To create an accurate picture of a landscape on paper everything has to be made much, much smaller. This is done by ‘scaling down’ the actual size of the land. The map below shows Great Britain. The size of the island has been ‘scaled down’ so it will fit on this sheet of paper. The map is too small to contain a lot of detail and doesn’t have many names on it, as there isn’t much room.
The following two maps shows a scale comparison between 1:25 000 scale and 1:50 000 scale.
Calculating distance is a fairly hard skill to master. If the question asks you for a straight line distance, you can use a ruler to measure in centimetres.
You need to put your ruler on the scale of the map and work out the real distance in kilometres.
Alternatively you can work this out mathematically, converting the centimetres to kilometres.
However, usually you are asked to measure a wiggly line distance along a road or railway. To do this you will need a strip of paper with a straight edge or a piece of string.
Put a 'start' mark on your strip of paper.
Position the start mark on the starting point (double check the grid reference that you are given for the start).
Line up the straight edge of your piece of paper with the first straight section of road, put your pencil point on the end of this section, then work along the road, twisting the paper around your pencil to point.
At the 'finish' grid reference, make a mark on the paper.
Line your piece of paper up on the scale of the map. Ensure that you start at 0 km on the scale.
If the question asks you to calculate the distance to the nearest whole kilometre, make sure that you do this. If the question does not ask for this, calculate the distance to one decimal place.
Remember to add the units (km) to your answer.