Cartography

Cartography is the creation and the study of maps and charts and map design - the difference being that maps apply to land and charts are for marine areas , It has a long tradition going back at least 4000 years; inextricably tied to geography for most of its history, in the 20th century it has diversified as it becomes more relevant in an increasingly digital modern world. Despite the advent of GIS, the two disciplines are not competing with each other, but complementing each other through a cross-disciplinary approach.

Cartography is a complex, an ever-changing field, but at the center of it is the map-making process. Viewed in the broadest sense, this process includes everything from the gathering, evaluation and processing of source data, through the intellectual and graphical design of the map, to the drawing and reproduction of the final document. As such, it is a unique mixture of science, art and technology and calls for a variety of in-depth knowledge and skills on the part of the cartographer. Sometimes one person directs this entire sequence of cartographic activities, but this occurs only in relatively simple cases. In the creation of a map, it is much more common for the various tasks to be split up and accomplished by several individuals.

Cartography is much more than just map-making, however. It is also an academic discipline in its own right. It has its own professional associations (regional, national and international), journals, conferences, educational programs and its own identity. As a discipline, it embraces not only cartographers who make maps, but also cartographers who teach about maps and cartographers who do research on maps. Once seen as the products of a relatively straightforward practical exercise, maps are now viewed as complex intellectual images offering a rich potential for scientific investigation. Whether the thrust of the research is cognitive, mathematical, historical, perceptual or technological, cartographers are exploiting this potential to the fullest.

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