Scale of Analysis

Observation of data at the global, national, regional and/or local scale.

1. Global

   1. the world

2. National

   1. a country or state (single countries such as russia, china, india)

3. Regional

   1. a specific region within a country or state

4. Local

   1. county or city, or even census tract

Scale

The relationship of a distance on a map to the corresponding distance on the ground.

State

Geographic areas organized into one political unit

Small Scale Map

A map that shows a large portion of the Earth’s surface but has less details in the data it’s displaying

Large Scale Map

A map that shows less of the Earth’s surface but has more details in the data it is displaying

Things to remember

When a map of the world relies on country boundaries it’s a national map, but if it doesn’t rely on boundaries it’s a global map.