A globe is of little use when we want to study only a part of the earth like districts, country, states, towns and villages. While maps are helpful to study small parts or areas with specific informations.

The distances of different measures are shown on the map through a scale. A scale is the ratio between actual distance on the ground and the distance shown on the map.
For example, suppose, the distance between your school and your home is 10 km. If we show this 10 km distance by 2 cm on a map, it means. 1 cm on the map will show 5 km on the ground. The scale of drawing will be 1cm = 5km.

Intermediate directions North-East (NE), South-East (SE), South-West (SW) and North-West (NW) directions are called intermediate directions.
Cardinal directions The four major directions are called cardinal points, which are North, South, East and West.

The difference between small scale map and large scale map is as follows:
Small scale map It is a kind of drawing in which large areas like countries, oceans, continents are shown in a small scale.
Large scale map It is a drawing in which small areas like village or town are shown on a large scale.

Symbols give a lot of information in a limited space. Maps have a universal language (symbol) so that any person speaking any language can understand it. We can collect information from maps with the help of symbols.

Maps are more useful than a globe because they provide more information than a globe. A globe is useful when we want to study the earth as a whole, on the other hand, maps are useful when we have to study a specific location, place or an area. Apart from this, maps are made with specific information with various landforms and locations of a particular area.

The ratio between the distance on the paper and the distance on the ground is called the scale of the map.

The four cardinal directions are North, South, East and West.

The three components of a map are distance, direction and symbol.

The differences between sketch and plan are as follows:
Sketch It is a drawing based on memory and spot observation and not to scale. Sometimes, a rough sketch is required for an area to tell, where a particular area is located with respect to other places. Suppose you want to go to your friend's house and you don't know the way, then your friend may make a rough sketch to show the way to his house. Such a rough drawing is called a sketch map.
Plan: Plan of an area consists of details about length and breadth of a particular location. A plan is a drawing of small area on a large scale or in other words, a drawing drawn to scale is called plan.

A map is a representation or drawing of the earth's surface or a part of its area drawn on a flat surface according to a scale. There are different types of maps.
Some of them are as follows:
(i) Physical maps Maps showing natural features of the earth such as mountains, plateaus, plains, rivers, oceans etc are called physical or relief maps.
(ii) Political maps Maps showing cities, towns, villages and different countries and states of the world with their boundaries are called political maps.
(iii) Thematic maps Maps with specific information like road maps, rainfall maps, maps showing distribution of forests, industries etc are known as thematic maps.