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New bearingsMap Reading · 6 min read

Every map makes choices. Learn to read them.

Meridian and Mile looks at how maps work, what they leave out and how to use them with a sharper eye, whether you are planning a route or exploring a place from home.

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Hands measuring distance on a topographic map with a ruler and pencil near a lake and mountainous forest landscape

On this page

  1. What does map scale actually describe?
  2. How do you use a representative fraction?
  3. How does a scale bar turn a line into distance?
Scale Bars, Ratios and the Distance Between Two Points

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Recently mapped

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Topographic map with contour lines showing terrain elevation and paths marked with red and blue arrows

Landforms

Why Contour Lines Gather on Steep Ground

Why contour lines gather on steep ground: read the spacing, spot slope changes, and compare route options without…
Our point of view

A map is a view, not the whole place.

We make map choices easier to notice: what is shown, what is simplified and how a reader can make sense of the result.

About Meridian and Mile