cartography

=Cartography=

toc Read here about the art of map-making, a graphical skill that relates to the creation of scalometers.

=Overview= Cartography (from Greek chartis = map and graphein = write) is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.

Cartography had to solve a problem of distortion endemic to the mapmaking activity, namely the proportion of the map to reality, and the warping needed to transform a globe into a flat surface. Such distortions are inevitable in any superscale survey, and we look to cartography for ideas on how to make such distortions plain and overt to the scalometer's user.

=Problems Of Cartography= The fundamental problems 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.

=Links= See Mercator, Atlas.

Other pages that relate to map making: include component="pageList" hideInternal="true" tag="maps" limit="100"