captivating subject, geography is a scientific field that is devoted to the study of the
Earth’s landforms, oceans, environment and ecosystems, as well as the interactions
between the human society and their environment. The word geography literally means
“earth writing”. Geography has been elucidated by various sources time and again.
Here is a general definition of geography:
“Geography is the study of the Earth’s physical features and environment including the
impact of human activity on these factors and vice versa. The subject also
encompasses the study of patterns of human population distribution, land use, resource
availability, and industries.”
Scholars who study geography are known as geographers. These people engage
themselves in the exciting task of exploring and studying the Earth’s natural
environment and human society. Although map-makers were known as geographers in
the ancient world, today, they are more specifically known as cartographers.
Geographers usually focus on two major fields of geographical studies: physical
geography or human geography.
History of Geography
The term geography was coined by the ancient Greeks who not only created detailed
maps and accounts of places around them but also illuminated why and how human
and natural patterns varied from one place to another on Earth. Through the passage of
time, the rich legacy of geography made a momentous journey to the bright Islamic
minds. The Islamic Golden Age witnessed astounding advancements in the
geographical sciences. Islamic geographers were credited with groundbreaking
discoveries. New lands were explored and the world’s first grid-based mapping system
was developed. The Chinese civilization also contributed instrumentally towards the
development of early geography. The compass, a traveling aid, devised by the Chinese,
was used by the Chinese explorers to explore the unknown.
A new historical chapter of geography opened during the “Age of Discovery”, a period
coinciding with the European Renaissance. A fresh interest in geography was
regenerated in the European world. Marco Polo, the Venetian merchant traveler,
spearheaded this new Age of Exploration. Commercial interests in establishing trade
contacts with the rich civilizations of Asia like China and India became the primary
reason for traveling during this period. Europeans moved ahead in all directions,
discovering new lands, unique cultures, and natural wonders in the process. They also
began to colonize new lands towards the latter half of the Age of Exploration. The
tremendous potential of geography to shape the future of human civilization was
recognized and in the 18th Century, geography was introduced as a discipline of study
at the university level. Based on geographical knowledge, the human society discovered
new ways and means to overcome the challenges posed by nature and human
civilizations flourished in all parts of the world. In the 20th century, aerial photography,
satellite technology, computerized systems, and sophisticated software radically
changed the definition of geography and made the study of geography more
comprehensive and detailed.
The Branches of Geography
Geography can be regarded as an interdisciplinary science. The subject encompasses
an interdisciplinary perspective that allows the observation and analysis of anything
distributed in Earth space and the development of solutions to problems based on such
analysis. The discipline of geography can be divided into several branches of study. The
primary classification of geography divides the approach to the subject into the two
broad categories of physical geography and human geography.
Physical Geography
Physical geography is defined as the branch of geography that encompasses the study
of the natural features and phenomena (or processes) on the Earth.
Physical geography may be further subdivided into various branches:
 Geomorphology: This involves the study of the topographic and bathymetric features on
Earth. The science helps to elucidate various aspects related to the landforms on the Earth
such as their history and dynamics. Geomorphology also attempts to predict the future
changes in the Earth’s physical features.
 Glaciology: This field of physical geography deals with the study of the inter-dynamics
of glaciers and their effects on the planet’s environment. Thus, glaciology involves the study
of the cryosphere including the alpine glaciers and the continental glaciers. Glacial geology,
snow hydrology, etc., are some of the sub-fields of glaciological studies.
 Oceanography: Since oceans hold 96.5% of the Earth’s waters, a special field of
oceanography needs to be dedicated to the study of oceans. The science of oceanography
includes geological oceanography (study of the geological aspects of the ocean floor, its
mountains, volcanoes, etc.), biological oceanography (study of the marine life and ocean
ecosystems), chemical oceanography (study of the chemical composition of the marine waters
and their effects on marine life forms), physical oceanography (study of the oceanic
movements like the waves, currents, etc.)
 Hydrology: This is another vital aspect of physical geography. Hydrology deals with the
study of the properties of the Earth’s water resources and the movement dynamics of water in
relation to land. The field encompasses the study of the rivers, lakes, glaciers, and
underground aquifers on the planet. It studies the continuous movement of water from one
source to another on, above, and below the Earth’s surface, in the form of the hydrological
cycle.
 Pedology: A branch of soil science, pedology involves the study of the different soil
types in their natural environment on the surface of the Earth. This field of study helps gather
information and knowledge on the process of soil formation (pedogenesis), soil constitution,
soil texture, classification, etc.
 Biogeography: An indispensable field of physical geography, biogeography is the study
of how species on Earth are dispersed in geographic space. It also deals with the distribution
of species over geological time periods. Each geographical area has its own unique ecosystem
and biogeography explores and explains such ecosystems in relation to physical geographical
features. Different branches of biogeography exist like zoogeography (geographic distribution
of animals), phytogeography (geographic distribution of plants), insular biogeography (the
study of factors influencing isolated ecosystems), etc.
 Paleogeography: This branch of physical geography examines the geographical features
at various time points in the Earth’s geological history. It helps the geographers to attain
 knowledge about the continental positions and plate tectonics determined by studying
paleomagnetism and fossil records.
 Climatology: The scientific study of climate, climatology is a crucial field of
geographical studies in today’s world. It examines all aspects related to the micro or local
climates of places and also the macro or global climate. It also involves an examination of the
impact of human society on climate and vice versa.
 Meteorology: This field of physical geography is concerned with the study of the weather
patterns of a place and the atmospheric processes and phenomena that influence the weather.
 Environmental geography: Also known as integrative geography, this field of physical
geography explores the interactions between humans (individuals or society) and their natural
environment from the spatial point of view. Environmental geography is thus the bridging
gap between human geography and physical geography and can be treated as an
amalgamation of multiple fields of physical geography and human geography.
 Coastal geography: Coastal geography is another area of specialization of physical
geography that also involves a study of human geography. It deals with the study of the
dynamic interface between the coastal land and the sea. The physical processes that shape the
coastal landscape and the influence of the sea in triggering landscape modifications is
incorporated in the study of coastal geography. The study also involves an understanding of
the ways the human inhabitants of coastal areas influence the coastal landforms and
ecosystems.
 Quaternary science: This is a highly specialized field of physical geography that deals
with the study of the Quaternary period on Earth (the Earth’s geographical history
encompassing the last 2.6 million years). It allows the geographers to learn about the
environmental changes undergone in the planet’s recent past. This knowledge is then used as
a tool to predict future changes in the Earth’s environment.
 Geomatics: Geomatics is a technical branch of physical geography that involves the
collection of data related to the earth’s surface, analysis of the data, its interpretation, and
storage. Geodesy, remote sensing, and geographical information science are the three sub-
divisions of geomatics.
 Landscape ecology: The science of landscape ecology deals with the study of how the
varying landscapes on Earth influences the ecological processes and ecosystems on the
planet. The German geographer Carl Troll is credited as the founder of this field of physical
geography.
Human Geography
Human geography is the branch of geography that deals with the study of how the
human society is influenced by the Earth’s surface and environment and how, in turn,
anthropological activities impact the planet. Human geography is centered on the study
of the planet’s most evolved creatures: the humans and their environment.
This branch of geography can be further subdivided into various disciplines based on
the focus of study:
 Population geography: A division of human geography, population geography deals with
the study of how the nature of a place determines the distribution, growth, composition, and
migration of human populations.
 Historical geography: Historical geography elucidates the ways in which geographical
phenomena change and evolve with time. Though it is treated as a sub-field of human
geography, it also focuses on certain aspects of physical geography. Historical geography
attempts to understand why, how and when a place or region on Earth changes and the impact
such changes have on the human society.
 Cultural geography: Cultural geography explores how and why cultural products and
norms vary with space and place. It thus deals with the study of the spatial variations of
human cultures including religion, language, livelihood choices, politics, etc. Religion
geography, language geography, etc., are some of the subfields of cultural geography.
 Economic geography: A vital aspect of human geography, economic geography
encompasses the study of how human economic activities are located, distributed and
organized in geographical place and space. Marketing and transportation geography can be
treated as sub-fields of economic geography.
 Political geography: This important field of human geography deals with the political
boundaries of the countries of the world and the division of land and its resources between the
countries. It also deals with how spatial structures influence political functions and vice versa.
Military geography, electoral geography, geopolitics are some of the subfields of political
geography.
 Health geography: A sub-discipline of human geography, health geography concentrates
on the influence of the geographical location and place on the health and well-being of
humans. It tends to approach the subject of human health from a comprehensive perspective
encompassing the influence of society and space on health and disease.
 Developmental geography: This branch of human geography explores the quality of life
and the standard of living of the human inhabitants of the world and attempts to understand
how and why such standards vary with place and space.
 Settlement geography: Settlement geography attempts to explore the part of the Earth’s
surface that encompasses human settlements. It is a study of the urban and rural settlements,
the economic structure, infrastructure, etc., and the dynamics of human settlement patterns in
relation to space and time.
 Animal geography: Animal geography might be considered as a sub-field of human
geography which is closely related to the environmental geography branch of physical
geography. It encompasses the study of the lifeworlds of the animals on Earth and the
interdependencies between humans and other animals.
Political Maps:

A political map focuses on boundaries between entities, like countries, states or counties.  They are generally brighter
colors to easily distinguish the boundaries. 
Physical Maps:
A physical map focuses on the geography of the area and will often have shaded relief to show the mountains and
valleys.  Typical colors are blues, greens and browns.  Many rivers, mountains and lake features are usually labeled. 
Cities, towns, countries and other political features are often labeled as well its just not the focus of the map or the
first thing you notice.

A political map is different than other types of maps because it focuses on

government or administrative boundaries rather than geographical or physical
features. Instead of showing viewers what exists in the land, it shows those
imaginary lines that serve to separate countries, states, territories, and cities.
These maps generally include larger bodies of water, such as oceans, rivers, and
lakes, as landmarks. In fact, in many places, a coastline or river will serve as a
political border. In contrast the many different types of physical maps emphasize
the topographical, climate, geological or other features of an area. In these maps,
political borders or even the existence of towns and cities are only used as
reference points.

It makes sense that political maps are in heavy use in early childhood education.
Helping children to understand the world around them is best achieved by
starting with broader concepts such as the existence of countries and states and
how they relate physically to one another. A globe, atlas, or wall map for children
is going to emphasize these territorial borders usually with bright colors and bold
outlines. Likewise, a puzzle map is going to ask kids to put countries or states
into their proper place rather than expect them to manipulate hundreds of
counties or cities.
There are some faults with political maps. Because the intent of these maps is to
show territory owned or controlled by government entities, there is less attention
given to accuracy in physical depiction. The projection of a given map can be
skewed in order to make countries look larger or more menacing than they
actually are. Some errors in projection are a fault of the method used rather than
an intentional political agenda. The traditional projection map in use in the
western world distorts the size of objects the further away from the equator they
are. This results in the US looking larger in relation to other countries and
continents than it actually is and Africa looking smaller. There are actually
dozens of such errors that the newer Gall-Peters projection map attempts to
correct.

Topographic map
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the anatomy concept, see Topographic map (neuroanatomy).

For a broader coverage related to this topic, see Terrain cartography.

A topographic map with contour lines

Part of the same map in a perspective shaded relief view illustrating how the contour lines follow the terrain

Section of topographical map of Nablus area (West Bank) with contour lines at 100-meter intervals. Heights are
colour-coded

In modern mapping, a topographic map is a type of map characterized by large-scale detail and

quantitative representation of relief, usually using contour lines, but historically using a variety of
methods. Traditional definitions require a topographic map to show both natural and man-made
features. A topographic map is typically published as a map series, made up of two or more map
sheets that combine to form the whole map. A contour line is a line connecting places of equal
elevation.
Natural Resources Canada provides this description of topographic maps:[1]
 These maps depict in detail ground relief (landforms and terrain), drainage (lakes and rivers), forest
cover, administrative areas, populated areas, transportation routes and facilities (including roads and
railways), and other man-made features.
Other authors define topographic maps by contrasting them with another type of map; they are
distinguished from smaller-scale "chorographic maps" that cover large regions,[2][3] "planimetric maps"
that do not show elevations,[4] and "thematic maps" that focus on specific topics.[5]
However, in the vernacular and day to day world, the representation of relief (contours) is popularly
held to define the genre, such that even small-scale maps showing relief are commonly (and
erroneously, in the technical sense) called "topographic".[3]
The study or discipline of topography is a much broader field of study, which takes into account
all natural and man-made features of terrain.

Contents
  [hide] 

 1History
 2Uses
 3Conventions
 4Publishers of national topographic map series
o 4.1Australia
o 4.2Austria
o 4.3Canada
o 4.4China
o 4.5Colombia
o 4.6Denmark
o 4.7Finland
o 4.8France
o 4.9Germany
o 4.10Greece
o 4.11Hong Kong
o 4.12India
o 4.13Japan
o 4.14Nepal
o 4.15Netherlands
o 4.16New Zealand
o 4.17Pakistan
o 4.18Portugal
o 4.19Romania
o 4.20Russia
o 4.21Spain
o 4.22South Africa
o 4.23Switzerland
o 4.24Taiwan
o 4.25United Kingdom
o 4.26United States
 5See also
 6References
 7External links

History[edit]
See also: Topography § Etymology, Cadastre § History, and Cartography § History

Topographic maps are based on topographical surveys. Performed at large scales, these surveys
are called topographical in the old sense of topography, showing a variety of elevations and
landforms.[6] This is in contrast to older cadastral surveys, which primarily show property and
governmental boundaries. The first multi-sheet topographic map series of an entire country,
the Carte géométrique de la France, was completed in 1789.[7] The Great Trigonometric Survey of
India, started by the East India Company in 1802, then taken over by the British Raj after 1857 was
notable as a successful effort on a larger scale and for accurately determining heights of Himalayan
peaks from viewpoints over one hundred miles distant.[8]

Global indexing system first developed for International Map of the World

Topographic surveys were prepared by the military to assist in planning for battle and for defensive
emplacements (thus the name and history of the United Kingdom's Ordnance Survey). As such,
elevation information was of vital importance.[9]
As they evolved, topographic map series became a national resource in modern nations in planning
infrastructure and resource exploitation. In the United States, the national map-making function
which had been shared by both the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of the
Interior migrated to the newly created United States Geological Survey in 1879, where it has
remained since.[10][11]
1913 saw the beginning of the International Map of the World initiative, which set out to map all of
Earth's significant land areas at a scale of 1:1 million, on about one thousand sheets, each covering
four degrees latitude by six or more degrees longitude. Excluding borders, each sheet was 44 cm
high and (depending on latitude) up to 66 cm wide. Although the project eventually foundered, it left
an indexing system that remains in use.
By the 1980s, centralized printing of standardized topographic maps began to be superseded by
databases of coordinates that could be used on computers by moderately skilled end users to view
or print maps with arbitrary contents, coverage and scale. For example, the Federal government of
the United States' TIGER initiative compiled interlinked databases of federal, state and local
political borders and census enumeration areas, and of roadways, railroads, and water features with
support for locating street addresses within street segments. TIGER was developed in the 1980s
and used in the 1990 and subsequent decennial censuses. Digital elevation models (DEM) were
also compiled, initially from topographic maps and stereographic interpretation of aerial photographs
and then from satellite photography and radar data. Since all these were government projects
funded with taxes and not classified for national security reasons, the datasets were in the public
domain and freely usable without fees or licensing.
TIGER and DEM datasets greatly facilitated Geographic information systems and made the Global
Positioning System much more useful by providing context around locations given by the technology
as coordinates. Initial applications were mostly professionalized forms such as innovative surveying
instruments and agency-level GIS systems tended by experts. By the mid-1990s, increasingly user-
friendly resources such as online mapping in two and three dimensions, integration of GPS
with mobile phones and automotive navigation systems appeared. As of 2011, the future of
standardized, centrally printed topographical maps is left somewhat in doubt.[12][13]

Uses

Economic Maps
 

topical maps that illustrate various economic phenomena and activities.
A distinction is made between general economic maps, which describe the economy as a whole (includin
g maps of economicregions, territorial-production complexes, economic centers, economic ties, levels of 
economic development, andspecialization of production), and maps of various branches of production an
d spheres of circulation (including industrymaps, agricultural maps, transportation and communications m
aps, and maps of the construction industry and trade andfinances). Maps depicting labor resources and n
atural resources as components of economic activity are also classified aseconomic maps. Resource eval
uation maps (depicting agroclimatological resources, conditions of economic development ofregions, con
servation, and the like) are classified midway between economic maps and maps of the natural world.
The first hand-drawn economic maps in Russia appeared in the late 17th century; printed maps were first 
published in the1840’s. The most important economic maps compiled before the October Revolution were 
made after the reforms of the1860’s, for example, the Statistical  Atlas  of  the Principal Sectors  of  Factory 
Industry in  European  Russia (1869–73) andTrade  and Industry Map of European Russia (1900), compil
ed by V. P. Semenov-Tian-Shanskii.
Economic maps are used to facilitate planning and forecasting the development and location of productiv
e forces as well asfor management of the national economy. The first widely known Soviet economic map 
was the Schematic  Map  of  theElectrification  of  Russia (1921), compiled at the initiative of V. I. Lenin. Co
mpilation of the Great Soviet  Atlas  of  the World(1937) and of the economic and comprehensive atlases o
f the USSR and individual regions of the country represented asignificant contribution to domestic and wo
rld economic cartography. Further achievements in the postwar years haveincluded a series of economic 
atlases of the USSR and other countries, comprehensive atlases of the Union republics, krais,and oblasts
, and economic maps for reference, education, and agitation and propaganda.
REFERENCES
Preobrazhenskii, A. I. Russkie  ekonomicheskie karty i atlasy. Moscow, 1953.

A road map or route map is a map that primarily displays roads and transport links rather

than natural geographical information. It is a type of navigational map that commonly
includes political boundaries and labels, making it also a type of political map. In addition to roads
and boundaries, road maps often include points of interest, such as prominent businesses or
buildings, tourism sites, parks and recreational facilities, hotels and restaurants, as well as airports
and train stations. A road map may also document non-automotive transit routes, although often
these are found only on transit maps.