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What does a map represent?
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Feb 20, 2024 · A map is a symbolic representation of selected characteristics of a place, usually drawn on a flat surface. Maps present information about the world in a simple, visual way. They teach about the world by showing sizes and shapes of countries, locations of features, and distances between places.
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- History of cartography
map, graphic representation, drawn to scale and usually on a flat surface, of features—for example, geographical, geological, or geopolitical—of an area of the Earth or of any other celestial body. Globes are maps represented on the surface of a sphere. Cartography is the art and science of making maps and charts.
In order to imply the elements of accurate relationships, and some formal method of projecting the spherical subject to a map plane, further qualifications might be applied to the definition. The tedious and somewhat abstract statements resulting from attempts to formulate precise definitions of maps and charts are more likely to confuse than to clarify. The words map, chart, and plat are used somewhat interchangeably. The connotations of use, however, are distinctive: charts for navigation purposes (nautical and aeronautical), plats (in a property-boundary sense) for land-line references and ownership, and maps for general reference.
Cartography is allied with geography in its concern with the broader aspects of the Earth and its life. In early times cartographic efforts were more artistic than scientific and factual. As man explored and recorded his environment, the quality of his maps and charts improved. These lines of Jonathan Swift were inspired by early maps:
So geographers, in Afric maps,
With savage pictures fill their gaps,
And o’er unhabitable downs
Centuries before the Christian Era, Babylonians drew maps on clay tablets, of which the oldest specimens found so far have been dated about 2300 bce. This is the earliest positive evidence of graphic representations of parts of the Earth; it may be assumed that mapmaking goes back much further and that it began among nonliterate peoples. It is logical to assume that men very early made efforts to communicate with each other regarding their environment by scratching routes, locations, and hazards on the ground and later on bark and skins.
The earliest maps must have been based on personal experience and familiarity with local features. They doubtless showed routes to neighbouring tribes, where water and other necessities might be found, and the locations of enemies and other dangers. Nomadic life stimulated such efforts by recording ways to cross deserts and mountains, the relative locations of summer and winter pastures, and dependable springs, wells, and other information.
Markings on cave walls that are associated with paintings by primitive man have been identified by some archaeologists as attempts to show the game trails of the animals depicted, though there is no general agreement on this. Similarly, networks of lines scratched on certain bone tablets could possibly represent hunting trails, but there is definitely no conclusive evidence that the tablets are indeed maps.
Many nonliterate peoples, however, are skilled in depicting essential features of their localities and travels. During Capt. Charles Wilkes’s exploration of the South Seas in the 1840s, a friendly islander drew a good sketch of the whole Tuamotu Archipelago on the deck of the captain’s bridge. In North America the Pawnee Indians were reputed to have used star charts painted on elk skin to guide them on night marches across the plains. Montezuma is said to have given Cortés a map of the whole Mexican Gulf area painted on cloth, while Pedro de Gamboa reported that the Incas used sketch maps and cut some in stone to show relief features. Many specimens of early Eskimo sketch maps on skin, wood, and bone have been found.
A map is a symbolic depiction emphasizing relationships between elements also the same thing of some space, such as objects, regions, or themes. Many maps are static, fixed to paper or some other durable medium, while others are dynamic or interactive.
Table of Contents. Millions of Unique Maps. Political Maps. Physical Maps. Road, Street and Highway Maps. Topographic Maps. Time Zone Maps. Geologic Maps. Zip Code Maps. Weather Maps. Plant Hardiness Zone Maps. Species Distribution Maps. Income Maps. Resource Maps. Earthquake Maps. Plate Tectonics Maps. Bathymetric Maps. Volcanic Hazard Maps.
Mar 22, 2023 · Geophysics. How Maps Work. By: Tracy V. Wilson & Alia Hoyt | Updated: Mar 22, 2023. This political map of the world shows the borders of each country and its chief city or cities. kosmozoo/Getty Images. It's easy to think of maps as sets of visual directions.
People use maps to help plan routes from one place to another. They might also use a map to find certain features like hills or rivers, or a landmark such as a castle. You can use...
Jan 13, 2020 · Simply defined, maps are pictures of the Earth's surface. General reference maps document landforms, national boundaries, bodies of water, the locations of cities and so on. Thematic maps display specific data, such as the average rainfall distribution for an area or the distribution of a certain disease throughout a county. Political Maps.
