Have you ever heard of the saying "It's 20 kilometres as the crow flies?" This is an old saying that means it is 20 kilometres from here to there if you went in a straight line, much like a bird or airplane is able to accomplish when travelling.

Now that you know how to measure distances on a local map using a ruler, you can transfer your knowledge to a larger map. In this activity, you will measure the direct distance between places in Alberta.

Think about This:

Courtesy of Getty

The saying "as the crow flies" originated in England in the 1700s.

To begin, find the scale on the map. If you are using the online map, you will find the scale on the lower left-hand side of the map. Once you have found the scale, take your ruler and line it up to measure the scale. On the online map, notice that every 200 kilometres is about 8 centimetres. This means that when you are measuring on the map and want to figure out the actual distance, you have to use a scale of 8 cm:200 km. (If you are using a paper map, the scale will most probably be different.)


For example (using the online map), measure the distance between Calgary and Drumheller. You would measure between the centre of each dot that represents each town. You should get 4 cm. To figure out the actual distance between the two towns, you would use a formula like this:

The direct distance, or straight line measurement, between Calgary and Drumheller is 100 km. (Again, if you are using a paper map, your answer may be different.) If you were to measure the distance of the highways it would take to drive there, you would get a different measurement.

What are the distance between Grande Cache and Fox Creek? Using the online map, your formula would look like this:

The direct distance, or straight line measurement, between Grande Cache and Fox Creek is 160 km.

  Self-check!