Cartography

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Not to be confused with Cartogram.
"Cartographer" redirects here. For other uses, see Cartographer (disambiguation).
"Cartographist" redirects here. For the song by Purity Ring, see Shrines (album).

A medieval depiction of the Ecumene (1482, Johannes Schnitzer, engraver),

constructed after the coordinates in Ptolemy's Geography and using his second map
projection. The translation into Latin and dissemination of Geography in Europe, in
the beginning of the 15th century, marked the rebirth of scientific cartography,
after more than a millennium of stagnation.
Cartography (/kɑːrˈtɒɡrəfi/; from Greek χάρτης chartēs, "papyrus, sheet of paper,
map"; and γράφειν graphein, "write") is the study and practice of making maps.
Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise
that reality (or an imagined reality) can be modeled in ways that communicate
spatial information effectively.

The fundamental uses of traditional cartography are to:

Set the map's agenda and select traits of the object to be mapped. This is the
concern of map editing. Traits may be physical, such as roads or land masses, or
may be abstract, such as toponyms or political boundaries.
Represent the terrain of the mapped object on flat media. This is the concern of
map projections.
Eliminate characteristics of the mapped object that are not relevant to the map's
purpose. This is the concern of generalization.
Reduce the complexity of the characteristics that will be mapped. This is also the
concern of generalization.
Orchestrate the elements of the map to best convey its message to its audience.
This is the concern of map design.
Modern cartography constitutes many theoretical and practical foundations of
geographic information systems and geographic information science.

Contents
1 History
1.1 Ancient times
1.2 Middle Ages and Renaissance
1.2.1 Printing technology
1.2.2 Lettering
1.2.3 Color
1.3 Early-Modern Period
1.4 The Enlightenment
1.5 Modern period
2 Deconstruction
3 Map types
3.1 General vs. thematic cartography
3.2 Topographic vs. topological
4 Map design
4.1 Map purpose and audience
4.1.1 Cartographic process
4.2 Aspects of map design
5 Cartographic errors
6 Professional and learned societies
7 See also
8 References
8.1 Bibliography
9 Further reading
10 External links
History
Main articles: History of cartography and List of cartographers
See also: Surveying § History, Cadastre § History, and Topographic mapping §
History

Valcamonica rock art (I), Paspardo r. 29, topographic composition, 4th millennium
BCE

The Bedolina Map and its tracing, 6th–4th century BCE

A 14th-century Byzantine map of the British Isles from a manuscript of Ptolemy's

Geography, using Greek numerals for its graticule: 52–63°N of the equator and 6–
33°E from Ptolemy's Prime Meridian at the Fortunate Isles.

Copy (1472) of St. Isidore's TO map of the world.

Ancient times
What is the earliest known map is a matter of some debate, both because the term
"map" is not well-defined and because some artifacts that might be maps might
actually be something else. A wall painting that might depict the ancient Anatolian
city of Çatalhöyük (previously known as Catal Huyuk or Çatal Hüyük) has been dated
to the late 7th millennium BCE.[1][2] Among the prehistoric alpine rock carvings of
Mount Bego (France) and Valcamonica (Italy), dated to the 4th millennium BCE,
geometric patterns consisting of dotted rectangles and lines are widely
interpreted[3][4] in archaeological literature as a depiction of cultivated plots.
[5] Other known maps of the ancient world include the Minoan "House of the Admiral"
wall painting from c. 1600 BCE, showing a seaside community in an oblique
perspective, and an engraved map of the holy Babylonian city of Nippur, from the
Kassite period (14th – 12th centuries BCE).[6] The oldest surviving world maps are
from 9th century BCE Babylonia.[7] One shows Babylon on the Euphrates, surrounded
by Assyria, Urartu[8] and several cities, all, in turn, surrounded by a "bitter
river" (Oceanus).[9] Another depicts Babylon as being north of the center of the
world.[7]

The ancient Greeks and Romans created maps from the time of Anaximander in the 6th
century BCE.[10] In the 2nd century CE, Ptolemy wrote his treatise on cartography,
Geographia.[11] This contained Ptolemy's world map – the world then known to
Western society (Ecumene). As early as the 8th century, Arab scholars were
translating the works of the Greek geographers into Arabic.[12]

In ancient China, geographical literature dates to the 5th century BCE. The oldest
extant Chinese maps come from the State of Qin, dated back to the 4th century BCE,
during the Warring States period. In the book of the Xin Yi Xiang Fa Yao, published
in 1092 by the Chinese scientist Su Song, a star map on the equidistant cylindrical
projection.[13][14] Although this method of charting seems to have existed in China
even before this publication and scientist, the greatest significance of the star
maps by Su Song is that they represent the oldest existent star maps in printed
form.

Early forms of cartography of India included depictions of the pole star and
surrounding constellations.[15] These charts may have been used for navigation.[15]

Middle Ages and Renaissance

Mappae mundi ("maps of the world") are the medieval European maps of the world.
About 1,100 of these are known to have survived: of these, some 900 are found
illustrating manuscripts and the remainder exist as stand-alone documents.[16]

The Tabula Rogeriana, drawn by Muhammad al-Idrisi for Roger II of Sicily in 1154
The Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi produced his medieval atlas Tabula Rogeriana
(Book of Roger) in 1154. By combining the knowledge of Africa, the Indian Ocean,
Europe, and the Far East (which he learned through contemporary accounts from Arab
merchants and explorers) with the information he inherited from the classical
geographers, he was able to write detailed descriptions of a multitude of
countries. Along with the substantial text he had written, he created a world map
influenced mostly by the Ptolemaic conception of the world, but with significant
influence from multiple Arab geographers. It remained the most accurate world map
for the next three centuries.[17][18] The map was divided into seven climatic
zones, with detailed descriptions of each zone. As part of this work, a smaller,
circular map was made depicting the south on top and Arabia in the center. Al-
Idrisi also made an estimate of the circumference of the world, accurate to within
10%.[19]

Europa regina in Sebastian Münster's "Cosmographia", 1570

In the Age of Exploration, from the 15th century to the 17th century, European
cartographers both copied earlier maps (some of which had been passed down for
centuries) and drew their own, based on explorers' observations and new surveying
techniques. The invention of the magnetic compass, telescope and sextant enabled
increasing accuracy. In 1492, Martin Behaim, a German cartographer, made the oldest
extant globe of the Earth.[20]

In 1507, Martin Waldseemüller produced a globular world map and a large 12-panel
world wall map (Universalis Cosmographia) bearing the first use of the name
"America". Portuguese cartographer Diego Ribero was the author of the first known
planisphere with a graduated Equator (1527). Italian cartographer Battista Agnese
produced at least 71 manuscript atlases of sea charts. Johannes Werner refined and
promoted the Werner projection. This was an equal-area, heart-shaped world map
projection (generally called a cordiform projection) which was used in the 16th and
17th centuries. Over time, other iterations of this map type arose; most notable
are the sinusoidal projection and the Bonne projection. The Werner projection
places its standard parallel at the North Pole; a sinusoidal projection places its
standard parallel at the equator; and the Bonne projection is intermediate between
the two.[21][22]

In 1569, mapmaker Gerardus Mercator first published a map based on his Mercator
projection, which uses equally-spaced parallel vertical lines of longitude and
parallel latitude lines spaced farther apart as they get farther away from the
equator. By this construction, courses of constant bearing are conveniently
represented as straight lines for navigation. The same property limits its value as
a general-purpose world map because regions are shown as increasingly larger than
they actually are the further from the equator they are. Mercator is also credited
as the first to use the word "atlas" to describe a collection of maps. In the later
years of his life, Mercator resolved to create his Atlas, a book filled with many
maps of different regions of the world, as well as a chronological history of the
world from the Earth's creation by God until 1568. He was unable to complete it to
his satisfaction before he died. Still, some additions were made to the Atlas after
his death and new editions were published after his death.[23][24]

In the Renaissance, maps were used to impress viewers and establish the owner's
reputation as sophisticated, educated, and worldly. Because of this, towards the
end of the Renaissance, maps were displayed with equal importance of painting,
sculptures, and other pieces of art.[25] In the sixteenth century, maps were
becoming increasingly available to consumers through the introduction of
printmaking, with about 10% of Venetian homes having some sort of map by the late
1500s.

There were three main functions of maps in the Renaissance:[26]

General descriptions of the world
Navigation and wayfinding
Land surveying and property management
In medieval times, written directions of how to get somewhere were more common than
the use of maps. With the Renaissance, cartography began to be seen as a metaphor
for power.[26] Political leaders could lay claim on territories through the use of
maps and this was greatly aided by the religious and colonial expansion of Europe.
The most commonly mapped places during the Renaissance were the Holy Land and other
religious places.

In the late 1400s to the late 1500s, Rome, Florence, and Venice dominated map
making and trade. It started in Florence in the mid to late 1400s. Map trade
quickly shifted to Rome and Venice but then was overtaken by atlas makers in the
late 16th century.[27] Map publishing in Venice was completed with humanities and
book publishing in mind, rather than just informational use.

Printing technology
There were two main printmaking technologies in the Renaissance: woodcut and
copper-plate intaglio, referring to the medium used to transfer the image onto
paper.

In woodcut, the map image is created as a relief chiseled from medium-grain

hardwood. The areas intended to be printed are inked and pressed against the sheet.
Being raised from the rest of the block, the map lines cause indentations in the
paper that can often be felt on the back of the map. There are advantages to using
relief to make maps. For one, a printmaker doesn't need a press because the maps
could be developed as rubbings. Woodblock is durable enough to be used many times
before defects appear. Existing printing presses can be used to create the prints
rather than having to create a new one. On the other hand, it is hard to achieve
fine detail with the relief technique. Inconsistencies in linework are more
apparent in woodcut than in intaglio. To improve quality in the late fifteenth
century, a style of relief craftsmanship developed using fine chisels to carve the
wood, rather than the more commonly used knife.

In intaglio, lines are engraved into workable metals, typically copper but
sometimes brass. The engraver spreads a thin sheet of wax over the metal plate and
uses ink to draw the details. Then, the engraver traces the lines with a stylus to
etch them into the plate beneath.[28] The engraver can also use styli to prick
holes along the drawn lines, trace along them with colored chalk, and then engrave
the map. Lines going in the same direction are carved at the same time, and then
the plate is turned to carve lines going in a different direction. To print from
the finished plate, ink is spread over the metal surface and scraped off such that
it remains only in the etched channels. Then the plate is pressed forcibly against
the paper so that the ink in the channels is transferred to the paper. The pressing
is so forceful that it leaves a "plate mark" around the border of the map at the
edge of the plate, within which the paper is depressed compared to the margins.[29]
Copper and other metals were expensive at the time, so the plate was often reused
for new maps or melted down for other purposes.[29]

Whether woodcut or intaglio, the printed map is hung out to dry. Once dry, it is
usually placed in another press of flatten the paper. Any type of paper that was
available at the time could be used to print the map on, but thicker paper was more
durable.

Both relief and intaglio were used about equally by the end of the fifteenth
century.

Lettering
Lettering in mapmaking is important for denoting information. Fine lettering is
difficult in woodcut, where it often turned out square and blocky, contrary to the
stylized, rounded writing style popular in Italy at the time.[29] To improve
quality, mapmakers developed fine chisels to carve the relief. Intaglio lettering
did not suffer the troubles of a coarse medium and so was able to express the
looping cursive that came to be known as cancellaresca.[29] There were custom-made
reverse punches that were also used in metal engraving alongside freehand
lettering.[28]

Color
The first use of color in map making cannot be narrowed down to one reason. There
are arguments that color started as a way to indicate information on the map, with
aesthetics coming second. There are also arguments that color was first used on
maps for aesthetics but then evolved into conveying information.[29] Either way,
many maps of the Renaissance left the publisher without being colored, a practice
that continued all the way into the 1800s. However, most publishers accepted orders
from their patrons to have their maps or atlases colored if they wished. Because
all coloring was done by hand, the patron could request simple, cheap color, or
more expensive, elaborate color, even going so far as silver or gold gilding. The
simplest coloring was merely outlines, such as of borders and along rivers. Wash
color meant painting regions with inks or watercolors. Limning meant adding silver
and gold leaf to the map to illuminate lettering, heraldic arms, or other
decorative elements.

Early-Modern Period
The Early Modern Period saw the convergence of Cartographical techniques across
Eurasia, and the exchange of mercantile mapping techniques via the Indian Ocean.
[30]

In the early seventeenth century, the Selden map was created by a Chinese
cartographer. Though the details of this maps exact date of creation are to be
determined, historians have put its date of creation around 1620. This maps
significance draws from historical misconceptions of East Asian cartography, the
main one being that East Asians didn't do cartography until Europeans arrived. The
maps depiction of trading routes, a compass rose, and scale bar points to the
culmination of many map-making techniques incorporated into Chinese mercantile
cartography.[31]

In 1689 representatives of the Russian tsar and Qing Dynasty met near the border
town of Nerchinsk, which was near the disputed border of the two powers, in eastern
Siberia.[32] The two parties, with the Qing negotiation party bringing Jesuits as
intermediaries, managed to work a treaty which placed the Amur River as the border
between the Eurasian powers, and opened up trading relations between the two. This
treaties significance draws from the interaction between the two sides,and the
intermediaries who were drawn from a wide variety of nationalities.

The Enlightenment
Maps of the Enlightenment period practically universally used copper plate
intaglio, having abandoned the fragile, coarse woodcut technology. Use of map
projections evolved, with the double hemisphere being very common and Mercator's
prestigious navigational projection gradually making more appearances.

Due to the paucity of information and the immense difficulty of surveying during
the period, mapmakers frequently plagiarized material without giving credit to the
original cartographer. For example, a famous map of North America known as the
"Beaver Map" was published in 1715 by Herman Moll. This map is a close reproduction
of a 1698 work by Nicolas de Fer. De Fer, in turn, had copied images that were
first printed in books by Louis Hennepin, published in 1697, and François Du Creux,
in 1664. By the late 18th century, mapmakers often credited the original publisher
with something along the lines of, "After [the original cartographer]" in the map's
title or cartouche.[33]

Modern period

A pre-Mercator nautical chart of 1571, from Portuguese cartographer Fernão Vaz

Dourado (c. 1520–c. 1580). It belongs to the so-called plane chart model, where
observed latitudes and magnetic directions are plotted directly into the plane,
with a constant scale, as if the Earth were a plane (Portuguese National Archives
of Torre do Tombo, Lisbon).

Mapping can be done with GPS and laser rangefinder directly in the field. Image
shows mapping of forest structure (position of trees, dead wood and canopy).
In cartography, technology has continually changed in order to meet the demands of
new generations of mapmakers and map users. The first maps were produced manually,
with brushes and parchment; so they varied in quality and were limited in
distribution. The advent of magnetic devices, such as the compass and much later,
magnetic storage devices, allowed for the creation of far more accurate maps and
the ability to store and manipulate them digitally.

Advances in mechanical devices such as the printing press, quadrant and vernier,
allowed the mass production of maps and the creation of accurate reproductions from
more accurate data. Hartmann Schedel was one of the first cartographers to use the
printing press to make maps more widely available. Optical technology, such as the
telescope, sextant and other devices that use telescopes, allowed accurate land
surveys and allowed mapmakers and navigators to find their latitude by measuring
angles to the North Star at night or the Sun at noon.

Advances in photochemical technology, such as the lithographic and photochemical

processes, make possible maps with fine details, which do not distort in shape and
which resist moisture and wear. This also eliminated the need for engraving, which
further speeded up map production.

In the 20th century, aerial photography, satellite imagery, and remote sensing
provided efficient, precise methods for mapping physical features, such as
coastlines, roads, buildings, watersheds, and topography. The United States
Geological Survey has devised multiple new map projections, notably the Space
Oblique Mercator for interpreting satellite ground tracks for mapping the surface.
The use of satellites and space telescopes now allows researchers to map other
planets and moons in outer space.[34] Advances in electronic technology ushered in
another revolution in cartography: ready availability of computers and peripherals
such as monitors, plotters, printers, scanners (remote and document) and analytic
stereo plotters, along with computer programs for visualization, image processing,
spatial analysis, and database management, democratized and greatly expanded the
making of maps. The ability to superimpose spatially located varia