Section 2

Discover

Have you ever played with Google Maps? If so, you’ve probably already looked at a satellite image of your home. How much detail were you able to see? In Try This 1 you will look up your home or a famous landmark using Google Maps to examine the effects of scale.

Try This 1

1. Open up http://maps.google.ca/ and locate your home or another landmark by typing the address in the search engine. What is the scale of the first map that appears? If you were to write the scale as a ratio, what would it look like?
   
   
2. Zoom in by pressing the + button once. Describe what happens to the scale. By how much does the scale increase or decrease? Why do you think this happens?
   
   
3. As you zoom in, do you see more or less area of the neighbourhood?
   
   
4. Predict what will happen if you press the + button one more time. Discuss your prediction in terms of scale and area displayed on the map. Check your prediction.
   
   
5. Predict what will happen if you press the − button four times. Discuss your prediction in terms of scale and area displayed on the map. Check your prediction.

Save your responses to your course folder.

Share

Share your responses to the questions in Try This 1 with a classmate or with a group of people. Work together to

• create a statement that describes how the zoom feature in Google Maps affects the scale of the map and the area in view
  
  
• test your statement using Google Maps

If required, save a copy of your discussion in your course folder.