Road Scholar Event
Jane Domier
Illinois State Geological Survey
Champaign, IL
Illinois Science Olympiad Coaches Clinic
October 27, 2007
Carol Stream, IL
Road Scholar
• The Road Scholar exam tests the students’ ability
to read highway maps, internet-generated maps, or
a road atlas, and to read and interpret USGS
topographic maps
• Storyline format
• Team of 1 or 2 people
• 50 minutes
Tools and Rules
• Provided at test: highway map, topographic
quadrangle maps, USGS Map Symbol Sheet, test,
and answer sheets
• Students bring: protractor, ruler, symbol sheet,
pencils
• Optional: calculator, notes, reference materials,
measuring devices
• Computers are not permitted
• May not write on maps or symbol sheet
• Discussion with teammate encouraged
Exam Format
Welcome to the State Competition of the Road Scholar in
Champaign, Illinois. You and your partner are being sent on a field
trip to collect data for hydrology or water analysis in southern
Illinois. You will be visiting areas near Charleston, Illinois, and Rend
Lake State Wildlife Refuge. You are prepared for the trip, with a state
highway map [HM] and two topographic maps, Charleston South
[CS] and Rend Lake Dam [RLD].
You are currently located in Urbana, Illinois. Consulting your
Illinois highway map, you find that the index coordinates for Urbana
are _____ [1-HM]. The precise population of Urbana at the date of
this map is ____ [2-HM]. Urbana is located in ____ county [3-HM],
and the symbol used for Urbana tells you that it is the _____ [4-HM]
of this county.
This square represents section 24, Public Land Survey System.
Draw a school house in the NE ¼ SW ¼ 24.
Draw a large cemetery in the SE ¼ NE ¼ 24.
Scoring
• 1 point for each question
• Teams are ranked according to total points
• Several more difficult questions indicated as tiebreakers
Regional / State Competitions
• Same format
• Some questions more involved at State level
– Stream gradient (feet per 1000 feet)
– Slope (feet per 100 feet)
– Profiles
– Interpretation of contours/landforms
Highway Maps
• General reference
• Planimetric – shows horizontal position of
physical and human features
Legend, symbols, index
Distances between features
Distance table
City and regional inserts
Topographic Maps
• Show elevation and landforms
• Natural and human features
• Larger scale than highway map; smaller area with
more detail
• Also called ‘topo’ maps, or quadrangle maps
Map location, series, scale
Road legend, title, date
Marginal information
Parallel to each other
1° latitude ~70 miles
Carol Stream:
41° 55’ 50” N
88° 8’ 25” W
Meridians converge at poles
1° longitude = 0 to ~70 miles
0° Greenwich, England
180° International Date Line
Geographic Coordinate System
Latitude and Longitude
7.5’ series
1:24,000
Illinois quadrangles:
8.5 miles N-S
6.5 to 7 miles E-W
30” divisions
Latitude/longitude, mental sectors
Projection
Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) Coordinate System
Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) grid
(blue tics, 1000 meter intervals)
North
Zone
0,0
Central Zone
0,0
South
Zone
0,0
State Plane Coordinate System
State Plane Coordinate System (black tics, 10,000 foot intervals)
Magnetic declination:
Angular difference between
magnetic north and
geographic north (N. Pole)
- varies with position and
time
Magnetic declination
US Public Land Survey System (USPLS)
SW¼ SW¼ Sec. 14, T2S,R3W
Public Land Survey System
This square represents section 24, Public Land Survey System.
Write the section number on your map.
Draw a race track in the NE¼ SW¼ 24.
Draw a large cemetery in the SE¼ NE¼ 24.
Map symbols
Black: cultural features - roads, buildings, political boundaries, RR,
place names
Blue: hydrographic features - lakes, rivers, isobaths
Brown: topography, land surfaces (sand dunes, other rough surfaces),
contour lines, elevation numbers
Green: vegetation, scrub, orchards, vineyards
Red: important roads and public land survey system
pink - urban areas – (now gray)
Purple: features added from aerial photo revision (not field checked)
Colors on topographic maps
Elevation of features
Index
Intermediate
Supplementary
Depression
Contours – lines of same elevation
Constant interval
Contours never cross
Direction of stream flow – contours point upstream
Profiles
Bearings
Azimuths
Edge of paper or string to measure distance
Subdivisions on left end for finer measurements
Distance between features
Length of river is 6000 feet.
60 feet rise in elevation
Stream gradient = 10 feet/1000 feet
Stream gradient
6000’ / 1000’ = 6
60’ / 6 = 10’
Recommended web sites and materials
National Science Olympiad Road Scholar web page:
http://www.soinc.org/events/roadscholar/index.htm
Road Scholar Preparation - Terry Trippe:
Course outline:
http://www.soinc.org/events/roadscholar/Road_Scholar_Course_Outline.pdf
Contest Preparation:
http://www.soinc.org/events/roadscholar/Road_Scholar_Contest_Prep_Info.pdf
Competition Study Guide:
http://www.soinc.org/events/roadscholar/Road_Scholar_Comp_Study_Guide.pdf
Competition Study Guide Answers:
http://www.soinc.org/events/roadscholar/Road_Scholar_Study_Guide_Answers.pdf
Exams from previous competitions:
http://www.tufts.edu/as/wright_center/products/sci_olympiad/sci_olympiad_road_sc
holar.html
Map Reading; Reading Topographic Maps - Mark Van Hecke
http://www.tufts.edu/as/wright_center/products/sci_olympiad/upload_1_15_05/pdf/r
oad_scholars_2005.pdf
USGS Interactive Lessons – What Do Maps Show?
http://interactive2.usgs.gov/learningweb/teachers/mapsshow.htm