what is scale in geography

In geography, scale refers to the level at which a geographical phenomenon occurs or is described). It is the proportion between a distance on a map and the corresponding distance on the ground. Map scale is a fundamental concept of geography and is derived from the map scale in cartography. There are different types of scales in geography, including spatial, temporal, and spatio-temporal scales). To study any geographical phenomenon, one must first determine the scale or resolution, because different scales or resolutions may result in different observations and hence different conclusions). The concept of scale is central to geography, and it is used to describe geographical phenomena and to represent them on maps). Different scales or resolutions may result in different observations and hence different conclusions, which is called scale effect or scale dependency). The term "scale" can be used to refer to the spatial extent of a study, the spatial extent at which a particular phenomenon operates, or the scale of a map). Cartographic scale or map scale is the ratio of a distance on the map to the corresponding distance on the ground). It is often confused or interpreted incorrectly because the smaller the map scale, the larger the reference number and vice versa.