Bosatlas en kaart

Bosatlas and maps
Ch1 Bosatlas and maps
Ch2 Geographic
coordinates and time
Geography
Trinitascollege Heerhugowaard
locatie Han Fortmann
TTO class 2
Bosatlas and maps
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Bosatlas and maps
Introduction; What do we do in the Geography lessons?
At the subject Geography we study the earth as a natural thing and we study the
construction of earth by man.
While studying earth and its decoration, you are often looking for answers to the
three “Wh” questions.
Who/ What is there on earth?
Where is it on earth?
Why is it there on earth?
To answer these three questions, earth is explored by man and we try to map the
earth through:
1. Our own perception
- To study the earth well, you shouldn’t only know what your own environment looks
like. Knowledge of foreign areas is also important. We need to know what these
areas look like
 is it rainy
 is it hot or cold
 is there much agriculture, etc.
Gathering data of your immediate surroundings is not so hard. We walk around every
day and by keeping a close watch, being a good observer, we can learn a lot.
Because we can also look around outside that small, personal area, we know what
our own city, region or parts of the country looks like. Furthermore, we can learn a lot
on holiday trips.
2. Photo and film
- Of course it’s impossible to get to know all of the areas on earth by your own
perception. Luckily, we can use photos, films and TV-recordings to get to know
distant areas. But photos can learn us a lot about our own environment too!
The photos in this workbook are put in to make it more attractive to read, but are
mainly used to learn from. Especially air photos show us things we otherwise never
could have discovered. They are used to make maps of all kinds of areas:
1. Bird’s eye view pictures make landscape elements recognizable.
1. Which well-known decorative elements of Heerhugowaard are displayed
on the picture above? Maybe the second picture on the next page can
help you find the answer…
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
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2. Right-angled pictures show the outline of the landscape elements.
From a little plane, series of photos are taken, where one photo overlaps the next, so
everything is caught in the picture.
These pictures are the fundament of the maps.
Below you see the result of all air photos neatly ordered next to each other. Now the
cartographer needs to get to work.
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Now it’s possible for us to study the world, the same way as described above, in
bird’s eye view and right-angled pictures.
Open Google Earth (Go to start -> programma’s -> aardrijkskunde-> Google Earth)
and do the following exercises, using the programme :
2. Take a right-angled picture of Europe and paste it below on the next page.
Instruction; Zoom in until Europe is covering the whole picture and then choose
“bewerken”  “beeld kopiëren” and paste it in this document.
We’re going to zoom in further and further in Google Earth
3. Use Google Earth to take a right-angled picture of the Netherlands.
4. Use Google Earth to take a right-angled picture of Heerhugowaard .
5. Take a right-angled picture of the area of your own house.
6. Take a bird’s eye view picture of this area by going to the upper
navigation globe with your cursor.
Click on one of the arrows and see what happens!
7. Take a street view picture of your house. Go to the upper right corner of
your screen and drag the yellow man to your house and release it.
In a bird’s eye view picture, you can identify the landscape very well. In a right-angled
picture it’s not so easy to identify the landscape. You basically only see the rooftops
of all the houses and buildings. The roads can be seen as lines in the landscape.
Right-angled pictures do have one big advantage: you can easily make maps
out of them!
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Open http://maps.google.nl and choose for every area of questions 2 till 4 for
“kaart” in the upper right corner.
Make a screen dump and cut out the part of the map you need. Paste the
maps you need into this workbook.
8. Print out the maps of exercises 2 till 4 and paste them on the map below
9. Compare the photos to the maps and you’ll see that the maps have some
significant advantages. Name the two most important ones.
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
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These advantages are also well seen in the picture below and the map that’s made
from it.
10. a. Name at least two elements that are hard to identify in the picture but
are pretty easy to distinguish on the map.
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
b. Also describe the way in which the cartographer made these elements
clear.
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
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How do we read maps? (review of the first year)
The atlas
To work easily with the atlas, you need to know the following search tools of the
Bosatlas and of course learn to use it in the right way. You have already learned this
in the first year, so we assume you can fill in the gaps!
1) Page guide: displayed on ________________________________of the atlas
 map with boxes around the countries where the page numbers are put in.
Useful, if you know where the country is.
2) Contents (53rd print: page ___________/ 54rd print: page___________ ): is
in the front of the atlas  al maps are named by continent with the
corresponding page. Useful, if you need to look up _____________________
maps.
3) Name index / register of topographic names
In the back of the atlas  All names of _______________________________
__________________________________________ are listed alphabetically.
Behind the name is the page and the card compartment where you can find
the name.
4) Legend: in the front of the atlas  The meaning of _____________________
and ____________________ for multiple maps is here.
5) Statistics: A collection of numbers from the Netherlands, Europe and the
world is found here.
6) Abbreviations: Here you’ll find the meaning of much used abbreviations.
7) Topic index: All topics are listed alphabetically with the matching map
numbers.
8) Explanation of topographical names: an alphabetical list which gives you
the explanation of (parts of) names from different languages.
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Do the following exercises
11.
How would you look for a place in the BA? What register do you use?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
12.
Look at the map above. A Chinese has a different image of the world
than a European. Explain the difference between their image of the world
and ours.
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
13.
An important register is the list explaining topographical names.
Find the meaning of:
a. Waard
______________________________________________
b. Broek
______________________________________________
c. Zijl
______________________________________________
d. Ward or Werd ______________________________________________
e. Rade
______________________________________________
f. Sierra
______________________________________________
14.
Names of places often have a meaning. Find the meaning of the
following places:
a. Wolgograd
_________________________________________
b. Münster
_________________________________________
c. Oudkarspel
_________________________________________
d. Broek op Langedijk _________________________________________
e. Reykjavik
_________________________________________
f. Kuala Lumpur
_________________________________________
g. Sierra Nevada
_________________________________________
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15.
Find the meaning of the following abbreviations:
a. ACP
_________________________________________
b. ASEAN
_________________________________________
c. Dem.
_________________________________________
d. Gr.
_________________________________________
e. ISL.
_________________________________________
f. Rep.
_________________________________________
16.
Look at the main contents of the BA and find out how the division is
made. Mention the main topics from the left side of the pages.
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
17.
In the back of the BA there’s an index. How is it divided?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
18.
Imagine you are making a report on volcanism. Which register are you
going to use? Explain why.
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
19.
You have to look up a map on the average temperature in July in the
Netherlands.
a. In which two ways can you look it up?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
b. You need data about the amount of cars in the Netherlands.
How can you do this easiest, through the table of contents or the index?
Explain your answer!
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
20.
In the BA there’s also a map with statistical data: de kaart Statistiek.
a. What country in Europe has the highest GDP per resident?
______________________________________________________________
b. What country in Europe has the highest infant mortality?
______________________________________________________________
c. What country has the largest number of computer per 1000 residents?
______________________________________________________________
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The legend
Because reality on a map is reduced, the depicted needs to be strongly simplified. A
city for example becomes a red circle or a red spot. An airport is indicated with a
small plane, a motorway
as a black line, a black
and white blocked line is
a railway etc. We can get
to know the meaning of
these map symbols by
looking at the explanation,
known as the legend.
Mostly a corner of border
of the map is used for it.
Scale
The photo and map are reduced reproductions of reality. To get to know how big the
real distances are, maps always have an indication of how much one centimetre on
the map is for real.
On or below the map the scale is mentioned as a ratio. Eg.: 1:25 000
In the first year you practiced a lot with scales. The number 1 represents 1 cm on the
map and the second number represents that distance in reality in centimetres, in the
example it is 25 000 cm, or 0,25 km.
The scale shows how far an area has been downsized on a map!
Doing math with maps
Introduction
In Geography you will work with all kinds of maps, normal maps on paper, but also
more and more with digital maps. In the use of almost every map, some calculations
are required. Maps are drawn on scale and therefore, the distance you measure on
the map needs to be converted to the real distance, by using the scale.
What does scale mean?
If an object is drawn ‘on scale’, it means this object is shown reduced. The form
however, always remains exactly the same. You can compare it to a picture on your
computer. You can enlarge or reduce it, by pulling one of the angles. Everything
stays in proportion if you do this. The scale is a (small) representation of the reality
you might say. Scale 1:10 000 means that reality is shown 10.000 times smaller. You
can also say: 1 centimetre on the map is 10.000 centimetres in reality, or 100 meters.
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What is a scale number?
The scale number indicates how many times reality is reduced. With a scale of 1:1
000.000 (you say: scale of 1 to a million) 1.000.000 is the scale number. Reality is
reduced 1 000 000 times on map with scale 1:1.000.000.
How do I use a scale bar?
Every map has a scale. You’ll always need to indicate how many times reality is
reduced on the map.
The easiest tool to measure distance on a map is the scale bar. It is usually placed
above or below the map. You measure a certain distance on the map with a ruler and
then you place the ruler along the scale bar to measure the distance.
A distance of 5 centimetres on the map, is a distance of 10 kilometres in reality.
How do I use the scale to convert a distance on the map to a distance in
reality?
The scale is a ratio that indicates how much 1 centimetre on the map is in reality. If
you know how much 1 centimetre on the map is in reality, you can convert any
measured distance to the distance in reality. You multiply the amount of measured
centimetres with the scale number.
Example
The scale of a topographic map is 1: 25 000. On this map you measure the distance
between two places, this distance is 5 centimetre.
You calculate the real distance as follows:
5 x 25.000 = 125.000 centimetres.
125.000 centimetres is
1.250 meters, or
1.25 kilometres
Conclusion: move the . 5 places to the left!
If on that same map the scale is 1: 25 000, you know that the real distance between
two places is 3,75 kilometres, you can calculate the distance on the map, in
centimetres:
3,75 kilometres = 375.000 centimetres
25.000 centimetres in reality is 1 centimetre on the map.
375.0 centimetres is then: 375.000 / 25.000 = 15 centimetres on the map.
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Do the following exercises:
21. Fill in the empty boxes!
Distance on the map
Scale
Real distance
Think about moving the . 5
places to the left!
5 cm
1: 100.000
20 cm
1: 25.000.000
5 cm
1: 25.000
1: 100.000
10 cm
70 km
100 km
22. A soccer field ( = 100 m of length) is pictured on a map exactly 1 cm long.
What is the scale of that map?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
23. Use the Bosatlas to fill in the empty boxes.
route
Distance on the
map in cm
Scale of the map
Real distance in
km
Obdam - Stavoren
Oost-Graftdijk – West-Graftdijk
e
e
See page 23 E (53 )/ 36 C1 (54 )
Amsterdam – Madrid
Amsterdam – New York
On a small-scale map the reality is highly reduced. All elements on the map are
small or simplified. The scale number is large. For example 1 : 20 000 000
On a large-scale map the elements are shown large. The scale number is small;
for example 1:25 000 or 1:50 000.
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Do the following exercises:
24. If you have to make a map or a city plan of your own neighbourhood ,
would you use a large-scale map or a small-scale map? Explain your choice!
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
25. Calculate the distance in km between Amsterdam and Heerhugowaard.
Choose the right kind of map and write down the scale of the map you have
used.
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
26. The distance on a map between two cities is 10 cm. The real distance is 100
km.
a. Calculate the scale of this map.
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
b. Is this a large-scale map or a small-scale map? Explain your answer.
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
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Cardinal directions / The compass rose
In the atlas the compass rose is only necessary if the north-side of the map is not
on top.
27. Name all basic cardinal directions in the compass rose below.
28. Complete the compass rose with all directions.
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Relief and altitude on the map.
Difference between relief and altitude. In
the picture on the left you see there is a
lot of difference in altitude in the
landscape. These differences in altitude
of terrain are called relief.
In the picture on the right you see a
landscape with little relief. If we know the
relief of the terrain, we don’t always know
how far above sea level that area is.
That’s where we need the concept of
altitude. That indicates how many
meters a certain area is above sea level.
Normaal Amsterdams Peil
Open the following link NAP (http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/water-enveiligheid/vraag-en-antwoord/wat-is-het-normaal-amsterdams-peil-nap.html) and
answer these questions:
29. What is Normaal Amsterdams Peil?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
30. What is Netherland’s highest and lowest point?
________________________________________________________________
31. What is “odd” about the highest point?
________________________________________________________________
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Read Guidebook G58 Relief
High mountain ranges most peaks are over 1500m
Low mountain ranges most peaks are between 500m and 1500m
Hills most peaks of the hills are between 200m and 500m
Lowland land is between 0m en 200m
In some areas on earth some parts of the surface are below sea level, we call this a
depression.
32. Finish the table below.
Use your atlas and/or the internet.
Open http://www.wikipedia.nl/ Search for the name of the mountains and determine
with this data to what kind of height category these mountains belong.
Use http://www.google.nl to search for the name of the mountains and put a picture
of this area in the table.
The first row is already filled in.
Name of the
mountain
Andes
Classification altitude /relief
picture
High Mountain range
Vosges
Carpathians
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Rocky
Mountains
Harz
Mountains
Atlas
Mountains
Himalaya
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Indicating height differences on a map
There are several ways to do this;
1. Using colours
Lowland is coloured green, hills yellow low mountain ranges light brown and high
mountain ranges are coloured dark brown and sometimes some with red tints.
See the map for an example.
Another way to indicate height and relief is by connecting all the points of the same
height in a landscape with contour lines.
2. Contour lines
With every line there is a number to indicate the height. It depends on the scale of
the map what the difference in metres is, between the individual lines.
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Colouring the altitude zones
In the atlas and on some relief maps on the wall, you can see that the cartographer
also uses shadow edges over the colours.
3. Shadow edges over the colours.
A cartographer often uses a combination of these three possibilities to accurately
read the relief.
Understanding contour lines.
Some students are really skilled at seeing the terrain, because they understand the
contour lines-map well. They see the terrain going up and down. Others are not as
successful in unravelling the “cobweb” on the map.
How do you use contour lines?
Contour lines are lines on a map, connecting points of equal height. Contour
lines on a map can never cross each other.
From a map with height points you can make one with contour lines. You connect the
points on the map of equal height. In the example below there are some points with
corresponding heights (in meters). You can draw contour lines between these points.
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12m
10m
If the contour lines are (very) close, the slope is (very) steep. The lines indicated
in red are examples of this.
If the contour lines are widely spread the slope is more gentle. The black arrows
indicate that.
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You also need to be able to make a
cross section of the relief using a
contour map. As shown in the image on
the right.
33. a. Explain the difference between relief and altitude.
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
b. In which three different ways are altitude differences on a map indicated?
______________________________________________________________
34. Zuid-Limburg is the highest part of the Netherlands and has a lot of relief.
Use your Bosatlas (BA) Eigen omgeving > lösslandschap.
a. What type of landscape is Zuid-Limburg if you look at the altitude.
________________________________________________________________
b. How do contour lines tell you if a slope is steep?
________________________________________________________________
35. There are three different types of maps. These are topographic maps,
thematic maps and general maps.
a. Give the definition of every type.
Topographic maps: ______________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Thematic maps: ___________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
General maps: ____________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
b.
Below you see 3 different maps. Write the correct names on the lines
beneath the maps.
1: _______________
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2: _______________
3:___________________
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Chapter 2. The earth’s grid and time / Location on earth
Distribution of the earth: Geographical coordinates.
Horizontally : Latitudes/ Parallels:
Everyone knows the equator. It is the imaginary line that divides the earth in a
northern part and a southern part; the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern
Hemisphere.
You can divide earth from the equator to the north pole in 90o (if you assume an
imaginary parallel). Every degree is represented by a circle. Then the North Pole is a
dot and the equator has the circle with the largest periphery. The equator is set at 0o,
the North Pole at 90oNL.
The Netherlands is approximately at 52o N (= northern latitude). So the Netherlands
is on the Northern Hemisphere, 52o measured from the equator. But from the
equator, a lot of places are on 52o N! How can you be more precise?
Dividing the earth vertically, so you have an intersection. (See the next part)
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Vertically :longitudes / meridians:
You can also divide the earth in “length circles”: meridians.
The meridians run from the North Pole to the South Pole. Actually they aren’t circles,
but half circles. It has been agreed on that the meridian of Greenwich is the
prime meridian.
From that point the longitudes are measured. To the west of the prime meridian is the
Western Hemisphere (180º to the west) and to the east is the Eastern Hemisphere
(180º to the east).
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Minutes and seconds
One degree is about 111 kilometres on the
surface of the earth. If you only used
“whole” (integer) numbers, you wouldn’t be
able to indicate your position very precisely.
That is why every degree is divided into 60
minutes and every minute is divided into 60
seconds.
The indication (3º 41’26’’N/ 178º3’ 53’’W)
means that a point is at 3 degrees 41
minutes and 26 seconds Northern Latitude
and at 178 degrees, 3 minutes and 53
seconds Western Longitude.
In this case, minutes and seconds have nothing to do with time, but with your location
on the earth.
The earth’s grid and location
If you want to explain to your mother where you are seated during geography
classes, how would you do that?
When you explain this to your mother, you use fixed reference points. You could say:
“I’m seated at the window” or: “Next to the door”. The window and the door are fixed
reference points because they don’t change.
This works in the same way if you look at the earth. The earth is a globe and on a
globe it’s hard to exactly pinpoint your location, but on the earth we’ve also agreed on
fixed reference points. You will learn which these are, if you read the next part.
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1. Study the story of the earth’s grid and location and write down the
definitions of:
a. the earth’s grid: _________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
b. equator: _______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
c. parallel: _______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
d. meridian: ______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
e. latitude: _______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
f. longitude: ______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
2. Indicate the geographical location of point A and point B
A__________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
B__________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
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3. a. How many parallels are there? And how many meridians?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
b. What line divides the earth in a Northern and Southern Hemisphere?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
c. What line divides the earth in a Western and Eastern Hemisphere?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
4. Which place is at a higher latitude: Alkmaar or Stavanger?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
5. Locate the geographical location (in latitude and longitude) of:
a. Heerhugowaard: _______________________________________________
b. Londen: ______________________________________________________
c. Bagdad: ______________________________________________________
d. Cairo: ________________________________________________________
e. Novosibirsk: ___________________________________________________
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2 The phenomenon of time
Imagine this: Your cousin has recently moved to America. Now it’s his birthday and
you want to give him a call. Before you go to school in the morning you call him
(otherwise you might forget). Your cousin answers
with a sleepy voice. You think: “Oh dear, he isn’t ill
on his own birthday, is he?” Worried you ask him if
he is alright. He tells you he is perfectly fine, but you
called him in the middle of the night! How can you
prevent this next time?
If you look at the news, sometimes journalists, who
are on the other side of the world, say that the
volcano erupted at 12 ‘o clock local time. Time isn’t
the same all over the world. You will find out how
this works, if you read the next part and made the
questions. From then on, you can take differences
in time into account.
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The earth rotates around his axis in 24 hours. This
is called earth rotation. Because of this rotation
there is an alternation of day and night. On average
there’s 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night.
Because the sun turns counter-clockwise the
eastern part of country X gets sunshine earlier than
the western part (figure 10). Therefore we say that
sun rises in the east.
Figure 11 and 12.
On average it is light at 6 in the morning. The sun is
then set low on the horizon.
In the middle of the day, 12pm (noon) the sun is
highest.
At around 6pm it is dusky and the sun sets.
We’ve now used solar time. That’s the time
determined by the height of the sun. You´ll
understand that this is hard to use in practice. Every
place on earth has its own time, because it is light
earlier in the east, and therefore earlier noon, than in
the west.
On the basis of line A (figure 11, top view of the
earth), where it is 6am, it gets later to the east and
earlier to the west.
Because earth rotates 360° in 24 hours, this
means that it takes four minutes to shift 1 degree.
Do the following exercises:
6. Show that the above is correct in a calculation.
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
7. To the east, it is 4 minutes earlier/later* with every degree, to the west it is 4
minutes earlier/later* (* = cross out the wrong answer.)
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Even in a small country like the Netherlands, there is a difference in time of 12
minutes between the eastern and western border. To prevent you have to keep
setting your watch, the earth is divided in time zones.
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8. Why wasn’t it a problem that there is a small difference in time between the
east and the west of the Netherlands, in former times?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
To make clear once more how unpractical solar time really is, the following event is
described:
During his summer holidays Andre met the woman of his dreams on a cozy family
camp site at the Loosdrecht Lakes. Wilma fancies Andre as well, but she found out
he isn’t too strict about appointments. Wilma is very punctual, but also very busy and
away a lot. After the holidays Wilma goes to her small harm in Losser (province of
Overijssel at 7° E) and Andre returns home in Hansweert (province of Zeeland at 4°
E). They agree that Andre will call her at exactly 14:00. That day Wilma, pretty
nervous, sits next to the phone, ready for the call. Nothing happens; the phone
remains silent. After ten minutes Wilma leaves her house, very disappointed in Andre
and men in general, to go to the ice saloon and forgot about her grief. The
unsuspecting Andre has set his watch to the sundial in the garden and calls at
exactly 14:00. But, he gets no response. Of course he is mad as well and wonders
what could have gone wrong.
9. How did this misunderstanding come to happen?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
10. Fill in the missing data: Hansweert is to the east/west* of Losser. It is
_______degrees x ________minutes/degree = __________ minutes
earlier/later* (* = cross out the wrong answer.)
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Time zones
All over the world there are time zones. There are twenty-four of them in total.
Because of these time zones it can happen that you leave by plane at 3 in the
afternoon from the Netherlands and arrive an hour later at 3 in the afternoon as well
in England! This is because England is in a different time zone. The difference per
time zone is 1 hour. In England, across the town of Greenwich, an imaginary line is
drawn we call the Prime Meridian. This is in Greenwich because in 1884 it was
agreed in a meeting there that the Prime Meridian crosses Greenwich. Time over
there is 0 hours and is called GMT (Greenwich Mean Time).
Why are there time zones in the world?
This has to do with sunrise and sunset. The sun rises an hour earlier in the
Netherlands than in England and 5 hours later in New York than in England. Imagine
time would be the same as in England all over the world, and sunrise in England is at
8am, than it wouldn’t be light in New York until 1pm and in Japan at midnight already!
That wouldn’t work at all. That’s why it is agreed there should be different time zones.
11. On what map in the atlas can you see how many time zones there are?
________________________________________________________________
12. Explain again why a time zone is about 15° wide.
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
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13. In which time zone are the Netherlands?
________________________________________________________________
14. In which time zone should the Netherlands be according to the ‘rule’.
________________________________________________________________
15. Why do you think the Netherlands have decided to choose for a different
time zone?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
16. If it is 8:20am in Alkmaar, what time is it in Los Angeles, according to the
time zones? And in Jakarta?
Los Angeles:_____________________________________________________
Jakarta:_________________________________________________________
17. Your grandmother emigrated to Grand Rapids in the United States (search
for it in the Bosatlas). You want to congratulate her on her birthday at
breakfast.
What time is it in Castricum if you want to call her at 8am local time (so in
Grand Rapids)?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
18. A plane leaves at 1pm from Schiphol to New York. Travelling time is eight
hours. What time is it on the New York clocks when the plane arrives?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
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Visit Samoa the 29th of December and travel to future
A beach in Samoa. Foto AFP
Samoa is the very last
place to celebrate new
year’s eve. But that is
about to change. At the
29th of December the
group of islands move a
day ahead, so it is at one
time line with Asia,
Australia and NewZealand.
Why do the islands want to move a day ahead?
We ask our correspondent in Indonesia Elske Schouten:
“This way Samoa can do business with countries like Asia, Australia and New-Zealand more
practically”, says prime minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi. “When it’s Friday here, it’s Saturday
in New-Zealand. If we are in church on Sunday, Brisbane and Sydney are already doing
business”, thus said the prime minister.
Are they on one time line with Asia for the first time ?
Actually Samoa goes back to the situation of 119 years ago, when the country was on the same
line as Asia was. At the time it was an economical decision to live a day earlier as well.
Tradesmen back then argued with success to be on the same day as California, which was good
for European and American ships boarding Samoa. “But our trading partners have drastically
changed over time and we do more business with New-Zealand, Australia, China and countries
around the Pacific, like Singapore” said prime minister Tuilaepa.
Does Samoa accept that her tourist attraction – the last place on earth to see sunset –
disappears?
Prime minister Tuilaepa already thought of a way to attract tourist.” American Samoa, a one
hour’s flight to the east, remains a day behind. During a short trip you can then celebrate your
birthday, wedding day or new year’s eve, two days in a row”.
19. Explain why Samoa was the last place to celebrate new year’s eve.
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
20. Explain the title of the article.
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
21. What was Samoa’s reason to move into a different time zone?
________________________________________________________________
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In our society we deal with differences in time more and more. The live of our
ancestors was in the immediate surroundings of the place they lived in. Modern man
travels more and larger distances. Telecommunications make the world smaller. You
can follow directly what happens right now in China, through TV and internet. Still
there are differences in time.
During Geography classes it was explained how these differences originated and
what the consequences are. If you do the following exercises, we hope the mystery
of time is solved.
With every exercise please remember:
- Between every meridian, there is a (solar)time difference of four minutes
- It gets later to the east and earlier to the west
- Developments in trade and telecommunication make it necessary to have
time zones.
Time zones
- We use time zones = an average time. A time zone differs 1 hour from the next. Every time zone
covers an area of 15° on the earth’s grid (= 1 hour).
Time zones are adjusted to borders of countries as much as possible.
- Dateline = 180° L  A new date (day) begins at 179° E and ends at 179° W. You go from E  W:
day earlier. You go from W  E: day later.
- GMT = Greenwich Mean Time  Centre of time  more to the east: further away in time (later on
the day)  more to the west: shorter in time (earlier on the day).
- Summertime
Traditionally introduced in times of crisis, for example war (WWI and WWII) and oil crisis. In the
summer an hour is ‘added’. That way it remains light longer at night: saving energy!
- Adjusting to summertime
Last Sunday of March: At 2am clock set to 3am.
Last Sunday of October: At 3am clock set to 2am.
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22. How many minutes solar time difference are there between the prime
meridian and 10° E. Show your calculation!
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
23. Calculate the solar time difference between:
10° E and 30° E ___________________________________________________
10° E and 30° W __________________________________________________
24. How many minutes solar time difference are there between Westkapelle
and Glanerbrug? Show your calculation!
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
25. Why can’t we use solar time even in a small country like the Netherlands?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
26. a. We use time zones. How many are there?
________________________________________________________________
b. Explain why the difference between every time zone is about 15 degrees.
________________________________________________________________
27. The Netherlands should be in the GMT time zone if you judge it by its
longitude. Explain this and give an explanation why the Netherlands have
associated with Mid-European time.
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
28. Look at the time zone-map in the atlas. Explain why there are curious
deviations in the time zones. They don’t always follow the meridians. Look
at Iceland for example.
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
29. In Boston it is 12 ‘o clock. What time is it in Seattle according to the time
zones? Show your calculation!
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
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30. In 2008 the Olympics were in China. Through differences in time problems
occurred. A football match started at 4pm in Beijing (120° E).
a. What time was it then in Ursem (4° E) ______________________________
b. and in Boston __________________________________________________
c. and in San Francisco? Which problem arises for the people of this city?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
31. A plane leaves Schiphol at 7am (4° E) and lands after a 15 hour flight in
Hong Kong. What time is it on the clocks there?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
32. Explain what is meant by summertime and what advantage is would have.
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
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