One thing that I find easy about map skills is the continents & oceans. I find it the most easy because I find it easy to locate and name all the continents and oceans on a map. I also find it easy to locate different things that the map is representing. For example, if there is a map about the different climate zones with in Russia, I would find that easier to read then trying to find a place’s coordinates on a map.
One thing that I struggle with, with basic map skills is latitude and longitude. Sometimes I find it more difficult because of trying to find the latitude and longitude numbers on a map. Most of the time, the numbers are kind of small, and to me, hard to find. Another thing with latitude and longitude that I struggle with is trying to figure out the numbers between the lines of latitude and longitude. So one line might say 150°W and the next line might say 180°W. For me it is sometimes hard to figure out the numbers in between. I would like to get better at that.
Basic skills are necessary because without them, you can’t read a map or a globe very well. They help you better understand geography because they teach you about a map and how to read one. That falls back into that “geography” category. They also help you understand geography because, for example, if you are looking at a map about the population, basic map skills help you to read that. Population is another part of geography. So that is how map skills can help you better understand geography.
