A map is a way of showing where you are, and where other places are. It is a way of planning how you can get from one place to another.

For example, this map shows where you can find different kinds of junk food. How could you tell someone how to pick up an icecream, and then a pizza? You could do it in words, but it would be quite complicated. A map makes it easier by having a grid. The island is broken up into small squares, and each one has a horizontal reference (numbers 1 to 5) and a vertical reference (letters A to E). The icecream is at D1. The pizza is at E5. What an easy way to describe where places are! Real maps use numbers, and the horizontal reference is the latitude, and the vertical is the longitude. But road maps use letters and numbers like this.

Try doing the test to see how good you are at finding places on a map! Go to the test now.