Geography

The top margin of a topographic sheet gives the map code 3318CD. What do the first four digits, 3318, show?

A sheet is coded 2528CB. The first letter, C, names a quarter of the degree square 25° S, 28° E. Which quarter?

Sipho reads the map code 2633DA as 33° S and 26° E. What is his mistake?

Which map code belongs to the south-east quarter of the south-west quarter of the degree square 31° S, 24° E?

Both 3018DA and its neighbours lie in quarter D of the degree square 30° S, 18° E. Which sheet lies directly east of 3018DA?

A map is drawn at the ratio scale 1 : 25 000. Which word scale says the same thing?

The word scale on a sheet reads 1 cm = 2 km. Which ratio scale says the same thing?

A line scale on a sheet shows that 5 cm stand for 1 km. Which ratio scale is this?

A town plan is drawn at 1 : 25 000 and a regional map at 1 : 100 000. How do their scales compare?

Which row gives the same scale in three forms: ratio, fraction and word scale?

On a 1 : 50 000 map, a footpath measures 6,4 cm. What is the length of the footpath on the ground, in metres?

A fence line measures 8,7 cm on a 1 : 10 000 orthophoto. How long is the fence on the ground, in metres?

Two beacons are 7,6 cm apart on a 1 : 50 000 map. What is the distance between them on the ground, in kilometres?

A river is 9,2 cm long on a 1 : 50 000 map when it is measured with string along its bends, but 6,8 cm when a ruler is laid straight between its ends. What is the length of the river, in metres?

A runway measures 12,3 cm on a 1 : 10 000 orthophoto. How long is the runway on the ground, in kilometres?

Which of the 16 compass points lies on a bearing of 112,5°?

What is the bearing of the compass point west-north-west (WNW)?

A hiker walks from camp to a hut in a south-south-westerly direction. In which direction is the camp from the hut?

A learner uses a protractor on a 1 : 50 000 map to find a bearing. From which line, and in which direction, is the angle measured?

The 16-point compass rose divides the full circle equally. How many degrees apart are two neighbouring points, such as N and NNE?

A sheet’s margin gives the magnetic declination as 21°47′ West (June 2011), with a change of 6′ West a year. The true bearing from a farm gate to a dam is 118°. What is the magnetic bearing for 2026?

A sheet’s margin gives the magnetic declination as 24°12′ West (September 2008), with a change of 7′ West a year. The true bearing from a farm gate to a dam is 205°. What is the magnetic bearing for 2025?

A sheet’s margin gives the magnetic declination as 22°52′ West (February 2010), with a change of 5′ West a year. The true bearing from a farm gate to a dam is 47°. What is the magnetic bearing for 2024?

A sheet’s margin gives the magnetic declination as 23°49′ West (May 2009), with a change of 8′ West a year. The true bearing from a farm gate to a dam is 301°. What is the magnetic bearing for 2026?

A sheet’s margin gives the magnetic declination as 25°30′ West (October 2012), with a change of 4′ West a year. The true bearing from a farm gate to a dam is 159°. What is the magnetic bearing for 2026?

A map shows a spot height of 342 m and a trig beacon labelled 64, with the height 287,6 m printed beside it. Calculate the difference in height between the two points.

A trig beacon labelled 18 has the height 1 204,5 m, and a spot height nearby reads 1 187 m. By how many metres is the beacon higher than the spot height?

The spot height on a hilltop is 836 m and the spot height at a river crossing is 592,4 m. By how many metres is the river crossing lower than the hilltop?

Calculate the difference in height. Formula: higher − lower. A spot height reads 418 m, and a trig beacon labelled 52 is printed with the height 391,8 m.

On a sheet, spot height 1 026 lies in one block and a trig beacon labelled 215, with the height 987,3 m, lies in another. What is the difference in height between them?

The margin of a 1 : 50 000 sheet shows that the top edge of row A is at 26°10′ S and the west edge of column 1 is at 28°05′ E. The rows are lettered A, B, C … from the top, the columns are numbered 1, 2, 3 … from the left, and every block is 1′ by 1′ (1′ = 60″). A water tower stands in the third row down and the fourth column across, three-quarters of the way down its block and one quarter of the way across it. Give the block and the co-ordinates of the water tower, latitude first, and show how you found each value. (4)

1. Content: the block is C4, written row letter first and then the column numberThe third row down is C and the fourth column is 4; the row letter always comes first.
2. Method: counting 1′ blocks from the corner puts row C between 26°12′ and 26°13′ S and column 4 between 28°08′ and 28°09′ EThe block’s edges come from counting blocks from the corner: rows start at 26°10′, 26°11′, 26°12′ and columns at 28°05′, 28°06′, 28°07′, 28°08′.
3. Accuracy: latitude 26°12′45″ S, because three-quarters of 60″ is 45″Three-quarters of the way down adds 45″ to the block’s top edge; latitude is written first.
4. Accuracy: longitude 28°08′15″ E, because a quarter of 60″ is 15″A quarter of the way across adds 15″ to the block’s west edge; longitude comes second.

The tower is in block C4: the third row down is C, and the row letter is written before the column number. Counting 1′ blocks from the corner, row C lies between 26°12′ S and 26°13′ S, and column 4 lies between 28°08′ E and 28°09′ E. Latitude: three-quarters of 60″ is 45″, so 26°12′ + 45″ = 26°12′45″ S. Longitude: a quarter of 60″ is 15″, so 28°08′ + 15″ = 28°08′15″ E.

A learner lays a piece of string along every bend of a river on a 1 : 50 000 map, from a weir to a bridge, and finds that the string measures 9,6 cm against the ruler. A straight ruler laid between the same two points reads 7,4 cm. (a) Write the formula, the substitution and the answer with its unit to calculate the length of the river between the weir and the bridge, in kilometres. (3) (b) Explain why the string reading, and not the ruler reading, must be used. (1)

1. Method: the formula, ground distance = map distance × scale (1 cm = 0,5 km on a 1 : 50 000 map)The first mark is the formula: a distance measured on the map multiplied by what 1 cm stands for.
2. Method: the substitution uses the string length, 9,6 cm × 0,5 km, not the ruler’s 7,4 cmThe measured value goes in: the string, because the river bends. Putting in the ruler’s 7,4 cm loses this mark.
3. Accuracy: the answer 4,8 km, with its unit9,6 × 0,5 = 4,8, written in kilometres because the question asked for kilometres.
4. Content: the string follows every bend and gives the true length, while a straight ruler cuts across the bends and reads too shortA river is not straight: only string can follow it, and a ruler measures the straight line between the two ends.

Formula: ground distance = map distance × scale, and on a 1 : 50 000 map 1 cm = 0,5 km. Substitution: the string length is used, so 9,6 cm × 0,5 km. Answer: 4,8 km. The string follows every bend of the river and so gives its true length, whereas a straight ruler cuts across the bends and gives a shorter distance (3,7 km).

A sheet’s margin gives the magnetic declination as 23°18′ West (March 2012), with a change of 5′ West a year. (a) Calculate the magnetic declination for 2026. (3) (b) The true bearing from a farm gate to a windmill is 72°. Use the formula MB = TB + declination to calculate the magnetic bearing for 2026. (2) Show every step in words and figures.

1. Method: the number of years since the note, 2026 − 2012 = 14Count the years from the date on the note to the year asked for.
2. Method: the total change, 14 × 5′ = 70′, which is 1°10′Years multiplied by the yearly change gives minutes; 60′ make 1°, so 70′ is 1°10′.
3. Accuracy: the declination for 2026, 23°18′ + 1°10′ = 24°28′ WestThe change is added to the note’s declination, because the needle drifts further west each year.
4. Method: the substitution MB = 72° + 24°28′, added because the declination is westThe formula is given; the mark is for putting in the true bearing and the 2026 declination with a plus sign.
5. Accuracy: the magnetic bearing 96°28′72° + 24°28′ = 96°28′; the minutes need no carrying here.

First I count the years since the note: 2026 − 2012 = 14 years. The change is 14 × 5′ = 70′, and because 60′ make 1°, that is 1°10′. So the declination for 2026 is 23°18′ + 1°10′ = 24°28′ West. The declination is west, so it is added to the true bearing: MB = TB + declination = 72° + 24°28′. The magnetic bearing is 96°28′.

Explain to a Grade 8 learner why a distance measured on a map has to be multiplied by the scale, and what 1 : 50 000 means in everyday words.

Explain to a Grade 8 learner why a compass needle does not point to the true north of a map, and how that changes a true bearing into a magnetic bearing.

Explain to a Grade 8 learner how the map code and a block reference on a 1 : 50 000 sheet work together to find a place, using the code 3318CD and a block such as C4 as your example.