What are the Top 3 things needed in a Map for Table Top Play?

[Redrobes]

I would say that for battle maps then it should be scaled so that its 1 inch = 5ft so that standard sized miniatures on it are in scale to the map.

[Kaiserdarkness]

Since we are talking about a board game, the game design should be as important as the aesthetic and material quality of the map. Risk is (in)famous for Australia´s Strategy ^TM, so you can either design the map to reduce those factors or leave the map as it is and make rules that help keep the game balance. Of course, since I don´t know how is your game my advice wouldn´t cover exactly what your game needs. Nonetheless try to see the game as a whole when making your map.