Round 1 – CODE BREAKERS
1a
Why is the two letter ISO code for Switzerland “CH”?
Confoederatio Helvetica
(bonus ½ point for exact spelling)
1b
Which country has ISO code “KHM”?
Cambodia
1d
Which digit prefixes most African country dialling codes?
2
1e
Which country has the ISO code AND currency abbreviation of
BOB?
Bolivia
1h
Which airport is served by code BGI?
Barbados (1/2) and Grantley Adams (1/2)
International
1i
What is “MA” in morse code?
Dash dash (1/2) dot dash (1/2)
Round 2 – COORDINATE CONUMNDRUMS
2a
What is the bearing, in degrees, of WSW?
247.5
2b
What is South in mils?
3200 (NATO mil) 3141.59... (geometric mils)
2c
At what latitude is the major part of the US – Canadian border?
49 degrees
2e
Which UNESCO World Heritage Site is at 13.165 S, 72.546 W?
Machu Picchu
2f
Within 1 degree, what is the approximate magnetic declination in
the far SW of UK?
Magnetic north is estimated to be 3 deg 47 min
west of grid north at Penzance
2g
Name one west African country that lies within two UTM zones,
30 and 31.
Mali, Burkina Faso or Ghana.
2h
How wide is Africa at the equator, within 500 km?
3740 km, 33.6 degrees, 2,324 miles
2i
Which is the furthest south of: Falkland Islands, Tristan da Cunha,
and Pitcairn?
Falkland Is.
2j
What proportion of the world's land surface lies between the
tropics?
A: (a) 35% (b) 40% (c) 45%
(b) (39.8%)
Round 5 – LUCKY DIP
5b
Under which mountain do the Wye and Severn rivers rise?
Plynlimon
5g
What is the main feature on the map in Winnie the Pooh?
100 Aker Wood
5h
Name two other features marked on the map. (1/2 and 1/2)
Kanga's House, The Sandy Pit Where Roo Plays,
A Nice Place for Picnics, The Bee Tree, The way
to the North Pole, An area with Big Stones and
Rocks, Rabbit's House, An area for Rabbit's
Friends-and-Relations, Christopher Robin's House,
The Six Pine Trees, The Pooh Trap for
Heffalumps, Piglet's House, Where the Woozle
Wasn't, A Floody Place, Owl's House, Eeyore's
Gloomy Place
5j
From base to summit, which is the tallest volcano on earth? Bonus
point: how high, within 1 km?
Muna Lo’a. 17km.
Round 2 – MAPS
2a
What was the surname of the Scottish surveyor whose advocacy
led to the foundation of the Ordnance Survey in 1791, the year
after his death?
Roy (General William Roy)
2b
2c
2e
2f
2g
2h
2j
2k
In which year were the Guide Michelin maps first published?
a. 1900
b. 1925
c. 1877
What (as a type of map) do the initials TPC stand for?
In which suburb of London is the UK’s Defence Geographic
Centre based?
Which inland water bodies were the first to have sub-surface
features mapped in Google Earth?
What is the camera format most commonly used in
photogrammetric surveys?
a. 35mm
b. 6 inch x 6 inch
c. 23 cm x 23 cm
What is the name of Australia’s national mapping agency?
How many two-letter referenced 100km squares are there in the
Ordnance Survey Grid? (will accept within 5 squares)
What cardinal letter is shown at the top of the compass rose on
Christopher Robin’s map of the 100 Aker Wood?
1900
Tactical Pilotage Chart
Feltham
The Great Lakes (on 14 April 2009)
23 x 23cm
Geoscience Australia
55
P (the other points are O, O and H)
Round 4 - GIS
4c
4d
4e
The Sanson-Flamsteed projection is known by which other name?
What is the acronym for a digital camera image metadata set that
can include geolocation data?
The Urban and Regional Information Systems Association
(URISA) was formed in which year?
a. 1963
b. 1967
c. 1971
Sinusoidal
Exif header
a. 1963
4g
4h
4j
Which organisation distributed SRTM X-band data?
In which disaster in Austria in 1999 was GIS used to produce
situation and risk maps?
What is the name of the open source GIS software package
developed under the direction of Daniel Ames at Idaho State
University?
DLR
Galtur avalanche
MapWindow
Round 5 - GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE
5a
5b
5c
5d
5e
5f
5g
5h
5j
5k
Where is Mount Paget, arguably the highest peak under full
British sovereignty?
Name one of the two ‘doubly landlocked’ countries in the world
(ie a landlocked country which borders entirely other landlocked
countries).
What was Sea Area Finistrerre renamed as in 2002?
The Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed in 1940 as a result of
aeroelastic flutter. One dog was killed. In what state was the
bridge?
What is unusual about the beach at Riccione in northern Italy?
Which country or region styles itself ‘Land of the Blue Sky’?
a. Gauteng, South Africa
b. Samoa
c. Mongolia
What is the capital of Madagascar?
The French-speaking world is known as the Francophonie. What is
the corresponding term for the Portuguese-speaking nations?
In the Australian aboriginal flood myth, what type of animal first
drank then regurgitated all the world’s water?
What is the name of the main baseball stadium in the city of
Springfield – home of the Simpsons?
South Georgia – 2,935 metres
Liechtenstein – borders Switzerland and Austria
Uzbekistan – borders Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan
Fitzroy
Washington
It is a women-only beach.
c. Mongolia
Antananarivo
The Lusosphere
A frog
Duff Stadium
Round 2 – MAPS
2a
2b
2c
2d
2e
2f
2h
2i
2j
What is the significance, in mapping terms, of the Hampton Poor
House?
The Soviet topographic maps produced of large areas of the world
mainly used which datum?
The Airy-0 crater is at the prime meridian of which body?
The UK Hydrographic Office is based in which town?
What word is often used for a non-uniform representation of a
space?
Which Scottish map publisher popularised the use of the colour
pink for territories of the British Empire?
Which country’s national mapping agency is the Topografiche
Dienst Kadaster?
What name is given to a line that crosses all meridians at the same
angle?
The map of which district is divided into North, South, East and
West Farthings?
It was one end of the baseline for the Principal
Triangulation of Great Britain in 1783.
Pulkovo 1942 (half point for Krassovsky which is
the ellipsoid)
Mars
Taunton
Cartogram
John (George) Bartholomew
Netherlands
A rhumb line or loxodrome
The Shire in Tolkein’s Middle Earth
Round 4 - GIS
4a
4b
4c
4d
Which US government entity has the motto: “Know the Earth:
Show the Way”?
Line-of-site analysis tools are contained in which ESRI toolkit?
In the OCHA standardised symbol set, what does this symbol
represent? (show)
What is the stated absolute accuracy of ASTER DEM data:
a. <= 3.4 metres
b. <= 7 metres
NGA (National Geospatial Intelligence Agency)
Military Analyst
Coordination
b. 7 metres
4e
4g
4i
4j
c. <= 15 metres
“Data should be collected only once and kept where it can be
maintained most effectively” is a core principle of which
geospatial data initiative?
What is significant about the city of Hamburg in relation to
Google Earth?
The first satellite images of earth were acquired by Explorer 6 in
August of which year?
The Pitney Bowes company, that acquired MapInfo in 2007, was
for most of the 20th century best known for what type of products?
The INSPIRE Directive
The first city to be modelled entirely in 3D.
1959
Postage franking machines
Round 5 - GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE
5a
5b
5c
5d
5e
5f
5g
5h
5i
5j
The Gambia has a border with only one country, what is it?
Croatia is a state member of the Organisation Internationale de la
Francophonie..true or false?
Pedology is the study of what?
The Jamuna River is Bangladesh is better known by what name?
What is the capital of Togo?
In the 2009 Human Development Index, which country ranks
highest: France, Germany, Italy or UK?
What name is given to climate zones in which the warmest month
has a temperature of between zero and 10 degrees C?
In 1506, who was the discoverer of the islands of Tristan da
Cunha?
The first use of bone fracture setting using plaster is attributed to
which city in modern-day Iraq?
By what common English name is a tombolo better known?
Senegal
False. But it does have observer status. Much of
the country was under Napoleonic rule 1809-13.
Soils
Brahmaputra
Lomé
France (8) - then Italy (18), UK (21), Germany
(22)
Tundra
Tristan da Cunha (strictly, Tristao)
Basra (where gypsum was used)
A spit or bar
Round 2 – MAPS
2a
In which large African country is the Minna datum used?
2b
By what three-letter abbreviation is the French national mapping
agency known?
Which of the following feature types is NOT included in the
Digital Chart of the World (DCW) data sets:
a. Ferry routes
b. Vegetation
c. Aeronautical structures
The English cartographer George Bradshaw is best known for
publishing what type of travel aid?
In most hill shaded cartography, where is the light source assumed
to be in relation to the terrain?
The Gill Sans typeface was inspired by typography on which
series of maps?
The OS Explorer maps superseded the earlier Pathfinder series.
What colour were the covers of Pathfinder maps?
What term is given to the line, usually a rectangle, that encloses all
the geographic data on a map?
The secret site codenamed ‘Hillside’, at which maps were
produced for Bomber Command during WW2, is in which English
county?
2c
2d
2e
2f
2h
2i
2j
Nigeria (also accept Cameroon) – (used with
Clarke 1880 ellipsoid)
IGN – Institute Geographique National
a. Ferry routes
Railway timetables
Top left, or north west
London Underground (Edward Johnston’s
typeface)
Green
Neatline
Buckinghamshire (Hughenden Manor near High
Wycombe)
Round 4 - GIS
4a
4b
Geodatabases can contain BLOBs. What is a BLOB?
Which UN organisation is responsible for determining
international boundaries within the SALB dataset?
Binary large object
UN Cartographic Section (SALB overall is
compiled and distributed by WHO)
4c
4d
4f
4h
The NASA World Wind programme was re-released in 2007 for
which development platform?
What term is given to a buffer drawn around a line rather than a
point?
The GRASS open source GIS toolkit was originally developed by
which US government department in 1982?
If x = abscissa, what does y equal?
Java
Corridor
US Army Corps of Engineers
Ordinate (in a Cartesian coordinate system)
Round 5 - GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE
5a
5b
5h
5i
Lake Tanganyika is divided between which four countries?
What is the global literacy rate (age 15 and over)?
a. 76%
b. 82%
c. 92%
The island of Saba in the Caribbean is administered by which
European state?
Benoit Mandelbrot, who died recently, studied which specific
geographical feature in his early work on fractals?
Which island is known as the ‘Island of Cloves’?
The Aletsch glacier, the largest glacier in the Alps, is in which
country?
The National Geographic magazine was alleged to have done what
to photos of topless Polynesian women?
Which country’s flag features an AK47 crossed by a hoe?
Which is larger – France or California?
5j
Russia’s longest border is with which country?
5c
5d
5e
5f
5g
Burundi, DRC, Tanzania, Zambia
b. 82%
The Netherlands
The British coastline
Zanzibar
Switzerland (Valois Canton)
Retouched to darken skin (topless light skinned
women have not appeared)
Mozambique (also features a book and a star)
France (675,000 sq km total, 552,000
Metropolitan). Versus California (424,000 sq km)
Kazakhstan (6,846km). 2nd is with China
(3,645km)