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What Is a Map?
A map is a drawing that shows places from above — like a bird looking down! If a bird flew over your neighborhood, it would see the tops of buildings, the lines of streets, and the shapes of parks. That is what a map shows.
Maps are useful because they help you:
- Find where places are
- Figure out how to get from one place to another
- See how close or far things are
- Understand the layout of an area
There are many types of maps:
- NEIGHBORHOOD MAPS show the streets and places near you
- CITY MAPS show an entire city
- COUNTRY MAPS show a whole country
- WORLD MAPS show all the countries and oceans on Earth
We are going to start with the simplest kind: a neighborhood map! Once you learn to read a neighborhood map, you can read any map in the world.