Maps show us the features of a landscape, as if we were looking down on it from above.
A map can show us roads, rivers, buildings, mountains and many other features.
The amount of detail a map shows depends on the scale.
Mediascapes use large-scale maps, as they show a lot of detail in quite a small area.
A map's scale is written as a ratio, such as 1:1,250. This means that every centimetre of map will cover 1,250 centimetres of the Earth's surface, or 12.5 metres.
Maps also show us which direction something is facing. The top edge of a map usually shows where north is, so we can then work out in what direction any other point on the map is facing.