In geography, scale is the level at which a geographical phenomenon occurs or is described.
This concept is derived from the map scale in cartography.
From an epistemological perspective, scale is used to describe how detailed an observation is, while ontologically, scale is inherent in the complex interaction between society and nature.
[2] For example, the answer to the famous question "How Long Is the Coast of Britain" is highly dependent on the choice of cartographic scales.
In cartography and spatial analysis, scale effect and zoning effect (different ways of zoning lead to different statistical outcomes) combined can lead to modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP).