symbols. With their help, additional characteristics of the depicted terrain objects are indicated. For example, a blue arrow in a river bed indicates the direction of its flow, and the number of transverse strokes on a railroad symbol corresponds to the number of tracks.

As a rule, maps and plans are labeled with the names of cities, towns, villages, mountain peaks, rivers and other geographical features. Explanatory symbols can be numeric or alphabetic. Letter designations are most often given in abbreviated form (for example, a ferry crossing is indicated as the abbreviation “par.”).

Symbols of contour and thematic maps

A contour map is a special type of geographic map intended for educational purposes. It contains only a coordinate grid and some elements of a geographical basis.

The set of symbols for contour maps in geography is not very wide. The very name of these maps is quite eloquent: to compile them, only contour marks of the boundaries of certain objects - countries, regions and regions - are used. Sometimes rivers and large cities are also marked on them (in the form of dots). By and large, a contour map is a “silent” map, which is precisely intended to fill its surface with certain conventional symbols.

Thematic maps are most often found in geography atlases. The symbols of such cards are extremely varied. They can be depicted as a color background, areas or so-called isolines. Diagrams and cartograms are often used. In general, each type of thematic map has its own set of specific symbols.

Cartography as a science dates back to the Bronze Age. Archaeological excavations have demonstrated that the oldest examples were created in Egypt, ancient Babylon, Asia Minor (modern Turkey), the Marshall Islands and Italy. Without a schematic drawing of the terrain, precise movement and implementation of military tactics is impossible. Despite completely different ideas about the shape of the planet, the inhabitants of the Ancient World, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the New Century and the present tried to record all the features of the landscape as reliably as possible. Ancient people allowed many geographical inaccuracies in cartography, and the creation of diagrams could be equated to art - they were performed by real masters and supplemented with many artistic elements. For example, cities were drawn in the form of castle towers with family coats of arms, forests were represented by several types of trees, trading ports were indicated by the type of ships popular in the region (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Maps used until the last century

Samples more similar to modern ones appeared only after the 18th century, when humanity gained a complete understanding of the geography of the planet, the location of all rivers, seas, and oceans.

However, the most accurate plans became available by the mid-twentieth century.

In everyday life, knowing what the symbols of geographic maps mean will help you quickly get to any destination. In wilderness and survival situations, if you get lost in the forest but have a map with you, you can save your life and get out easily. Despite the popularity of GPS navigators, electronic equipment can always fail, incorrectly determine coordinates or run out of power. Paper analogues are at hand and come to the rescue in any situation. They are easy to use not only to find out your location in a wild or populated area, but also to plot a shorter driving route. Without the use of diagrams, it is difficult to imagine the work of military personnel, foresters, fishermen, geological engineers and builders. What types of symbols exist on maps and how to determine their exact meaning, we will consider further.

Symbols of geographical maps

Conventional signs on the map are presented in the form of simplified graphic symbols indicating landscape objects, for example, mountain ranges, lakes, forest plantations, paths, highways, public and residential buildings, boundaries between settlements. The icons vary depending on the type of application. For example, for urban plans they will be the same, but for suburban plans they will be completely different.

The following groups of signs are distinguished (Figure 2):

1. Scientific or reference. Includes soil types, landscape and soil details, local fossils, types of water bodies and trees, common animals, birds and fish, buildings, municipal and socio-cultural monuments, transport links and much more. The purpose of such diagrams is a detailed display of all important features of the landscape for accurate orientation. Also used for informational purposes;
2. Educational. Developed for teaching children of preschool and school age. Often interactive and intuitive;
3. Tourist. It is impossible to imagine any traveler’s luggage without them. Contains accurate landscape details. However, more attention is paid to paths in forests and mountains, crossings over rough or swampy terrain. This group also includes urban options that clearly explain the new city. With their help, it is easy to visit all excursion places without getting lost in the interweaving of residential areas and numerous streets.

The newer the diagram, the more closely it corresponds to the actual location of all objects. Often presented in color for easier orientation.

The structure of all geographical maps - both outdated and modern - is divided into two main parts:

• Schematically depicted landscape. The colors evoke the correct associations with the real components of the relief: forest plantations are green, ponds are blue or blue, hills are brown, highways are red or orange, and railway tracks are black. Sometimes details are specified, such as the material of the bridge or the type of scaffolding. However, on each plane there are many more signs displayed, many of them may seem incomprehensible at first glance;
• Legend (Figure 3). A legend is an explanation for each individual diagram. There is no general standardization in cartography, but decoding of symbols and content must be present, otherwise it is considered invalid. You can find the legend in the free fields. Sometimes a separate place is allocated for it. Even if you have forgotten what the pictograms on the plan mean, turning to the legend, you can intuitively figure it out.

Contrary to prevailing stereotypes, reading a geographic map does not require specialized skills, and even a schoolchild can cope with this task. When faced with a new scheme, it is enough to familiarize yourself with the legend and start getting your bearings.

Types of symbols on maps

Symbols of geographical maps are necessary to display schematic objects, their features and characteristics on the terrain plan. They are divided into three types, which are determined by scale: linear, area and point. Each of them includes objects with similar features: industrial buildings and administrative facilities (bridges, railway crossings, borders between regions and countries) or details of the natural landscape. Each group is indicated by a simple and easy to remember icon. For example, coniferous forests are represented by the schematic symbol of a pine tree (Figure 4). It reliably displays the type of object and is universal for most terrain plans, which will provide convenient and instant orientation in any conditions.

Basic requirements for icons that can be used to select a suitable geographic map:

1. Readability and recognition;
2. No overload of elements;
3. Ease of remembering;
4. Compact and reliable.

We will consider further what the symbols of topographic maps include.

Linear signs

Linear symbols on the map depict objects that have a certain extent (Figure 5).

Among them:

1. Roads (motorways, highways, highways, paths). They are divided into dirt and asphalt. Modern and roadworthy are highlighted in orange. Gray or black represent unpaved sections of the road or trail;
2. Railway and tram tracks. They are divided by the number of tracks (one or several pairs of rails), width (narrow or standard), and general condition (working, closed, and under construction). They are indicated by a horizontal line on which perpendicular lines are applied in the order: one track - one line. A rectangle is drawn on the line, which indicates the station building or platform;
3. Bridges. They vary depending on the material (reinforced concrete, wood, stone and others), the number of tiers, dynamics (solid, sliding or lifting). Pontoon (floating) vessels are indicated by separate symbols;
4. Gas or oil pipelines;
5. Power lines;
6. Cellular or radio towers;
7. Rivers of any length or streams, canals;
8. Any fences or walls,
9. Borders between settlements and countries.

Represented by colored thin, bold and bold lines (straight, curved). It is worth noting that only their length in millimeters with translation to scale is accurate.

On geographical maps there is no correct indication of the width of linear symbols.

Exaggerated width makes reading easier. This group also includes isolines (isohypses), necessary for three-dimensional designation of the shapes and features of the territory.

Area signs

Area (also known as scale) symbols on a local map are needed to correctly convey the shape and outline, relief, size and location of large geographical objects (Figure 6). Also called “contour”. These include both individual areas and entire cities. They have a reliable length and width in a two-dimensional plane, presented on a reduced scale (for example, 1:10000) and forms as close as possible to reality. Their structure is divided into an outline and a colored background, shading or a grid of identical symbols indicating the properties of the object.