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Lab 02: navigation: reading maps

Check out these maps:

https://geoportal.hawaii.gov/datasets/cchnl::elevation-1/explore?location=19.997731%2C-155.646395%2C12.87

Contour maps:

https://geoportal.hawaii.gov/datasets/HiStateGIS::hawaii-elevation-contours-100ft/explore?location=20.015732%2C-155.673924%2C13.00

Download 19320_BookletChart.pdf (application/pdf, 6.8 MB)

1024px-Hawaii_Island_topographic_map-fr.svg.png
1024px-Hawaii_Island_topographic_map-fr.svg.png

How to read contour maps:

  • lines are at one level
  • A shapes are rivers uphill
  • circles are peaks
  • many parallel lines is a flat slope
  • V shapes are usually peaks
  • no lines means a plain or flat surface
  • steeper slopes have many line parallel, bunched together
The peaks we use are as follows: (Pu'u is the Hawaiian word for peak)
Pu'u Ha
Pu'u La'e La'e
Pu'u Hoku ula

The mountains we will use are some of the five major volcanoes on our island:
Mauna Kea ("white mountain")
Mauna Loa ("long mountain")
Hualalai
Kohala
Kilauea

Questions:
  1. on a contour map, if parallel lines are close together, what feature is this?
  2. you see V shaped lines moving from a peak to lower altitude, what is this?
  3. same question, only backwards, inverted V
  4. what do peaks look like on a contour map?

Finding yourself on the map:
  1. hold your pencil on the peak you have sighted
  2. calculate the degrees the peak would see you: if less than 180°, then add 180°, if more than 180, subtract 180.
  3. from the peak set your compass on the peak and rotate until the degrees from north (vertical lines on the map) align with your number
  4. draw a line backwards from that point
  5. where at least three lines intersect, this is where you are

Finding a lost person:
You are injured in the rain forest, and have only a little battery left on your phone. Your GPS is not working since the rain forest blocks the signal, but you can see three peaks, and you can call 911, but only briefly.
Measure the compass heading to each peak, and tell the 911 folks where you are.
Help should come soon!

Below are photos of the information 911 received. Your job is to find your lost classmates:
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