The language of a topographical sheet
A topographical sheet carries a lot of information in a small space, so the survey uses colours and symbols that mean the same thing on every sheet. A scale tells you how the map shrinks the ground. This chapter uses the imagined practice sheet (not a real place, not a Survey of India sheet) to learn all three.
In this lesson you will
- State what each colour tint on a topographical sheet shows
- Recognise the common conventional symbols for settlements, water, roads and tracks
- Name the three types of scale and convert a statement scale to a representative fraction and back
| Idea | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Colour tint | The kind of land or feature |
| Symbol | A single object, such as a well or a road |
| Scale | How far the ground distance is for each map distance |