How do map makers properly scale a map?

Asked by toolaura4ya (275

) April 15th, 2008 from iPhone

ok so this question popped into my head the other day when I was driving. I was on a highway and I could see about a quarter to a half mile away, another road going parallel with the one I was on. Between the two roads was rugged changing terrain, farms etc. I was wondering how do map makers figure out the exact distances between the two roads? They surely dont measure the distance between the roads by walking between the two at every point.

maps
scale

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2 Answers

Usually when anything is built houses, roads, buildings, surveyors survey the land to get the measurements and dimensions of what is going to be built. You may see them around sometimes, theres usually two of them. One is looking through some sort of device on a tripod.

Fallstand (1130

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With hi-rez GPS and sat photos, the cartographer’s job is easier. Instead of looking though a transit to take bearings (that device on a tripod), you just tote a GPS receiver and note the bearings of features and benchmarks. Then there are laser systems that measure line-of-sight distances. It is not quite that simple, but you don’t have to use measuring tapes or chains nearly as much. The hi-tech systems are pricey, so you will still see a lot of folks using rods and transits or levels.

steelmarket (3603

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