Exploring the Map

World of Warcraft features a map exploration system. Players start out with a blank map with some very basic features. As they explore the world, they unlock portions of the map and also gain experience. This rewards players for exploring and gives players access to maps for future reference.

World Map

You can access the World Map by pressing "m" on the keyboard. There are three levels of zoom:

Region/Zone View

Continent View (Eastern Kingdoms or Kalimdor)
World View (Entire World)

You can zoom out via right-clicking or by pressing the zoom button. You can zoom back in by selecting the area of the map, you wish to visit and left-clicking.
Unlocking the Map
To unlock an area of the map you need to travel to a specific point of interest in the zone. Once you've entered the area of the point of interest, you will receive an experience reward and a message telling you that you've discovered the area. You receive more experience for discovering higher level areas. As you level up you will receive reduced experience for exploring an area. For example, if you're level 20 and discover an area in Elwynn, you will receive a very small amount of experience. On the other hand, if you discover an area in the Wetlands, you would get much more experience.

The map is not revealed by traveling to a blank portion of the map, as is done in real-time strategy games like Warcraft III. Instead, you must discover a key area in the region/zone to unlock that portion of the map.

You get no experience for flying over an area on an air transport such as a Gryphon. You also do not reveal areas when you explore them as a ghost.

Additional Info

Opening the overhead map will "ping" your location on the map (to make it easier to notice your location when there are many friendlies nearby on the overhead map).
The overhead map displays a directional icon for your character.