A tour of the White House, a flight into Washington National Airport, and a view from the top of the Washington Monument are but a few of the activities found on a new educational CD-ROM now available from the U.S. Geological Survey. Designed as a teaching aid, this interactive CD-ROM, titled "Topographic Field Trip of Washington, D.C." contains an interactive tour of Washington, D.C., based on USGS topographic maps. Although targeted to middle school students, it can be used on Macintosh-based computer systems as an introductory teaching tool for topographic maps at many educational levels.
Students become "tourists" to the Nation's capital and use tools to: (1) measure distance and direction, (2) determine latitude and longitude, (3) learn map symbols, (4) look at aerial photographs, (5) determine elevation, (6) find "postcard" information, and (7) examine historical maps.
The Topographic Field Trip uses multimedia to navigate through layers of information linking sounds, graphics, text, and animation in a game-like adventure. The "Topographic Data Navigator" resembles a video game controller and functions as an interactive map legend.
After "landing at Washington National Airport" and exploring the topographic map, tourists will be required to answer questions in their journals. For example, "The green color on a topographic map represents__." These questions must be answered correctly to proceed with the tour. The four tour areas, the "Airport," "Arlington," "Downtown D.C.," and the "Mall," encompass the geographic area of the Topographic Field Trip. Correct responses earn rail farecards that are used to travel from one area to the next.
The tourists also use their journals to record information or observations that can be saved and later printed. The journal questions at each tour area highlight distinct components of topographic maps. When they have visited all of the tour areas and answered the journal questions correctly, tourists earn a ticket to visit the White House. If the field trip is not completed during one session, there is the option to return to the same area and continue at a later time.
This CD-ROM is designed for use on Macintosh-based computer systems only. The minimum system requirements to use the CD-ROM are as follows: Macintosh systems with 256-color, 13-inch or greater monitors; at least 8 Mb of RAM; System 7 or greater; and a Macintosh-compatible CD-ROM drive.
Because the "Topographic Field Trip of Washington, D.C.," was designed specifically for educators to use in a learning environment, please request single copies on school or organization letterhead. Requests should be sent to the U.S. Geological Survey, Information Services, Box 25286, Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225-2086.
For information about other USGS products, call 1-800-USA-MAPS, or access the USGS homepage on the World Wide Web at URL: http://www.usgs.gov/.