The title of a map is the most important feature.  The purpose of the title is to tell you what you are looking at.  For example, below are two maps of Tennessee.  They look very similar; however each map is very different.

The map below is titled “Tennessee Counties.”  The purpose of this map is to show the location and name the 95 counties that are found in Tennessee.

Tennessee Counties

This next map is also a map of Tennessee counties.  However, according to the title, the purpose of this map is not to show the counties, it is to show the metro areas.

TN MEtro areas (surrounding counties)