Event | Special Events Live! At The Library: Adventures in Topographic Mapping

Celebrate terrain mapping and topography with the Geography & Map Division at the Library of Congress! Join us in the Great Hall between 5 to 8 p.m. for games and crafts exploring cartographic design and topographic relief and stop by the collections display in LJ-113.

• Orient Yourself: Our orienteering station will teach you how to navigate distance and direction using a map, a compass, and the pace of your own two feet. You’ll fold maps, use a compass, craft pace beads, and measure your pace on El Camino Ritmo 25-meter walking path.

• That’s a Relief: We’re building a collaborative terrain model of the hills around Tombstone, Arizona and need your help to complete all 48 grid sections in just three hours.
• Happy Little Mountains: We’ll provide the watercolors and pre-sketched scenic mountain landscapes. Please join us to paint your own take-home artwork!

A collections display of fantastic items from across the Library of Congress which feature terrain and topographic relief will be available from 5:00-6:30 p.m. and 7:30-8:00 p.m. in LJ-113. Participating divisions of the Library include: the Geography & Map Division, the Rare Book and Special Collections Division, the Manuscript Division, and the Science and Business Reading Room.

The evening also includes a separately-ticketed talk by renowned cartographer Tom Patterson on topographic design from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in LJ-119.