What does a small-scale map show?

Hint: A map is a symbolic representation of a space that emphasizes relationships between elements such as objects, regions, or themes. Many maps are static, adhered to paper or another long-lasting medium, whereas others are dynamic or interactive.

Complete answer:
The space being mapped may be two-dimensional, such as the earth's surface, three-dimensional, such as the earth's interior, or even more abstract spaces of any dimension, such as those encountered when modeling phenomena with many independent variables.

Although the earliest known maps are of the heavens, geographic maps of territory have a long history and date back to ancient times. The term "map" derives from the medieval Latin Mappa mundi, where mappa referred to a napkin or cloth and mundi referred to the entire world. As a result, "map" became a shortened term referring to a two-dimensional representation of the world's surface.

A map's scale is the ratio of a distance on the map to its equivalent distance on the ground. The curvature of the Earth's surface complicates this simple concept by forcing scale to vary across a map. Because of this variation, the concept of scale takes on two distinct meanings.

- Small-scale maps show large areas such as continents or countries.
- They are atlases or wall maps.
- They depict significant features such as mountains, plateaus, continents, and countries.
- The scale could be 1 cm = 100 km.

Thus, Small scale maps are those of the world or of large regions, such as continents or nations. To put it another way, they depict large areas of land on a small scale. They are referred to as small scale because the representative fraction is small.

Note: Maps at a Large Scale
(I) Large scale maps provide greater detail for a small area.
(ii) They are topographical maps or guide maps.
(iii) Cities, towns, and villages are depicted in detail.
(iv) The scale can be set to 1 cm = 50 m or 1 km.