Features of a Map
Title
Scale
Compass rose
Conventional signs (key or legend)
Scale
Every map is a scale model of the world. The scale of a map reveals how close the distances on the map are to the real distances on Earth. A verbal scale, a graphic scale, or a representative fraction can all be used to depict this relationship.
There are no particular units for the representative fraction. It is represented as a ratio or fraction, such as 1/1,000,000 or 1:1,000,000. This indicates that there are one million of each particular unit of measurement on the map for every unit there is on Earth. Therefore, one centimeter on a map corresponds to one million centimeters, or ten kilometers, on Earth. One inch on the map corresponds to one million inches on Earth, or roughly 16 miles.
Symbols
Symbols are used by cartographers to symbolize geographic features. Black dots, for instance, stand in for cities, ringed stars for capitals, and other types of lines for borders, roads, highways, and rivers. Symbolic usage of color is common. Forests are frequently shown as green, deserts as tan, and water as blue. A map typically has a legend, or key, that describes the symbols on the map and provides scale information.
Some maps display relief, or elevational variations. Contour lines, often known as topographic lines, are a typical approach to depict relief. These are the paths that link locations with the same elevation. On a large enough area, contour lines on a map will eventually form circles.
Grids
A grid pattern or a set of intersecting lines that form squares or rectangles are common features of maps. Locating locations on the map is made easier by the grid. The grid is frequently made up of latitude and longitude lines on small-scale maps. Parallel to the Equator, an imaginary line that surrounds the center of the Earth, latitude lines travel east-west across the world. From pole to pole, longitude lines travel north to south. Lines of latitude and longitude have numbers. The precise location of a place is determined by the intersection of latitude and longitude lines, or coordinates.
(National Geographic. n.d.)