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spatial scales — English
The methods and degree to which an area is proportionally “shrank” to a size that could be represented on a sheet of paper or a computer screen with the least amount of distortion or loss of detail. We cannot make a map of the Earth on a one-to-one (1:1) scale which would mean we need a sheet of paper as large as the earth itself. So we had to device the technique of scaling so that a short distance on our map represents a long distance on the Earth. On a small scale map one centimetre might represent a thousand kilometres in reality (that is, on the Earth’s surface). On a large scale map one centimetre might represent a short distance like a kilometre. The scale is chosen according to the purposes of the map. Engineers habitually use large-scale maps, but maps of the entire globe will always have to use small scales. Very little detail can be, of course, be given on a small scale map, but large scale maps can convey detailed spatial information.
