The scale of a map is its relation to reality. It is written as a proportion with distance on the map followed by the equivalent distance on the ground. If the distance between two bus stops is 1cm on the map and 1km in reality, then the scale is 1:10,000. A large scale map has a smaller number to the right of the colon, such as 1:1000. Large scale maps show a greater amount of detail. Small scale maps, with a larger number to the right, such as 1:10,000 cover a larger area but have to reduce the amount of detail shown.
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