Name: _________________ Per. ___ Date:__________
Crack the Code
<< Cleaners tend the Mapparium, a stained
glass dome at the Christian Scientists'
headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts.
Your Mission
Crack the code to find out where the thieves are taking the loot.
Briefing
Crafty robbers broke into the Royal Geographical Society in London and stole armfuls of
priceless maps. Finding them would be hopeless, except that they dropped a scrap of paper with
some odd scribbles on it.
The scrap of paper: {You will need to use maps on pages RA2-R31}
The thieves who broke into the Royal Geographical Society left behind this code. (As a bonus clue,
we’ve added the number of letters in each city’s name.)
First letters from each place-name read.
Spell out the town and come with speed.
LATITUDE
LONGITUDE
27° 29’ S
47° 55’ N
1° 0’ N
40° 50’ N
59° 57’ N
0° 34’ N
43° 15’ N
41° 0’ N
50° 46’ N
55° 57’ N
42° 25’ N
153° 8’ E
106° 54’ E
79° 40’ W
14° 15’ E
10° 42’ E
6° 7’ E
76° 57’ E
29° 0’ E
104° 61’ W
3° 11’ W
123° 15’ E
KEY:
LETTERS
8
11
10
6
4
7
6
8
6
9
8
City & Country Name
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_______________________________
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° represents degrees of latitude or longitude.
’ represents minutes (out of 60) within a degree
But the note doesn't mention any places! All you see are weird combinations of letters and
numbers. Luckily, a sharp-eyed geographer peers over your shoulder and says, "Coordinates.
How fascinating!" She refreshes your memory on latitude and longitude, those imaginary lines
that help us locate places.
The numbers, you realize, are the coordinates for cities all over the planet. (1) Find those places
in an atlas or on a map. (2) As you find each place, write its name next to the coordinates. (3)
Circle the first letter of each name. (4) Read the letters from top to bottom, and they should spell
the name of a city. Now you know where to nab those cartographic crooks.
What city & country are the crooks in? _____________________________________
What are the coordinates of the city the crooks are in? ______________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
Birthday coordinates:
Find your birthday coordinates. Use the month for latitude and day for longitude. For example, if
your birthday is November 26, your coordinates could be 11°N, 26°E. (You can actually make
four sets of coordinates for your birthday, depending on whether you use north or south latitude,
or east or west longitude.)
What are the coordinates? ________________________________________________________
Where in the world are they located? _______________________________________________
What is the relative location? _____________________________________________________
What would it be like to have a party there? _________________________________________
Modified by Courtney Harder off of materials found on the National Geographic web site