Skills studio
Read the map, then the hill.
This page is the skills studio — a bench of labs you can open. /realms/skills is the same realm as a catalogue card: hook, photo, and the list. Start here to run a contour or a projection; use the realm page to browse. GCSE map questions are contour questions. Then the graticule, a projection, a grid reference, a hydrograph, a texture triangle.
Contours ↔ 3D terrain
A GCSE map question is a hill wearing a disguise. The spur and the valley are the same lines, bending opposite ways.
Graticule and coordinates
Latitude is how far from the equator. Longitude is how far from Greenwich. Together they are an address, not a decoration.
Map projections
Peel an orange and the skin tears. Every world map is a compromise. Greenland is the giveaway.
Grid references
An OS six-figure reference is a 100 m square, not a pin. Eastings then northings. Along the corridor, up the stairs.
Also a skill, housed in another realm
Storm hydrograph
Rain is the input. The river’s reply has a rising limb, a peak, a lag, a falling limb.
Soil texture triangle
Sand, silt, clay. Plot a sample. Name the class. Loam is a place on the triangle, not a brand.