At the bottom of the map image you can see a small white horizontal bar and a distance value (eg 1km, 50km, etc). This indicates the current map scale, by showing you how long the distance is, when represented on the map.

At the bottom of the browser window, when the cursor is not over the map image, you will see text that reads, for example "Approximate map scale: 1:200,000". This means that one unit of distance on the map is equivalent to 200,000 of the same units of distance in the real world. For example, at 1:200,000 scale, 1cm on the map would represent 200,000cm, or 200m, or 0.2km, in the real world. This scale number is only approximate, and assumes your computer monitor is set to approximately 96 dots per inch.

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