Where would you find how far a inch of a map represented a actual distance?

Answer 1

For each map, the distance an inch may represent a different distance in the real world. Every map has a scale, that is, one unit of measurement on the map equals another unit of distance on the ground. A map of Rhode Island that occupies one page in an atlas and a map of Texas on another page will have very different scales. Some maps in the same edition (military, or U.S. Geological Survey maps, for instance, have standard scales. One unit on the map represents 25,000 or 50,000 units on the ground. In this case, just measure the distance you want, and multiply by the second number in the ratio. 1:25,000. Twenty-five thousand inches is not a meaningful number to most people, so you'll have to convert it to feet (divide by 12) then to miles (divide by 5,280).

Any good map has a "legend". The legend includes things like the name of the place the map represents, which direction on the map is north (it's not always straight up), what roads look like on the map, where churches and schools are, and similar data. One of these is the map or "representative scale".

The scale shows how far, on the map, one measures to represent a given distance in reality. Many maps use multiples of five mile or kilometer distances (that is, 5, 10, 15, etc.) in the scale. Others use one unit or ten units. A scale might look like this:

|__|__|__|__|__|

0...5..10..15..20..25 miles

To determine the distance between two points, first, you'll need to answer the question: "Do I want a straight-line distance or a route (road or path) distance?"

For a straight-line distance ("as the crow flies"), measure the space between the two points using knots on piece of string or marks on the edge of a piece of paper. Then, using the scale on the map, see how many scale units fall between the two marks or knots.

Move the piece of paper to the scale. Let's say your marks are this far apart, with the scale above it (I've put exclamation marks to represent points where I've moved the scale to the right four times so we can see how many 25-mile units the distance between the two marks are):

|__|__|__|__|__!__|__|__|__|__!__|__|__|__|__!__|__|__|__|__|

^....................................................................................^

At this scale, the distance is roughly (more than 80, but less than 85) 83 miles.

For a route distance, use a piece of paper with a mark lined up with the first of your two points. Place the edge of the paper as closely as possible along either the left or right side of the symbol for the road or path you're going to measure. When the road turns, make a new mark, and pivot the paper to the next direction with this new mark at the point on the "road" where it turns.

Continue to mark the paper every time you have to pivot it to go in a new direction. It is important to stay on the same "side" of the "road" because meandering back and forth on the "road" will add distance to your measurements, and this distance can be significant.

When you reach the second point (the end of the journey), you'll have several marks on your paper, but you care only about the first one and the last one. What you've done is create a "straight-line equivalent" along the edge of your piece of paper that's the scale distance between your two points. Follow the same method above to convert from "map distance" to the actual length you'd travel on the ground.

It will take a bit of practice to become proficient with measuring distances on a map. Do it several times before it's important so you can do it well.

Answer 2

In the corner of a map there will usually be a legend where it defines different symbols for highways/ roads, route shields, and rest areas. The map will generally define the approximation for a distance as how to far an inch will be in the legend. (For instance, 1 inch=1 mile) Not all maps are drawn to scale.

For more info see related link below for list of common map scales.

Answer 3

The scale of the map is usually mentioned on the front for example it could be a 1:50000 scale map, but one of the lower corners of a map (sometimes an area near the legend) often includes a line that shows what a size of the map corresponds to in real life.

Answer 4

The map scale is usually located in the legend box of a map.

Answer 5

This is entirely dependent on the scale of the map, which determines how large an area can be depicted. An inch could be a few blocks on a city map, or many hundreds of miles on a world map.

Answer 6

It's called the "Legend"