It is important for you to know that the scale of the map is determined by the amount of real-world area covered by the map. Almost all maps have scales. Scales play an important role in maintaining the dimensional accuracy of a map. The following types of scales are used: Ratio scale 1:24000 This type of scale is known as a ratio scale and what it means is that one centimeter (cm) on a map is equal to 24,000 cm (or 2 km) in the real world. Actually, it means that one of anything (mm, cm, etc.) on the map is equal to 24,000 of the same things on the map. Another way of writing this would be a fractional scale of 1/24,000, meaning that objects on the map have been reduced to 1/24,000th of their original size. Very interesting. Other map scales in common use for topographic maps are 1:25 000, 1: 50 000 and 1: 250 000.
Did you know that the smaller the ratio is between distances on the map and distances in the real world, the smaller the scale of the map is said to be.

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