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SchoolTube - Safe video sharing and management for K12

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Oceans game: interactive map quiz to learn the Arctic, Atlantic, Indian, Pacific and Southern Ocean. Free resource for teachers. Great tool for whiteboard, computer, tablet and mobile.

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Continents game: map quiz with 7 continents for 1st/2nd/3rd grade, KS1/KS2. Free resource for teachers. Great tool for interactive whiteboard, tablet and mobile.

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Can you find the hidden treasures? Practice map skills by locating gold coins using x and y axis coordinates. Collect all the coins to answer the secret message and unlock the treasure chest!

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For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about licensing content on this page, please contact ngimagecollection@natgeo.com for more information and to obtain a license. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher.

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Mapping Activity

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"I stumbled upon your fun interactive geography games from a link on the Massachusetts Geographic Alliance Website. Since then, your games have become quite a hit with my competitive colleagues!"
--Candice Gomes, Education Outreach Coordinator, Boston Public Library

Sheppard Software's geography games were featured in the Boston Public Library's 2006 Exhibition on Mapping!

"Terrific online educational games, especially geography."
-- Dallas Children's Museum

"I am a middle school social studies teacher who also sponsors a geography club after school. We love your site for geography games."
--Eleanor Terry and the Dixon Middle School Geography Detective Club

"Awesome site... it is the only reason I am passing my World Geography class!" --Stephen

"We love your interactive maps and are using them for 10th grade world history." Thanks, Susan McCormick

"Let me say that you guys have an awesome website. I stumbled across your site one day, and it has been the easiest, most effective, and really
the most fun method for learning geography that I've
found." --David Weaver

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World Continents & Oceans Games - geography online games

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World Continents and Ocean Map Games - free and online to test your geography.

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The field of geography relies on many different types of maps in order to study the features of the earth. Some maps are so common that a child would recognize them, while others are used only by professionals in specialized fields. Some of the most common types are political, physical, topographic, climate, economic, and thematic maps.

Fast Facts: Types of Maps

Political Maps

A political map does not show topographic features like mountains. It focuses solely on the state and national boundaries of a place. These maps also include the locations of cities large and small, depending on the detail of the maps.

A typical example of a political map would be one showing the 50 U.S. states and their borders along with the United States' international borders.

Physical Maps

A physical map is one that documents landscape features of a place. These maps generally show things like mountains, rivers, and lakes. Bodies of water are commonly shown in blue. Mountains and elevation changes are sometimes shown with different colors and shades to show elevation. On physical maps, greens usually indicate lower elevations while browns usually indicate higher elevations.

This map of Hawaii is a physical map. Low elevation coastal regions are shown in dark green, while the higher elevations transition from orange to dark brown. Rivers are shown in blue.

Topographic Maps

A topographic map is similar to a physical map in that it shows different physical landscape features. Unlike physical maps, though, this type of map uses contour lines instead of colors to show changes in the landscape. Contour lines on topographic maps are normally spaced at regular intervals to show elevation changes (e.g. each line represents a 100-foot elevation change). When lines are close together, it means the terrain is steep.

Climate Maps

A climate map shows information about the climate of an area. These maps can show things like the specific climatic zones of an area based on the temperature, the amount of snow an area receives, or the average number of cloudy days. These maps normally use colors to show different climatic areas.

This climate map for Australia uses colors to show differences between the temperate area of Victoria and the desert region in the center of the continent.

Economic or Resource Maps

An economic or resource map shows the specific types of economic activity or natural resources present in an area through the use of different symbols or colors depending on what is being depicted.

This economic activity map for Brazil, for example, uses colors to show different agricultural products of given areas, letters for natural resources, and symbols for different industries.

A road map is one of the most widely used map types. These maps show major and minor highways and roads (depending on the degree of detail), as well as things like airports, cities, and points of interest such as parks, campgrounds, and monuments. Major highways on a roadmap are generally shown with thick, red lines, while minor roads are lighter in color and drawn with narrower lines.

A road map of California, for example, would depict Interstate highways with a wide red or yellow line, while state highways would be shown in a narrower line in the same color. Depending on the level of detail, the map may also show county roads, major city arteries, and rural routes. These would be depicted in shades of gray or white.

Thematic Maps

A thematic map is a map that focuses on a particular theme or special topic. These maps are different from the six aforementioned general reference maps because they do not just show features like rivers, cities, political subdivisions, elevation, and highways. If these items appear on a thematic map, they are background information and are used as reference points to enhance the map's theme.

This Canadian map, for example, which shows changes in population between 2011 and 2016, is a good example of a thematic map. The city of Vancouver is broken down into regions based on the Canadian Census. Changes in the population are represented by a range of colors ranging from green (growth) to red (loss) based on the degree of change.

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The field of geography relies on many different types of maps in order to study the features of the earth. Some maps are so common that a child would recognize them, while others are used only by professionals in specialized fields. Some of the most common types are political, physical, topographic, climate, economic, and thematic maps.