🧭 Sketch Maps and Directions

Hello! If you could look down on your room from above, what would you see? Today we are going to draw the room from above, like a bird. This is called a sketch map. Then we will learn about directions.

First, let’s look at a room from the side. We can see the wall, the window, the bed, the table and the wardrobe. But from the side, some things hide behind others. We can’t see the whole room.

Now let’s lift a camera up. The camera rises and rises. Now we see everything from above. The bed is a rectangle, the table is a rectangle, and so is the wardrobe. This kind of drawing is called a sketch map. A sketch map is a simple drawing of a place seen from above.

On a sketch map we draw things as simple shapes. These are called symbols. The door is an arc and the window is a blue line. The bed, the table and the wardrobe are rectangles. That way everyone reads the sketch map in the same way.

In the morning the sun starts to climb into the sky. It travels all day long and sets on the opposite side in the evening. The direction where the sun rises is east, and the direction where it sets is west.

There are four main directions: north, south, east and west. If you face north, east is on your right, west is on your left, and south is behind you. The directions in between are called in-between directions, for example north-east. We will meet them in the game too.

How do we find north? With a compass! The compass needle swings, then it settles. The red tip of the needle always points north. Then we turn the ring until the letter N meets the tip of the needle. Now all the directions are in place.

On a sketch map, north is usually at the top. Then south is at the bottom, east is on the right and west is on the left. In this room the window is on the north wall and the wardrobe is on the east wall. So which wall is the door on?

Now let’s give directions on a neighbourhood sketch map. We leave the school. First we walk south down to the road. Then we go east. Last, we turn north and arrive at the park!

To sum up: a sketch map is a drawing of a place seen from above. We show things like doors and windows with symbols. The main directions are north, south, east and west. The sun rises in the east, and a compass points north. Now try it in Sketch Map Explorer!