Ühte kaardiprojektsiooni kasutatakse näiteks suuremõõtkavaliste andmete korral piiratud alal, samal ajal kui teist kasutatakse väikesemõõtkavalise maailmakaardi jaoks.
Generally, a map scale that shows a relatively large area on the ground with a low level of detail. In a two-way grouping of map scales, a map is considered small scale when the numeric value of the representative fraction 1/x is smaller than 1:500,000; in a three-way grouping of map scales, it is considered small scale when the numeric value of the representative fraction 1/x is smaller than 1:1,000,000.
