Maps & Atlases
In cartography, a map is a two-dimensional representation of the Earth's surface depicting the spatial layout of geographical features. Depending on its purpose, it may also display information such as climatic, demographic, or socio-economic data. The term "map" is also used for depictions of celestial bodies, or in a figurative sense to designate a condensed representation of information or relationships.
One of the earliest preserved maps is inscribed on a clay tablet, dated to 2300 BCE, and found in Nuzi within the Akkadian Empire (in modern Iraq). Around 490 BCE, Greek geographer Hecataeus created a map of his known world, encompassing the Mediterranean Sea and most of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.
Maps played a major role in the Age of Discovery: on his first voyage in 1492, Christopher Columbus carried a world map created by Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli. The applications of cartography expanded in the late 17th century with the invention of thematic maps which portrayed a specific kind of data – such as rainfall or population density – in contrast to simply portraying major geographic features such as rivers, mountains, and cities. The rapid expansion of road networks and mass transit systems in the 20th century created a market for mass-produced maps aimed at the traveling public. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) allowed vast amounts of geographic data to be dynamically displayed on computer screens, so users could interactively zoom, pan, and choose which data to view.
Maps support a large variety of purposes and functions. Perhaps the most common applications of maps in everyday life relate to navigation and route planning. Maps are useful for finding nearby restaurants, hospitals, gas stations, hotels, parks, and other points of interest. Commercial and recreational traffic in the air and water use maps (called "charts" in this context): airplane traffic relies on aeronautical charts and water traffic uses nautical charts. Government-related applications include census, elections, administration, and property taxation. Emergency, fire, and police services use maps for evacuation planning, dispatching fire or police responders, and coordinating disaster relief. Governments can also use maps to inform policy decisions about voting district boundaries, emergency planning, labor force analysis, utility service planning, planning social and education services, poverty analysis, marketing analysis, flood risk, and agriculture. Military and security forces use maps for mission planning, surveillance, border management, and intelligence analysis. Scientists from many disciplines use maps to manage spatial data when studying a variety of subjects such as geology, weather, earthquakes, and population distribution.
Map design is the process of selecting and arranging imagery and graphic symbols to effectively communicate geographic information. A cartographer must make many choices when designing a map, such as which data to include (or omit), coverage area, legend, orientation (which direction is north), scale, projection, coordinate system, symbols, shapes, colors, labels, and typography. The choices depend on the purpose of the map and its intended audience. Maps can be classified in a variety of ways, including by application, such as geological maps, road maps, or cadastral maps. Classifications based on design attributes such as south-up maps, 1:10,000 scale maps, or Mercator projection maps. Other kinds of maps are thematic maps, topographic maps, digital maps, and topological maps. To create a new map, a cartographer must obtain geographic data and assemble it. Geographic data used for mapmaking may include imagery, scanned paper maps, surveying data, geographical features, and terrain (elevation) data.
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