What does the term geographic scale mean in relation to ground resolution?
Large geographic scale means small area and high detail. Small geographic scale means large area and small detail. Scale in landscape ecology is referred to as “grain size.” This is a term to describe discrete habitat fragments in the landscape. Scale to a cartographer describes the relationship between the distance on the map and the distance on the ground. Scale in a vector context refers to the amount of detail you retain, or error you are willing to tolerate in your data. It also refers to the size of objects at a given spatial coverage. For instance, National Mapping Accuracy Standards for 1:24,000-scale mapping mandate that 90 percent of the features in the spatial coverage be within 14 meters of their exact location on the face of the Earth. At 1:24,000 scale, a .5 millimeter line (fine pencil width) covers 12.5 meters on the ground. Therefore, the smallest object you can resolve on a 1:24,000 scale map must be at or about the size of 14 meters.
