Lecture 2

By g.a.b. yiran

Measurement on maps contd

Determination of Location or
Position

We can determine the position of a town accurately or

by approximation.
Accurate location is done by mathematical calculations
to determine exactly where the point is. E.g. University
of Ghana is located on Lat. 5 30N, long. 0 10W
The approximate location is done using relative terms or
values that indicate approximately where a point can be
found
If for instance, you are driving around town and you
want where a filling station is or you are a tourist and
want the nearest tourist centre to your hotel, you may
not need the exact location of these facilities. In this
case, you can say the filling station is about 200m west
of Cedi house, Nkrumah mausoleum is in Accra. You
could also refine the location using a reference system

Determination of Location or
Position
Relative
Location of a city or destination on the planet is its

relationship to nearby landmarks. That is, you define its location

in relation to another element or system, which could be a
landmark, direction, or time. As an example, Kumasi is 4hrs drive
north of Accra. Here we have used both time and direction.

Absolute Location is the definitive location of a place using a

recognized coordinate system in terms of latitude and longitude,
or grid reference. For example, Legon is located 516' North,
049' West.
Grid reference system refers to a system of vertical and
horizontal lines that are drawn across the face of the map which
divide the map into squares for easy reference. These lines are
numbered or lettered from a chosen origin and the numbers are
written against the lines at the edges of the map.

Determination of Location or
Position

Four figure reference

This is a quick and easy way of identifying the square
within which a place can be found.
For example, if the four figure grid for City campus is
3943, then the 39 is the easting of the square containing
City campus and 43 is the northing as shown below.
Here unless the point is located at the intersection of
both the eastings and northings, the exact position is
often not defined but rather it defines a frame or square
within which the point could be located and therefore
does not give precise position.

 Note that the first square at

the bottom left corner is for
grid lines 37 and 40 and the
last square at the top right
City campus corner is 40 and 43 (i.e. the
figures define the bottom left
Accra Poly
corner of the square)
If you have so many features
in a square, all those
features will be given the
same value. For example,
City campus and Accra Poly
in the Fig. will have the same
3943 as their positions. So it
is difficult to differentiate
41
40
39
them. The 6 figure came to
solve this problem

Four figure
44
43
42
41
40
37

38

Determination of Location or
Position

Six figure reference

4
For example, if you are to locate City
City Campus
Campus in Fig. above with grid
Accra Poly
44
reference of 396434 you first identify 43
the square in which City Campus is
42
located. In this case, it is within the
square 3943.
41
You then divide this square into
tenths both vertical and horizontal to
form smaller squares as in Fig. below 4039
40 41
38
37
Locate
that contains
the
Let us the
takesquare
the square
in which
City Campus is out and
point
use the
sub-grid
closer
divideand
it into
tenths.
Note:
it is to
the same box but it has
the
point.
been
expanded to let you see the divisions Note: it is the

Determination of Location or
Position

Mathematical location
This is the determination of the position of a point on a map based on
a coordinate system.
We have two types of coordinate system: the geographic coordinate
system and the rectangular coordinate system. These will be discussed
in detail later but we use them at this stage to locate our points.
To determine the mathematical position or the exact or accurate
position of a place, use the steps that follow to measure or determine
coordinates
To measure or determine the coordinates, first determine the point
which you will use to represent the feature. If it is a point feature,
then you have no problem, but if it is an areal feature, you will have to
determine an appropriate point. This could be the town centre,
junction, chiefs palace, etc.
Next, you locate the grids line within which the feature falls.
Draw lines connecting these grids if they are not on the map. However,
be careful with drawing these lines and clean them afterwards.

Determination of Location or
Position
Draw
a vertical and horizontal lines through the centre of the point to

cut the grid lines that you just drew.

Measure the distance between the latitude and the longitudes marks in
the map with a rule.
Measure the distance from the smaller grid value to the point where the
line through the town cuts the gridlines. So you measure from these
points to the horizontal and vertical lines through the town respectively.
Note that the lines passing through the point are the latitude and
longitude of the point.
Find the difference between the latitude grids and the longitude grids
Use proportions to calculate the latitude difference and the longitude
difference.
Use the formula: Latitude or longitude difference =
(Distance measured from lower grid to horizontal line)/(Distance
measured between grid lines) x Difference between gird values
Add these to the respective smaller grid values to obtain the coordinate
of the town.

Determination of Location or
Position
Example: determine
the location of Dormaa
Ahenkro on the map
Distance between
latitudes = 4.4cm
Distance between
longitudes = 5.8cm
Difference between
grid latitudes = 730720 = 015
Difference between
grid longitudes=
300- 040 = 020

Determination of Location or
Position
Distance between the lower latitude and latitude passing

through the point = 0.4cm

Distance between the lower longitude and longitude passing
through the point = 3.6cm
Difference between lower latitude and latitude passing through
point = 0.4/4.4x015 = 0.0901 x 0.25 =0 15 = 0 1.35 =
00121
Latitude of Dorma Ahenkro = 71500 + 00121 = 71621N
Difference between lower long. and long. passing through point
= 3.6/5.8x020 = 0.6207 x 0 20 = 012.414 = 01225
Longitude of Dorma Ahenkro = 04000 + 01225 =
05225W
The coordinates of Dorma Ahenkro is latitude 71621N and
longitude 05225W

Plotting a Point on the Map

Plotting a point is the reverse operation of measuring
coordinates on a map
However some of the steps outlined above are reversed
while some remain the same. So the steps that are
reversed are outlined below
The same formula as above is used
We know the latitude and longitude of the points but we
have to determine the distances between them and grids
so we can measure and plot.
First the determine the grids within which the will lie
Measure the distance between the grids
Determine the latitude difference from the latitude of the
point and the lower grid latitude
Do same for the longitude difference

Plotting a Point on the Map

The intersection of the lines representing the lat. and long should be the
location of the point
Example: locate a point with lat. 7 22 10N, and long. 2 39 41W
This point falls between latitudes 7 30 0N and 7 15 0N and longitudes
2 20 0W and 2 40 0W.
lat. difference of grids = 7 30 0 - 7 15 0 = 0 15 0 = 0.25
long. difference of grids = 2 40 0 - 2 20 0 = 0 20 0 = 0.33333
lat. difference of lower grid and point = 7 22 10 - 7 15 0 = 0 7 10 =
0.1194
long. difference of grids = 2 39 41 - 2 20 0 = 0 19 41 = 0.3281
Distance between lat. grids = 4.4cm
Distance between long. grids = 5.8cm
Distance between lower lat. and lat. of point = (0.1194/.25)x4.4cm = 2.1cm

Plotting a Point on the Map

Distance between lower
long. and long. of point =
(0.3281/.3333)x5.8cm =
5.7cm
Measure these distance
on both grids and join
them
Their intersection
represents the location
of the point.

5.7cm

2.1cm

2.1cm

5.7cm

Measuring height
heights of the ground are represented on the map using
contours or spot heights.
Therefore, if a point falls exactly on the contour or a spot
height, the contour or spot height value is taken as the
height of the point.
If on the other hand, it does not fall on the contour, you
will have to measure the height by interpolation.
Suppose we want to find the height of point (dot)
labelled C in the diagram, first measure the shortest
possible distance between the contours within which the
point falls.

Measuring height
Suppose we want to
find the height of point
(dot) labelled C in the
diagram, first measure
the shortest possible
distance between the
contours within which
the point falls.
Here it falls between
200m and 300m
contours.

Measuring height
The distance from the 200m contour to the point =
0.48cm
Distance between contours = 1.27cm
The difference between the 200 and 300m (i.e. contour
Distance from lower contour to point Contou
interval ) = 300 200 = 100
r
Distance between contours
Height difference =
interva
x
0.48
l
1.27

Height difference =
x 100 = 37.8
Height of point = lower contour + height difference =
200 + 37.8 = 237.8ft
Note the heights in the figure were given in feet.

Section or Profile Drawing

Section or profile drawing is usually done
to show how the land surface will look like
if it is cut to the mean sea level or any
reference level
Draw the line connecting the points
between which the section is to be drawn,
say line AB
Place a thin piece of paper along the line
AB
Mark off where the contours cross the line

Section or Profile Drawing

Remove the paper and place along the base of the graph or
paper where the section is to be drawn
Transfer the marks onto the graph
Draw vertical lines projecting from the marks on the paper
Choose an appropriate vertical scale using the relationship
between the vertical scale and horizontal scale called
vertical exaggeration (i.e. vertical exaggeration = vertical
scale/horizontal scale and this should be around 10)
Use the vertical scale to plot the heights on the vertical
lines you projected from the marks
Join the points with a line drawn with freehand
Note: where the line crosses a landmark, indicate it

Section or Profile Drawing

Suppose it looks like thi

A
100

200
300

400

500

500
400
300
200

100

Gradient or Slope
Gradient or slope of a line is defined as the ratio of the
vertical interval to the horizontal equivalent.
Vertical interval is the difference in height between two
points and the horizontal equivalent is the horizontal
distance between the same points.
Gradient = vertical interval/horizontal equivalent
For example, calculate the slope of the land between
registry with height 159m and the gate with height 150m
and the distance between them is 1km.
Solution
Difference in height (vertical interval) = 159 -150 = 9m
Distance between registry and gate (horizontal equivalent)
= 1km =1000m
= 9/1000 = 0.009 or 0.9%

Uses of Measurements
Distance
1.

To calculate areas of regular features

2.

To tell how far one feature is from another

3.

To determine the cost of certain projects. e.g. the cost of a

road can be determined if the length of the road is known,
similarly the cost of laying a pipe from a water source to a
consumer can also be estimated, etc.

4.

Other applications exist in banking, telecom, electricity,

transport, etc. give scenarios under which these agencies
will need to know distance
. Bearings
1.

Bearings are use to know the direction of travel. This is

particularly useful in air-flight and sea navigation as the
pilots or captains use the bearing between the origin and

 Area

Uses of Measurements

1.

Agriculture: areas are measured to determine, for example,

farm sizes, irrigable area of an irrigation project, crop yield,
quantity of fertilizer, cost of tractor plough, etc.

2.

Urban studies: The area of a city can be measured over a

period for the city authorities to study the rate of growth of
the city and therefore take necessary steps to curtail the
growth if it is out of hand

3.

Population studies: for population density calculation.

Population density may be used to determine whether a
place is overpopulated or not. In case of over population, a
resettlement plan can be made and the size (i.e. area) of
land required for the resettlement can be measured again
from the map.

4.

Forestry: here, areas of forest reserves are calculated to

Uses of Measurements
Height and section drawings
1.

Construction: In road construction, these measurements are

used to fix the level of a road and therefore determine the
amount of cut or fill where necessary.

2.

They are also used to fix vertical curves of roads

3.

To determine the amount of excavation or embankment

needed in the construction of a reservoir or a dam
respectively.

4.

Limit human activities: farming and human settlement are not

allowed to take place above a certain gradient along the slope
and therefore above the stipulated slope allowance for the
country, a forest reserve may be established to prevent
human activities from going on there.