How To Draw A Map To Scale

1

Decide the scope of your map. Before y'all commencement cartoon, y'all need to decide just how large of a map you're going to create. Do yous programme on showing an entire planet (perhaps even World) stretched out, a hemisphere, a single continent, a country, or just a country or city? This goes for both true-to-life maps and fantasy maps that you create from your imagination.
2

Determine on the ratio of state to water for your map. With very few exceptions, you volition demand to create a map (unless it'due south an extreme close up) that includes both h2o and land. However, you'll need to decide exactly how much of each you're showing. For larger scale maps, you should be showing oceans, rivers, and lakes. Smaller scale maps may only prove portions of an ocean, rivers, or a few lakes and ponds. If your map has but a few landmasses in an archipelago-type setting, you'll likely accept a page that is by and large h2o with a few islands.

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Consider what y'all'll include on your map. What style of map are you creating - geographical/physical, political, a route map, or something else? The type of map you lot make may change the manner yous outline or depict it, so make up one's mind this prior to starting your project. You can certainly create a map that is a combination of all 3, simply you'll have to reduce the corporeality of detail you include in order to avoid overwhelming the viewer.
- You tin can create maps based on other characteristics as well, such every bit trade routes, major population points, or different languages.
four

Determine how detailed your map volition be. This goes mitt in hand with determining what you'll include/the calibration of your map, but is important to note. Do you programme on only marking off the largest or most of import places on your map? Or, are you interested in showing even the smallest aspects of the are you're portraying? The item you intend to include may accept a big impact on how big y'all physically draw the map (on a very big piece of paper/file, or a small file size or piece of paper).
5

Think most conditions patterns. ^[i] Although this applies mainly to those creating their ain fantasy maps, thinking about conditions patterns is important to designating certain physical aspects on your map. Where volition there be lots of rain or desert areas? Will these areas match up with the locations of seas/oceans, mountain ranges, and the location on the planet (as they practice in real life)? You might consider the climate/environment and weather patterns of certain areas before sketching them out, to make a more detailed and realistic map.
6

Choose how you're going to create your map. Do you plan on hand-drawing your map, using a computer program to draw information technology, or creating your map using an online interactive map creator? Each of these will require different preparations, particularly if y'all intend on hand-drawing it. There are dozens of online map-making programs as well, if y'all're not interested in doing so much piece of work or aren't certain of your artistic capabilities.^[2]

1
Outline your landmasses. If you've already decided how detailed your map is going to exist, y'all should take a practiced idea of how many landmasses you're drawing and their general size. Commencement with simply a rough outline using direct lines to sketch out the landmasses. When you've gotten the outline just the mode yous want information technology, go over it again to create a more detailed outline (typically a bit wavy) depicting coasts and borders.
- When outlining your landmasses, consider where tectonic plates (imaginary or existent) would lie underneath. This will assist you to form more a more than realistic map, bold you're cartoon it from your imagination.
- Add together details like peninsulas, islands, archipelagos, deltas, or inlets to your main state masses.
2
Add your waterways. It is typically assumed that the area around your land masses are oceans or other big bodies of water. All the same, now you lot should add together in other smaller bodies of water or waterways that yous may want to include. These typically are rivers, lakes, seas, canals, and bays. Depending on how detailed you become, ponds, streams, creeks, and coves may besides exist included on your map.
- If a body of h2o is small-scale merely important (such as a cove or a culvert) you may choose to mark it on the map and note that it is out of scale.
3

Add details to your land masses. You may or may not add a lot of detail to your land masses depending on the fashion of map that yous're going for, just ordinarily at least a little detail is added. Consider putting mountain ranges, valleys, deserts, forests, and plateaus on your state. Keeping weather condition patterns and climate in mind, yous can add together jungles, rainforests, swamps, tundra, grasslands, and coral reefs throughout your map.^[3]
4

Place countries or cities. Again, this will be unlike depending on the way of map you're making, but it is generally helpful to add outlines for countries/territories and add a few major cities. Designate continental divisions, state lines, and territories with simple lines; these may follow natural boundaries similar rivers or mountain ranges, or may exist entirely of your own selection. You can show cities with a symbol of choice, typically a small dot of star.
5

Add color to your map. Maps are greatly enhanced with the improver of color.^[4] Color can bear witness unlike styles of land mass (as in a physical map), show different countries (like a political map) or simply be decorative. If you choose not to add together colour, at least add shading in black and white/gray. Yous may add together detailed layers of colour to evidence specific items like cities or forests using a broad colour palette, or you may use only two-3 colors for basic differentiations.
6

Characterization your map. You aren't technically required to add labels to a map, but it will be disruptive indeed if you lack labels altogether. Start by labeling the largest and virtually important areas; you might show that these are the largest and most important by using a larger font/print than you do for the rest of your labels. If you lot want to create more item, merely characterization more than areas on your map. Utilise different styles of font to symbolize different types of labels, including italicized or assuming font (or handwriting).^[five]

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Create a key. ^[6] The key is a small box that identifies the symbols or colors that you used throughout your map. These will aid the viewer to understand what a type of line or marker means, besides as why you chose to use a item color. Exist sure to include every symbol y'all used in your central, and so that you don't misfile the viewers.
- The central is sometimes also called a fable.
2

Add a calibration. The scale designates how many miles/kilometers are represented in a square inch/centimeter on the map. You tin can create a scale by drawing a minor ruler on the bottom that shows how much distance is portrayed in a small section of area. You may besides add an inset map of a zoomed in or zoomed out portion to show the calibration more accurately. If you'd rather, you can add a ratio for your scale instead of drawing annihilation (such as 1": 100 miles).
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Bear witness the orientation. Y'all can show the orientation of your map by adding a compass rose on some portion of the blank space. This will show the style the directions piece of work, such equally North/Due south and East/West. This is particularly helpful if the orientation of your map is non-traditional, such as having North located near the bottom.
4

Add together latitude and longitude lines. Breadth and longitude lines may not need to be used on a fantasy map, merely are almost ever required on a true-to-life map. These lines separate the map vertically and horizontally, and so that specific locations can be plant by looking at coordinates within these lines. Be certain that these lines are perfectly straight and evenly spaced.
5

Requite a time/engagement. The expanse shown on maps, both physical and political, often modify over fourth dimension (even in a fantasy map). Therefore, you volition need to brand annotation of the time or date that the map is depicting somewhere on the folio. Y'all may also want to include the engagement that the map was originally fatigued, although information technology is more important to brand note of the date range the map depicts.
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Add any farther explanatory notes. Yous may be interested in writing a few explanatory notes on your map somewhere. These are not required, only are peculiarly helpful if your map is not a traditional set-upwardly or if information technology is a fantasy map you have created. These traditionally go along the very lesser edge of the map, so that the reader knows they are not meant to match up with a specific location on the map.

Sample Map

Add New Question

Question

What is a cartographer?

A cartographer is someone who makes maps for a living. They unremarkably make actual geographical maps, but sometimes they can be employed by to make fictional maps in books.
Question

How do I show a city?

Yous may marker cities on the map with any symbol you like, similar a dot or square.
Question

How tin I brand an easy map of Canada for an assignment?

Will your teacher permit you to trace the country's outline? That would exist the easiest way to become started. And then you could fill in cities and towns and natural features.
Question

What is the process of making a map?

Aslamsisjd

Community Answer

Bank check out the article. You should start by planning it out, then brand a rough copy with piddling color and detail, and then brand a re-create with colour, detail, and a key.
Question

How do I draw a fantasy map of a journey to school/work?

Draw the map using whichever details, colors, and styles you lot'd like. Then, mark the path that the person took to school/work somehow, like using a dotted line.
Question

Is information technology a practiced thought to draw buildings in the map?

It depends on the kind of map you're making. Almost maps don't include buildings, simply some urban center maps will include little pictures of a scattering of the urban center'southward major buildings/constructions (such as the Empire Country Building and Brooklyn Bridge in New York).
Question

How practice I catechumen a paper map I brand to a digital map?

Take a flick of your paper map with a phone/camera and upload the photo to the computer. On the computer, use a plan like GIMP and plow the contrast up to remove shadows.
Question

How can I signal elevations in a mountainous region on my railroad maps? I would as well like to mark indicate cake locations, coal mines and coal branch railroad lines. Practice y'all have any tips for me?

Basically, you tin can apply whatever symbols you'd similar. The internet'due south a corking place for inspiration. Maybe colors tin can be height? That would mean that areas accept less variety.
Question

How do I make nautical maps?

A nautical map is very similar to a geographical country map. Instead of cartoon cities or rivers, you lot can indicate underwater mountain ranges or port cities. Information technology is all upwards to yous!
Question

How do I scale a map without knowing the kilometers?

Use an atlas or an existing map for a reference. Y'all can also apply Google to convert kilometers to other measurements.

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Sketch your map on scrap offset and and then transferring the design to proficient paper.
If it helps, practise a scale of populations and area earlier you practice the map. This will assistance the scale and overall effect. Whatever you do, attempt not to draw every single particular before y'all are happy with the other stuff.
If you lot're going to create multiple maps of the same place, it is a good thought to describe a physical map with no labels, every bit landforms can, and frequently are renamed, and print out multiple copies.
Create a primal if you don't want to label the map.
Information technology helps to use a ruler to grid your map before you sketch it out.

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Article Summary X

If you want to brand a map, showtime make up one's mind the scale of the map. This volition determine how much land you embrace and the amount of detail included in the map. Start past cartoon a rough outline of the landmasses and their general size, and so go back over the outlines and add together in particular along the coasts and borders. Add together your waterways, then draw in details like mountain ranges and forests to your landmasses. If you similar, you can add in borders, then label your map with the names of countries or cities and land features. To learn how to create a cardinal for your map, proceed reading!

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