What has cities but no houses, forests but no trees, and water but no fish?

How to think about it

1. A city without houses sounds impossible until you ask how a city can exist as a symbol instead of a place.
2. Repeat for forests without trees and water without fish. Something is representing all three.
3. What shows cities, forests and water on a single sheet? Think of a road trip or a classroom wall.
4. A map shows every one of them with dots, green patches and blue areas, and none of the real objects.

Why “a map” is the answer

A map marks cities as dots or names, forests as green shading and water as blue, so it has all three while holding no houses, trees or fish. The riddle works by confusing the picture of a thing with the thing itself. Modern phone maps fit just as well as the folded paper kind.

Common wrong answers

• A painting. A landscape painting might show a forest and a lake, but rarely cities, forests and water all together with their names.
• A globe. A globe is a round map, so this answer is really the same idea in a different shape.