GIS Dictionary
Definitions for GIS terms related to operations such as analysis, GIS modeling and web-based GIS, cartography, and Esri software.
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scale factor
See Also:
representative fraction
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[cartography]
The reciprocal of the ratio used to specify scale on a map. For example, if the scale of a map is given as 1:50,000, the scale factor is 50,000. -
[coordinate systems]
In a coordinate system, a value (usually less than one) that converts a tangent projection to a secant projection, represented by "k0" or "k." If a projected coordinate system doesn't support a scale factor, the standard lines of the projection have a scale factor of 1.0. Other points on the map have scale factors greater or less than 1.0. If a projected coordinate system supports a scale factor, the defining parameters no longer have a scale factor of 1.0.
