the extent of reduction needed to display a representation of the earth's surface on a map; a statement of a measure on the map and the equivalent measure on the earth's surface —note 1. map scale is often expressed as a representative fraction of distance, such as 1:24,000 (one unit of distance on the map represents 24,000 of the same units of distance on the earth) —note 2. map scale can also be expressed as a statement of equivalence using different units, e.g., 1 in = 1 mi This definition last updated 07/14/2008