Blank Florida map

What the outline shows

The map shows Florida's outline: about 1,350 miles of coastline plus two land borders. The peninsula hangs south from the Georgia line, the Panhandle stretches west along the Gulf to the Perdido River, and the Keys curve southwest from the tip toward Key West. Big bays are visible on the Gulf side (Tampa Bay, Apalachee Bay, Charlotte Harbor) and Lake Okeechobee is not drawn, since only the boundary appears. The Georgia border is partly straight and partly the St. Marys River; the Alabama border is a straight north–south line then the 31st parallel. Inside the shape there is nothing. Capital marks Tallahassee, which sits in the Panhandle far from the population centres; it is one of the best examples of a capital placed for historical rather than demographic reasons.

Portrait or landscape

Florida is about 450 miles north to south from the Georgia line to Key West and about 360 miles east to west including the Panhandle. Overall it is taller than wide, so portrait gives the larger print and keeps the Keys from crowding the bottom edge. Landscape is sensible only when the Panhandle is the subject: zoom to the area west of the Suwannee River and the shape becomes a long strip that suits a wide page. Note the state's two time zones: the Panhandle west of the Apalachicola River is on Central time while the rest is Eastern.

Five classroom exercises

1. Draw the Apalachicola River from the Georgia line south to the Gulf and mark it as the Eastern/Central time zone boundary for most of its length.
2. Mark the St. Johns River flowing north from central Florida to the Atlantic at Jacksonville, one of the few major US rivers that flows north.
3. Draw Lake Okeechobee in the south-central peninsula and shade the Everglades south of it.
4. Place Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, Orlando and Tallahassee, and mark which coast each is on or whether it is inland.
5. Draw the Suwannee River from the Okefenokee Swamp at the Georgia line to the Gulf, and use it to mark where the Panhandle ends and the peninsula begins.

How to recognise the Florida outline

• A peninsula pointing south with a long Panhandle at the top left, giving an upside-down L.
• A string of small islands, the Keys, curving off the southern tip toward the southwest.
• A concave Gulf coast in the northwest (the Big Bend) between the Panhandle and the peninsula.
• A nearly straight Atlantic coast on the east, and a ragged west coast with Tampa Bay cut into it.
• The straight north edge with Alabama and Georgia along the 31st parallel.

Answer key and related maps

• Florida map — the labeled version with capital, cities and borders; use it as the answer key.
• Printable Florida map — the same outline with cities, county lines and the capital printed on.
• Florida county map — all 67 counties with their seats.
• Tallahassee — the capital, in the Panhandle.
• Neighbours: Georgia and Alabama blank maps.
• Eastern and Central time zones; Gulf of Mexico and coastlines maps.
• All blank state maps and the printable US maps index.