Editing Map (section)

==Symbols==
{{Main|Map symbol}}
The various features shown on a map are represented by conventional signs or symbols. For example, colors can be used to indicate a classification of roads. Those signs are usually explained in a [[Page layout (cartography)#Legend|map legend]] on the margin of the map, or on a separately published characteristic sheet.<ref>Ordnance Survey, [https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/docs/legends/25k-raster-legend.pdf Explorer Map Symbols] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403185303/https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/docs/legends/25k-raster-legend.pdf |date=3 April 2016 }}; Swisstopo, [http://www.swisstopo.admin.ch/internet/swisstopo/en/home/products/maps/leisure/hiking.parsysrelated1.96279.downloadList.81398.DownloadFile.tmp/symbolsen.pdf Conventional Signs]   {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528053109/http://www.swisstopo.admin.ch/internet/swisstopo/en/home/products/maps/leisure/hiking.parsysrelated1.96279.downloadList.81398.DownloadFile.tmp/symbolsen.pdf |date=28 May 2008 }}; United States Geological Survey, [http://erg.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/booklets/symbols/ Topographic Map Symbols] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080601185821/http://erg.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/booklets/symbols/ |date=1 June 2008 }}.</ref>

Some cartographers prefer to make the map cover practically the entire screen or sheet of paper, leaving no room "outside" the map for information about the map as a whole. These cartographers typically place such information in an otherwise "blank" region "inside" the map{{mdash}}[[cartouche (cartography)|cartouche]], map legend, title, [[compass rose]], [[bar scale]], etc.
In particular, some maps contain smaller maps inset into otherwise blank areas of the map: for example:
* a map at a much smaller scale showing the whole globe and the position of the main map on that globe, or
* showing "regions of interest" (such as cities) at a larger scale to show details that would not otherwise fit, or
* showing places that do not fit on the main map, such as Alaska and Hawaii on maps of the United States, or the Shetland and Orkney Islands on maps of Britain.