What does a map's legend help you with?

A map's legend serves as a key to interpreting the various symbols and colors used on the map, allowing users to understand what each symbol represents. This is essential for accurately reading the map, as different colors or icons might indicate different types of features, such as roads, parks, bodies of water, or urban areas. Without the legend, users might misinterpret the information, leading to confusion or incorrect conclusions about the mapped area.

While understanding the purpose of the map, calculating real distances, and locating specific features are important aspects of map usage, the legend specifically provides the necessary guidance on how to decipher the symbols used to represent those features. Thus, it directly aids in reading the map symbols correctly, which is foundational to making sense of the overall information presented on the map.