10. Maps

10.2 Maps for various uses

A map is a reduced and simplified image that depicts a certain territory. 

Maps are a part of our everyday lives. We look at weather maps for predictions, examine news maps for information, search for addresses from map services and plan our journeys with route maps. Our mobile devices receive and send location data constantly. Think about what kinds of different maps and location services you have used during the last week. 

One map cannot - and should not - depict everything about the region it covers. If maps would try to do this, they would quickly become impossible to read and interpret. This is why various kinds of maps are needed for different uses. 



Topographic maps depict the central geographical features of a region, such as elevation, vegetation and bodies of water. There are many variations of topographic maps. 


  • Road maps focus on presenting highways, streets and roads, and do not pay a lot of attention to the environment surrounding them.
  • Land register maps concentrate on presenting the borders and surface areas of land plots.
  • The tourist maps of various cities focus on presenting houses, streets, parks and other landmarks as accurately as possible, so that people can navigate a new city easily.
  • Political maps that illustrate the borders between nations and regions do not generally focus on presenting topographic data.
  • Maps that depict the regional distributions of various phenomena are called theme maps. For example, a theme map can depict the average temperature in different parts of Finland or focus on illustrating the voter turnout of an election. 
Various organizations and institutions concentrate on making maps for various uses. In Finland, the National Land Survey is in charge of gathering information used to create maps. It also produces various map products needed by normal citizens, such as basic maps, topographic maps, land register maps and municipal maps. Various kinds of maps are available on the NLS website. A number of search engines and other search service companies focus on making and updating city and street maps for the use of consumers. 

Maps by the NLS 

10.3 Scales and coordinates

The scale of a map displays the relation between the map and the real world. Scales are often depicted in the form of a ratio, which tells us how many centimeters or meters in the real world one centimeter on the map displays. For example, the scale of 1:25 000 tells us that one centimeter on the map signifies 25 000 cm or 250 m in the real world. The map in question has a large scale, as it presents a small area in high amount of detail.

National, continental or world maps are small scale maps. They focus on presenting large areas with a small amount of detail. For example, a world map can have a scale of 1:50 000 000, meaning that 1 cm on the map covers 500 kilometers in the real world.

The scale of a map can also be depicted as a bar on the side of the map. The advatange of such a bar scale map is that the scale of the map will remain the same even if it is copied and resized. 




Locations on the map are presented by using coordinates. The coordinate system consists of lines of latitude and longitude. The lines of latitude run parallel with the planet's equator, which has a latitude of 0o. The equator divides the planet into northern and southern hemispheres and the latitude coordinates into northern (N) and southern (S) latitudes.

The final lines of latitude are found at the planet's poles, marked with latitudes of 90oN ja 90oS. The lines of longitude, also known as meridians, are divided similarly into eastern (E) and western (W) longitudes. They run parallel to the 0o meridian that runs through Greenwich, London.


A map of the world showing the hemispheres and the coordinate system.

The location of a place can be expressed by presenting its location relative to the coordinate system. When doing this, the latitude of the location is presented before its longitude. For example, the coordinates of the Korvatunturi fell in Lapland are approximately 75o50'22'' N, 57o90'51" E. The degree (o) is the largest coordinate unit, and it can be divided further into minutes (') and seconds (").

10.4 Satellites and geographical information systems

Printed maps are useful and dependable in many situations. Nowadays, however, navigation is more often accomplished with the help of electronic satellite systems.

GNSS or the Global Navigation Satellite System is based on the GPS and GLONASS satellites belonging to the United States and Russia. These satellites will be joined by the EU's Galileo satellite system in the future. The exact location on the planet can be measured by comparing singals from at least three different satellites.

Satellite navigation systems are extremely precise and easy to use. The amount of applications using these kinds of navigation systems has grown drastically during the last decade, making the everyday lives of people easier and navigation in various territories more frictionless.

Satellite navigation systems have been enhanced by the ability to translate navigation data into computerized forms. When location data from a satellite is combined with various kinds of other data, the result is a geographical information system or GIS.

The basis of a geographical information system is a digital base map. Various kinds of data overlays or layers can be placed on top of the base map, making vast amounts of accessible for the user. In addition, geographical information systems can be used to search the map, study the qualities of different locations and phenomena, as well as to measure distances and routes. 


The Finnish smart watch contains a satellite navigation system and a heart rate monitor. These systems provide the user with various kinds of data about their exercise routine, accessible via the watch's own geographic information system.