Geography Lab

Lab One: Measurements, Metric Conversions, and Map Comprehension

Answer Form

Use this form to record your answers.

________________________________________

Part 1: Measurement

Exercise 1.1:

1. What is the length of Lines 1, 2, and 3 to the nearest 1/16 of an inch? Express your answer as both a fraction and a decimal.

Line 1 Fraction: ________________ inches Decimal: ________________ inches

Line 2 Fraction: ________________ inches Decimal: ________________ inches

Line 3 Fraction: ________________ inches Decimal: ________________ inches

2. What is the length of Lines 4, 5, and 6 to the nearest 1/10 of a centimeter? Express your answer as a fraction, decimal and the equivalent millimeters.

Line 4 Fraction: ________ centimeters Decimal: ________ centimeters _________ millimeters

Line 5 Fraction: ________ centimeters Decimal: ________ centimeters _________ millimeters

Line 6 Fraction: ________ centimeters Decimal: ________ centimeters _________ millimeters

 

3. Measure the width and height of a credit card, gift card or ID card. What is the width in inches? Height?

 

4. Measure the height of a standard 12 ounce can of soda or similar beverage?
5. What is the diameter of the lid?

 

5. Revisit Line 6 above, approximately how many quarters is the length of that line?
6. What does this tell you about the approximate length in inches?

Exercise 1.2:

Open the Lab 1 Digital Map: and answer the following questions. You may also access this map from Canvas. Go to the Santiago Canyon College Bookmark. Using the Measure Distance Tool, answer these questions:

1. The Red Pushpin is the location of the lab classroom. Imagine that you were to exit the building (Green pushpin) and walk to your car (Blue pushpin). You can only walk along the sidewalk until you get to the parking lot. How far is it in feet from the building’s exit to your car?

 

2. What is the difference in miles between Newport Boulevard and Jamboree Rd, if you were to drive along Chapman versus Santiago Canyon Rd?

 

How accurate are your measurements? Let’s find out. Go to the Valencia High School Bookmark and measure the length of the football field. Note: Football fields are 100 yards between the goal lines. I marked the goal lines in yellow on this image:

3. How close were you to the actual length?

Change the Basemap to Imagery and Return to the Santiago Canyon College Bookmark,

4. Using the measure area tool, measure the area of the field I labeled. How many sq. miles is it?

Challenge Question:

5. What percentage of our campus is part of the built environment? The built environment includes parking lots, buildings, sidewalks, and concrete areas. Basically, everything that is not grass or vegetation. How would you go about answering this question? What is the answer?

Part 2: Converting Units of Measurement

Exercise 1.3:

Show your work, but check your answers with an online conversion tool.

English System

1 foot = 12 inches (in)

1 mile (mi) = 5280 feet = 63360 inches

1 gallon (gal) = 4 quarts

Système International

1 meter(m)= 100 centimeters (cm) = 1000 millimeters

1 kilometer (km)= 1000 meters

1 kilometer = 100,000 cm =1,000,000 mm

 

1. 28 in * ft = ___________ ft

in

2. 6 km * ___________m = _____________ meters

km

3. 16 quarts = ___________ gallons

 

4. 0.25 meters = ___________ millimeters

 

5. 500000 centimeters = _________ kilometers

Practice converting between English System and Système International, using the following conversion factors. Show your work.

Conversion Factors:

1 kilometers (km) = .621 miles(mi)

1 kilograms (kg) = 2.205 pounds (lbs)

1 liter = 1.057 quarts

 

If given Celsius= (1.8 * °C)+32 ° = ° F

If given Fahrenheit = (° F – 32°) = °C

1.8

6. 100 miles * _________km = ____________ km

miles

7. 0.5 lbs * ________kg = _____________ kg

lbs

8. 4 quarts = _____________ liters
9. 13 ° C = _____________ ° F

 

10. 20 ° C = _____________ ° F

 

11. 77 ° F = _____________ °C

 

12. 50 ° F = _____________ °C

Part 3: Rounding

Exercise 1.4:

Round the following numbers to the nearest tenth.

1. 1.3556 = ______________
2. 21.4333 = _____________

 

Round the following numbers to the nearest hundredth (two decimal places).

3. 3.546 = ______________
4. 24.9312 = _____________

 

Round the following numbers to the nearest whole number.

5. 24.589 = ______________
6. 12.158 = _____________

 

Part 4: Identify types of distortion on map projections

Exercise 1.5:

1. Map A is most likely which type of projection? Explain your reasoning.

 

2. Map B is most likely which type of projection? Explain your reasoning.
3. Map C is most likely which type of projection? Explain your reasoning.

 

4. Out of the three types of projections (Conformal, Equivalent (or equal area) or

Compromise), which projection would be the best for measuring the extent of a Tropical Rainforest? Explain your reasoning.

 

5. Out of the three types of projections (Conformal, Equivalent (or equal area) or Compromise), which projection would be the best for a general reference world map? Explain your reasoning.

Exercise 1.6:

Explore how much conformal maps can distort size by visiting TheTrueSize.com website and answering the following questions.

1. Which is bigger? Russia or the continent of Africa?
2. Which is bigger? Poland or Kenya?
3. Which is bigger? Alaska or Brazil?