Map Keys

When thinking about map keys it is useful to return to the analogy of maps and written information. Beginners at map reading have a relatively small map vocabulary, it may include just a few symbols such as blue waterways and hatched railway lines. In this context a key becomes a dictionary, used to look up the meaning of unfamiliar symbols. With time the reader's vocabulary becomes larger and there is less and less need to look up unfamiliar symbols.

However, a map reader should be aware that map symbols may have meanings that are new and sometimes non-intuitive (eg: specialist maps may include new and unfamiliar map symbols.), so if in doubt, reference should be made to the key. This is not unknown in some subjects, where people working in a specialist field, take a common word, and use it with a special meaning.

Key from orienteering map of Macquarie University
Key from Penrith 1:25,000 topographic map
Key from Penrith topographic map 1:25000

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