National Geographic Maps: Tools for Adventure - Using Maps

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Zahi Hawass
Michael Fay
Claire Parkinson
Nathalie Cabrol
Phil Masters
Nainoa Thompson

Zahi Hawass

"I believe that we've only found about 30 percent of Egyptian monuments," says Zahi Hawass, a National Geographic explorer-in-residence who is working to restore and preserve the Giza Pyramids and the tombs of the people who built them. As head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, he is responsible for preserving all of Egypt's ancient treasures.

Hawass uses thematic and topographic Maps in his work as an archaeologist. He is credited with major discoveries, such as the unearthing of more than 200 Greco-Roman mummies in the Valley of the Golden Mummies. Recently, Hawass used a robot to explore hidden shafts in the Great Pyramid of Pharaoh Khufu.

Now you can guide a robot through secret pyramid paths just like Zahi Hawass in the Explore a Pyramid game!

For more information on Zahi Hawass' work, visit these sites:

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Michael Fay

Conservationist Michael Fay has a mission: To document and preserve Africa's pristine places.

To do so, he and National Geographic photographer Michael Nichols set out on a 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) trek through the heart of Africa to record information about the animals and plants they encountered.

Their reports, filed on National Geographic's Web site and published in National Geographic magazine, focused attention on rare and vanishing wildlife in the forests of Gabon and the Congo—and helped create Gabon's first system of national parks.

For more information on Michael Fay's work, visit these sites:

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Claire Parkinson

Dr. Claire Parkinson, a climatologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, is the project scientist for the space agency's Aqua satellite mission. Data from the satellite is used to understand global climate changes and to improve long-range weather forecasting.

Parkinson has written a book, Earth From Above: Using Color-Coded Satellite Images to Examine the Global Environment.

For more information on Claire Parkinson's work, visit:

Aqua Mission

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Nathalie Cabrol

"If this is a dream, don't wake me up! I've been waiting for 15 years to see this place we've been dreaming about. It's as beautiful as I expected!" said Nathalie Cabrol after seeing images of Mars beamed to Earth by the Mars rover Spirit.

As a SETI Institute/NASA Ames planetary geologist and Mars Exploration Rover (MER) science team member, Cabrol considers Mars an old friend. For years she has been studying the planet's valleys and channels for evidence of water in Mars' ancient past.

Cabrol also has been leading a team of scientists in an exploration of the lake at the top of the Licancabur volcano between Chile and Bolivia. Cabrol and her crew are seeking to understand the life that exists in the lake, which will then help them explore sites on Mars for similar signs of life.

Now you can tour the red planet in a rover! Play the Explore Mars game!

For more information on Nathalie Cabrol's work, visit these sites:

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Phil Masters

Nearly 300 years ago, the ship captained by the pirate Blackbeard was lost off the coast of North Carolina. Now a modern-day treasure seeker believes he has found it.

Phil Masters and his company, Intersal Inc., are working with the North Carolina Department of Natural Resources to excavate the site of the Queen Anne's Revenge wreck, while continuing to look for a Spanish galleon, the El Salvador, in the same area.

Masters and his researchers scoured archives for Maps and journals to determine what ships were lost and where. Next, he worked with modern-day nautical charts and Maps to understand geographical changes over time.

Now you can search for pirates' booty just like Phil Masters in the Find the Sunken Treasure game!

For more information on Phil Masters' work, visit these sites:

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Nainoa Thompson

A Hawaiian hero, Nainoa Thompson is the first modern-day Polynesian to learn and use wayfinding for long-distance ocean voyages. Wayfinding is the ancient art of navigating the open seas without tools such as compasses, clocks, radios, or sextants.

Thompson developed his own system of wayfinding by synthesizing ancient navigation principles with modern scientific knowledge. In 1980, he became the first Hawaiian in almost seven centuries to practice the art of wayfinding when he successfully navigated a traditional canoe, Hodukle'a, from Hawaii to Tahiti and back. Since then, he has helped inspire and lead a renewal of traditional culture associated with canoe-building and ocean voyaging throughout the Pacific.

For more information on Nainoa Thompson's work, visit these sites: