The scale on a map is the ratio between real life sizes and how many times it has been shrunk to fit it on the map. Ordnance Survey maps, the most common type of map in the UK, come in several scales.

Now, what scale is it? Zara Jones ... so the real distance is 1000 times bigger than the map. We say that the map has a ratio of 1:1000. Objects in real life are 1000 times bigger than they ...