The scale of a map is the ratio of a distance on the map to the corresponding distance on the ground. Scaling allow us to capture a large geographical area on a reduced platform while still retaining the relative sizes and positioning of places on the map to their real life sizes and positioning. If both maps cover a standard 8.5 by 11-inch sheet of paper, then the map with the smaller ratio will have the bigger geographical area.
To understand better, let us assume two geographical areas A and B. A is bigger than B. If we were to put them both on the same area of map paper, then we'll have to scale up the smaller geographical area B so as to fit into the map paper. This means that the geographical area with the smaller area B will have the larger scale on the map.
