成人快手

Watch: Reading maps

Play the video to watch Ayesha and James learn how to read maps so they can find the treasure.

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Map-reading tips

Take a look at useful tips with compasses and maps:

Image gallerySkip image gallerySlide 1 of 6, James is pointing at the red needle of a compass to show where north is, Finding north To find north, hold the compass in your hand and turn around until the coloured needle points to 鈥楴鈥.
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Things to remember

Dad is showing Ayesha and James a map of where the treasure is.

To read a map you need to remember:

  • A compass can help you find the right direction.
  • Grid references can help find a place.
  • You can find what symbols mean by using a key.
  • There are different types of map, for example:
    • Ordnance Survey (O/S) maps
    • Street maps
    • Atlases and globes
Dad is showing Ayesha and James a map of where the treasure is.
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Finding grid references

A map showing the grid reference for the park's location at 3311.

This person is pointing to the park. It is located where two lines cross. If you follow the lines to the edge of the map you will see a number.

Tip:
First you find the number that goes across the bottom, which is 33 here.

Then you find the number going up the side, which is 11 here, so the grid reference is 3311.

You may see brackets around a grid reference and a comma to separate them, for example: (33,11).

A map showing the grid reference for the park's location at 3311.
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Using compass points

A compass showing 8 compass points

Sometimes the direction you need to take isn鈥檛 exactly north, east, south or west and it might be in the middle of two points:

  • north-east (NE) is in-between north and east.
  • south-east (SE) is in-between south and east.
  • south-west (SW) is in-between south and west.
  • north-west (NW) is in-between north and west.
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Activity: Quiz 鈥 Map-reading

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Bitesize Primary games. game

Play fun and educational primary games in science, maths, English, history, geography, art, computing and modern languages.

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