Grade 6 Geography: Atlases, Coordinates, and Scale

Vocabulary terms and definitions covering basic geography concepts including map types, coordinates, and scales based on the Platinum Social Sciences Grade 6 curriculum.

Geography

The study of the world we live in.

Atlas

A book that contains many different maps from either a particular area or even from all over the world.

Physical map

A map that shows the landscape and natural features of a specific area, focusing on mountain ranges, rivers, oceans, climate, and physical features.

Political map

A map that shows names of towns, cities, provinces, and countries, focusing on the names of places and locations around the world.

Contents pages

Pages found at the beginning of a book that list all chapters, units, or categories and their corresponding page numbers.

Equator

An imaginary line that divides the earth into North and South; it is the longest line of latitude at $0^\circ$.

Greenwich/Prime Meridian

An imaginary line at $0^\circ$ longitude that runs through Greenwich, England, dividing the earth into East and West.

Latitude

The position of a place north or south of the equator, measured in degrees ($^\circ$) from $0^\circ$ to $90^\circ$.

Longitude

The position of a place east or west of the Greenwich Meridian, measured in degrees ($^\circ$) from $0^\circ$ to $180^\circ$, joining the North and South Poles.

Hemisphere

A term meaning half of a sphere; used to refer to half of the Earth.

Northern Hemisphere

The half of the Earth located north of the equator.

Southern Hemisphere

The half of the Earth located south of the equator.

Western Hemisphere

The half of the Earth located west of the Greenwich Meridian.

Eastern Hemisphere

The half of the Earth located east of the Greenwich Meridian.

Co-ordinates

The precise location of something determined by the intersection of lines of latitude and longitude.

Scale

A tool used to understand how much bigger the actual area is compared to its size on a map and to measure distances accurately.

Line scale

A straight line or ruler found at the bottom of maps with measurements used to convert map distances to actual land or sea distances.

Word scale

A scale that uses words to inform the user of the map's ratio (e.g., "$\text{1\,cm on map = 250\,km on land}$ ").