Talk:Scale (map)

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[edit] One-inch, quarter-inch, etc.

What is the meaning of "a one-inch map", "a quarter-inch map" etc.? I presume this somehow refers to scale but am uncertain as to what, precisely, it means. -- pne (talk) 15:52, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] One-inch, quarter-inch, etc.- explanation

The meaning here - typically used in the U.S. - refers to the approximate distance on the map to 1 mile on the ground. Thus a representative fraction map with a scale of 1:63,360 is a "one-inch map" in common parlance (in practice this also includes the later scale of 1:62,500 used by the USGS in their older 15' topo series maps). I suppose that makes a quarter-inch map one of the 1:250,000 quadrangles produced by the Defense Mapping Agency.

In general this page could be more clearly written, particularly the first bit.

Patrick McHaffie —Preceding unsigned comment added by 140.192.166.146 (talk) 14:59, 14 April 2008 (UTC)