Geographic Skills : The Map Scale

What is a map scale? It is the relationship between two points measured on a map and the same points measured on the ground. We can connect map and ground distances using three types of scale.

Why scale is important on maps (and other objects). A man called, furious about a Florida package we did. I asked what was wrong with the vacation in Orlando. He said he was expecting an ocean-view room. I tried to explain that is not possible, since Orlando is in the middle of the state. He replied, "Don't lie to me. I looked on the map and Florida is a very thin state." The following are actual stories told by travel agents

I got a call from a man who asked, "is it possible to see England from Canada?“ I said, "No.“ He said "but they look so close on the map."

1-A Verbal Scale links the map and ground distances in the form of a sentence. “One centimetre represents 16 kilometres” Every centimetre on the map, is multiplied by the 16 km it represents on the ground. Verbal scales are easy to use if the map reader understands the language in which they are written.

2-A Linear Scale is a bar which shows, directly on the map, the equivalent ground distance. The bar is divided into 1 cm sections with each section representing some number of kilometres on the ground. Easy to use but forces the map reader to work in the units of that scale. Can be a problem for tourists coming from a metric based country who are travelling in an imperial based country (and vice versa).

3-The Representative Fraction Scale (Ratio scale) shows the relationship between any type of unit on the map and one of the same unit on the ground. Written as a fraction or as a ratio; “1/ ” or “1: ” One unit of any length (one mm, one cm, one inch, one foot, etc.) on the map represents 100,000 of those units on the ground. The most flexible scale because it is not tied to any one type of unit. Works with metric, imperial, or other.