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Place Names and Landmarks Lesson 4
Picking Coordinates from Paper Maps
PNL Lesson 5
PICKING COORDINATES FROM PAPER MAPS
TEACHER INFORMATION
Lesson Summary: Students identify place names or landmarks on a
topographic map and use Google Earth or Swath Viewer
to determine the latitude and longitude of these sites.
These coordinate locations can then be used in digital
map-making or way-finding with a GPS.
Objectives:
Students will be able to pick coordinate points off a
topographic map. (It is assumed that students have done
the preceding PNL lessons and GIS Lesson 12, “Adding
Coordinate Locations into a GIS.”)
Estimated Time:
1 hour
Correlation to Alaska Standards:
Cultural D-4
Gather oral and written history information from the local
community and provide an appropriate interpretation of its
cultural meaning and significance.
Cultural E-2
Understand the ecology and geography of the bioregion they
inhabit.
Geography A
Make and use maps, globes, and graphs to gather, analyze, and
report spatial (geographic) information.
Geography B
Utilize, analyze, and explain information about human and
physical features of places and regions.
BACKGROUND FOR THE TEACHER
There are two primary reasons for learning to pick coordinate locations from a
topographic map. One reason is that you might want to convert a paper place
names map to a digital map. As was mentioned in PNL Lesson 4 - What's in a
Name?, there has been and continues to be tremendous interest in the
documentation of historic place names and their stories. Individual community
members, village and regional corporations, governmental agencies, and
academic researchers have all played a role in such documentation. This
research has resulted in a range of resources stored or documented in a range of
places (such as under grandpa's bed, in library archives, and everywhere in
between.) Early documentation was often done on topographic maps
accompanied by copious note taking, (and sometimes audio recordings), and is a
rich source of historical information that preceded digital technology. With effort,
many of these resources could be accessible to classrooms for conversion to
digital maps.
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Place Names and Landmarks Lesson 4
Picking Coordinates from Paper Maps
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A second reason for picking coordinates off a map is that you might want to
select and plan a travel route beginning with a topographic map and then
programming those points into your GPS.
In both of these cases, it is necessary to estimate the latitude and longitude of a
waypoint with as much accuracy as possible (i.e. more accuracy than you would
get by estimating coordinates using a paper topographic map). Use of Internet
programs such as Google Earth and Swath Viewer allow students to pick points
with four to six decimal degrees of accuracy which is enough to get within a
reasonable range for these purposes. While each of these Internet programs are
adequate for determining coordinates, the procedures for obtaining coordinates
and the imagery used differ. Google Earth uses satellite imagery that is likely
more recent than the topographic map with which your students will be working.
The lack of topographic map clues on the satellite image may make it harder to
pinpoint historic places, but the procedure for getting coordinates is quite
straight-forward. Swath Viewer uses topographic maps that correspond more
directly to the paper place names maps, but the process for gathering
coordinates using Swath Viewer is a bit complicated. Before doing this lesson
with students, give each of these approaches a try yourself and decide which
Internet program you want your students to work with.
MATERIALS
For each student group using local community place names maps
 Topographic map of area with place names marked
 Computers with internet access to Google Earth and Swath Viewer
 Copy of handout Student Exercise
INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURES
Gear-Up
 Pass out copies of your local place names map to each group and ask
students to spend some time reading and discussing the map and getting
oriented. Ask students what they notice about the map and how it is
similar to and different from the Trip to Puvlatuuq map they worked with
in PNL Lesson 4. Discuss the fact that while these place names are
recorded on the paper map, creation of a digital map would allow
students to store and link to other important information about these
places.
 Now ask them to think about what they would need in order to create a
GIS map with these place names on it. (Note that coordinates are
necessary for accuracy here.)
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

Place Names and Landmarks Lesson 4
Picking Coordinates from Paper Maps
Explain that the process for finding coordinates takes two steps:
o First, each group will look over the place names map and mark 3-4
places of interest to them.
o Second, after all student groups have completed the first step, they
will use their marked topographic map to determine the site
coordinates using Google Earth and/or Swath Viewer on the computer.
Hand out worksheets and place name maps to student groups.
Explore
Student groups mark places on the local place names map topographic map
and follow worksheet instructions to determine and record coordinates for
each point.
Generalize
Discuss the challenges of matching points from the paper map to the satellite
image. Discuss issues of coordinate accuracy and how close is close enough.
Apply/Assess
 Students use the coordinates obtained to create a csv file (GIS Lesson 12)
and to then create a digital map in GIS plotting these place names.
 Students could also use these coordinates to create waypoints for travel
(GPS Lesson 1).
TEACHER RESOURCES
Alaska Native Knowledge Network, “Oral Tradition and Cultural Atlases.”
Available online at http://www.ankn.uaf.edu/NPE/oral.html.
“Project Jukebox: Oral History Program.” University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Available online at http://uaf-db.uaf.edu/jukebox/PJWeb/pjhome.htm (This site
contains over 35 projects from throughout Alaska which integrate oral history
recordings with associated photographs, maps and text.)
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Place Names and Landmarks Lesson 5
Picking Coordinates from Paper Maps
Name: __________________________
PNL Lesson 5
PICKING COORDINATES FROM PAPER MAPS
STUDENT EXERCISE
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to determine the coordinates of points
on a paper map, which you can then use to create points in a GIS project or to
enter as waypoints into a GPS. You do this in two steps:


Selecting and marking places on a local place names map.
Determining the coordinates of those points on a computer
Explore 1: Marking Points on a Topographic Map
1. Spend some time looking at your place names map, and think about how it is
similar to or different from other maps you have seen. Record some of your
observations here:
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
2. Choose 3-4 sites that you would like to plot on a GIS map or navigate to
using a GPS. Record the place names of these sites in the table below.
WAIT to fill in the latitude and longitude until the computer lab.
Site #
Site Name
Latitude
Longitude
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Place Names and Landmarks Lesson 5
Picking Coordinates from Paper Maps
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Explore 2: Finding the Coordinates Using Google Earth
1.
Bring the marked place names map to the computer lab.
2.
Open Google Earth
3.
Click on Google Earth in the menu bar to open the drop down menu and
then select Preferences.
4.
In the preferences window, select decimal degrees and click “OK.”
5.
From the table of contents on the left, select Fly To and type in the name of
your community
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Place Names and Landmarks Lesson 5
Picking Coordinates from Paper Maps
6. Use the pan and zoom tools on the right side of the screen to locate the
first of the place names you’ve chosen. As you pan, find the latitude and
longitude numbers on the center bottom of the image. Notice how these
coordinates change as you move your mouse.
7. Hover the mouse directly over the location of your first site and then record
the latitude and longitude for this site in your table on page one of this
worksheet.
8.
Repeat steps 6 and 7 for each place name on your sheet.
9.
Now you are ready to create waypoints or a CSV file!
Explore 3: Finding the Coordinates Using Swath Viewer
Set Up Swath Viewer
(Note: If using a Mac, it is best to use your Safari browser)
1. Go to Geographic Information Network of Alaska at:
http://www.gina.alaska.edu/
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Place Names and Landmarks Lesson 5
Picking Coordinates from Paper Maps
2.
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On right side of page select Swath Viewer icon.
3. A blue screen will appear. Follow directions to download Java if necessary.
4. Click icon at top of blue page to
launch Swath Viewer.
5. A Java screen will appear along with another pop-up to confirm Java launch.
Click “RUN.” A virtual globe will appear.
Navigate to Location
1. You can navigate to your location either by zooming to a major city or by
entering the coordinates of a smaller or remote community.
a) If you want to automatically
zoom to a major city in
Alaska, use the Target
(cross-hair) button.
From the drop down menu, select the location nearest your interest area
to get “flown” there.
You can drag the scene
around and navigate to
your community using
the Pan tool (crossed
arrows).
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Place Names and Landmarks Lesson 5
Picking Coordinates from Paper Maps
b) To navigate using coordinates, enter the approximate coordinates of
your location (taken from a paper map or Google Earth) into the box on
the left of your screen. Slide the pixel zoom control scale to about 50m
and click “Go”. If nothing happens or the correct image doesn’t appear,
check to see that you entered coordinates correctly and that that the pixel
zoom control scale is set at about 50 m.
2.
Use the magnify tool to zoom to your location. You can use the magnify
tool to drag and draw a box to
zoom to
Notice the blue box in the upper left corner. It displays the latitude and
longitude of your cursor position. They will likely be in degrees, minutes,
seconds.
(e.g. -152o08’34”W, 63o54’24”)
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Place Names and Landmarks Lesson 5
Picking Coordinates from Paper Maps
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3. Since you need your points in decimal degrees, you will first need to
change the display in Swath Viewer to this format. To change the latitude
and longitude to decimal degrees, go to the Tool Box Button (wrench and
screwdriver). From the drop down menu select “Set Lon/Lat Format”.
Then, from the pop-up
select the top
format, displaying
coordinates in decimal
degrees.
Hit “OK.”
The latitude and longitude in the blue box should now read in decimal
degrees. (e.g. -152.1428 o ,63.9066 o)
Turn on Topographic Map
Now you are ready to access the topographic map for your community. It is
georeferenced and you can use your cursor to hover over a point of interest and
obtain latitude and longitude coordinates.
1. In the left hand menu, find
Images folder and open
(expand). It may already be
expanded. Then click on
“Misc.”
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Place Names and Landmarks Lesson 5
Picking Coordinates from Paper Maps
A second menu will open in the box below and will
display the layers of image and other data available
for your selected area
2. Using the slider on the right side of this
menu scroll down until you find a series
of files starting with USGS.
You will likely want to use the 1:63,360
scale map if it is available. Otherwise
use the 1:250,000 scale.
Be sure to check the box!
(There are other images and types of
satellite data in here. Feel free to
browse around. There is usually a
popup that will tell you more about
what the data is.)
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Place Names and Landmarks Lesson 5
Picking Coordinates from Paper Maps
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3. Pan and zoom in to find your feature or point of interest on the
topographic map.
4. Place the center of the cursor over the feature.
5. Look at the blue box in the upper left hand corner to see the Latitude and
Longitude.
6. Record the decimal degree coordinates of your point in the table on page
one of the worksheet.
7. Repeat steps 3-6 for the other points you have selected.
Now you are ready to use these coordinates to create waypoints in your GPS or
to create a CSV file for creating a GIS map!
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