Think of some ways that distance could be measured on a map. How about a ruler? If it's a straight line distance that you are measuring, sometimes a regular old ruler would work fine! Just measure from Point A to Point B to find the distance between them.

Rulers are great for straight line distances, or measuring distance "as the crow flies", but would a ruler be a good choice to measure the length of a river or stream? What if you are measuring a distance along roads from one house to another? How would you measure curved lines with a straight ruler? One way is to divide the line into straight line segments and to then measure in between them.

Another way to measure a curved distance is to use a piece of string. Lay a length of string on a map sheet, putting one end of the string at the point that you want to measure from. Shape and curve the string along the route that you want to measure, such as a river or stream. When you get to the point that you want to measure to, mark the point on the string with a marker. Now you can remove the string from the paper, stretch it out straight and measure its length.

Hands on Activity

Try out the Calculating Distance hands-on activity. You will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer to view and print the activity and answer sheets. If you do not have Acrobat Reader installed click the "Get Acrobat Reader" icon below. Have fun!

Download the Calculating Distance Activity (59K) | Answer Set (50K)