Maps : Land Symbols And Terms (1960)

orange and red for lands up to 10,000 ft and finally dark brown for the highest mountain ranges like the we also learned how latitude and longitude affected the way men used land in this film we will learn about land symbols and terms which appear on maps and in map Legends Legends explain that state Capal are underlined that red lines indicate steamship routes or railroads that blue lines portray Rivers Legends also explain the symbols for dams waterfalls canals and desert areas symbols of differing shapes and sizes locate cities of different size from large cities over 1 million in population to communities of 50,000 or smaller to really understand the meaning of map symbols we should see where they are used on maps and what they stand for our first map symbol is this irregular red shape which represents the city of Los Angeles an irregular shape is often used to locate cities of over 1 million people but what does this large city really look like Broad Streets like these bring people Into the Heart of the City in the business area people report to work in offices do their shopping and carry on business every day thousands of people must move into and out of the city by means of automobiles or buses to get a better idea of Los Angeles we will see it from the air downtown Los Angeles looks like this whole blocks of high buildings crowd together at the center of the city and to reach these places of business many broad highways or freeways and traffic overpasses are needed to connect the center of the city with outlying residential areas where there is more space to live in comfortable homes another map symbol is a state boundary line this state line runs across country over mountains and desert this highway crosses the line men decided should be the boundary between California and Nevada other state boundaries may be placed along natural dividing lines here it was decided that the Colorado River should be the boundary between Nevada and Arizona at one point on the river boundary the the map shows this symbol this kind of black bar is often used to locate dams here Hoover Dam has been built across the Colorado River above the dam Lake me stretches for many miles great hydroelectric generators change the power of falling water into electric current which is carried by wire to supply electricity to cities which lie hundreds of miles away around Hoover Dam small black dots appear on the map these the legend tells us describe desert regions like this dry land such land is usually fertile but without water only sparse grasses and cactus grow desert regions may be flat or mountainous like this Barren Place Broken lines may be used to outline special places national parks or Recreation areas like the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River here the Colorado flows through the lower Grand Canyon the river has cut a path a full mile deep near the center of the canyon at Bright Angel Point farther east on the map a special Mark a triangle is used to locate one of the high rocky mountain peaks which lies near Denver Colorado Pike's Peak one of many rocky mountain peaks over 14,000 ft High looks like this from the air the map tells us that the city of Denver is located to the east of the Rocky Mountains the square symbol means that Denver is a city of from 100,000 to 500,000 population because its name is underlined we know it is the capital of Colorado as we now see in this view of the capital building itself like Los Angeles tall buildings though fewer of them occupy the center of the city nearly a half million people live in this mile above sea level Community as we continue to study the map we see that many large rivers flow through the central United States rivers on maps are drawn and colored much as they actually appear as wavy lines of blue and that is very nearly how they look from the air turning and twisting lines of blue flowing through the countryside here two rivers the Missouri and the Mississippi join notice the muddier colored Missouri in the background we see on our map that St Louis is located near the junction of these two Great Rivers the five-sided symbol tells us that St Louis is a city of between 500,000 and 1 million population from the air the city looks larger than Denver but not as large as Los Angeles St Louis location near the junction of Great Rivers makes water shipping possible West on the Missouri north and south on the Mississippi and East on the Ohio River farther east lie the nearly flat farmlands of Illinois Indiana and Ohio here on the map we see a new city symbol this kind of circle is used to locate cities of less than 50,000 population from the air we see few buildings mostly homes which end abruptly where Farm Fields begin as we approach the Great Lakes region a network of red lines indicate that railroads crisscross the countryside many railroads meet at Chicago to form great rail terminals which serve the needs of a large city Chicago is the great railroad center of the nation near the center of the city skyscraping buildings rise to house the thousands of people who each morning travel to the city to work and conduct business again a network of Highways Cris across the city to bring people in and out the Great Lakes indicated in Blue on our map offer an almost complete water route for Lake ships Lake ships pass easily along the Great Lakes except here at Sue St Marie where red lines shipping lanes become black and white symbols our Legend tells us these symbols represent canals because ships cannot float through these Rapids at Sous St Marie a system of canals and locks has been constructed to bypass the Rapids because the water is higher in the Upper Lake than in the lower locks have been built in the canal here is how they work a ship enters the open lock from the Upper Lake the lock gate slowly moves to close because the higher water must be shut out while both water and ship are being lowered to the level of the Lower Lake then the water in the lock can be run out or dropped to the level of the Lower Lake as this happens the ship all but disappears from view but not for long for the lower gate is opened and the ship steams out into the Lower Lake this ship having been lowered now slowly moves ahead it will continue its Journey to the Great Lakes ports of the middle west chicago Detroit Cleveland and Buffalo Lake ships are often called whale Banks they move slowly day and night carrying their loads of iron ore coal grain and other bulky heavy caros to Great centers of industry and Manufacturing located both on the Lake Shore and Inland at cities like Pittsburgh this city of nearly 1 million like St Luke lies at the junction of Two Rivers which form the Golden Triangle as Pittsburgh's business section is called Great Lakes Transportation continues Eastward but must go through another canal in order to pass around this place which the legend tells us is a waterfall this great waterfall is Niagara Falls the Niagara River is the boundary between the United United States on the left and Canada on the right this is famous Horseshoe Falls of the Niagara River we have come to understand many map symbols to understand them better we have seen many of the places they stand for shipping lanes and railroads cities and deserts rivers and canals and now one of America's greatest waterfalls Niagara now let us recall what we have learned state capitals are underlined red lines on water are the symbol for shipping lanes red lines on land indicate railroads blue wavy lines show Rivers a bar with a v on each end indicates a dam a black bar a waterfall a dashed black and white line shows where a canal is located and black dotts indicate desert regions our city Legend shows a circle for towns less than 50,000 a triangle for cities 50,000 to 100,000 a square for cities 100,000 to 500,000 a five-sided figure for 500,000 to 1 million and irregular shapes for cities over 1 million like the largest city of the United States New York City our visit to New York with the tallest buildings in all the land the busiest Harbor and docks in the entire world and the United Nations building brings us to the end of our experiences with land symbols and terms on our map