The ubiquity of the Internet means that maps (or map image files) are increasingly available for download from all kinds of map publishers (e.g., UN and many national mapping orgs that no longer sell paper maps). Which is great. But it almost certainly means that users will increasingly view maps at a scale different from what's actually printed on those maps.
Here's a specific example. Several years ago, I downloaded, printed (at poster size), cataloged, and shelved in the collection this 1:2M UN map of the Okavango River Basin. Now that we have a facility for storing map imagery, etc., I can link the digital object to the same catalog record and give users the option to see the map in both print and digital format. But in neither case--our print copy or the PDF--is the scale stated on the map likely to be the same scale that users see the map at. Unless, of course, I just happened to print it to the exact dimensions the UN had in mind when they set the map to 1:2M (unlikely) or users view the PDF version only at the zoom level consistent with 1:2M (also unlikely).
Is there anything to be done about this other than continuing to record the scale as it appears on the map? If the map was printed from a digital file--or if you know the map to be a reproduction or facsimile of some kind, could one note this somewhere and point out that the true scale of the map may differ from the stated/recorded scale?
Thank you.
mf
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Michael Fry Collections Manager | Map Library Manager National Geographic Society Library 202.807.3139
