Map surround

A map surround is any of the supporting objects or elements that help a reader interpret a map. Typical map surround elements include the title, legend, north arrow, scale bar, border, source information and other text, and inset maps.

A legend is a component of the map surround that ranks high on the the scale of visual hierarchy. Legends do not have to represent all of the symbology on a map. Obvious and unimportant map symbols should be left out of the legend, whereas the main information and message of the map should be represented in the legend. A legend usually contains patches, line segments and points that correlate to the symbols on the map.