What is Cartography?

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 What is Cartography?


  • Cartography simply describes the making and study of maps.
  • It involves research, exploration and design process of drawing an accurate map.
  • Cartography requires both scientific and artistic specialization to create an effective visual representation of an area.
  • A cartographer is the one who creates maps. 
  • The word ' Cartographer ' comes from a Latin word- " Charta - meaning Tablet or a leaf of paper ", and Greek word " Graphein- means to draw or write something ".
  • Cartographers and Photogrammetrists, usually learn to create maps through educational degrees in the field of Cartography, Geography, Geomatics and Surveying.
  • The fundamental nature of Cartography has changed with the evolving technologies, providing cartographers with new methods of visualization and communication of spatial information.

History of Cartography:

  • The history of Cartography refers to the development and consequences of Cartography or map making technology, throughout human history.
  • Maps have been one of the most important human inventions, allowing humans to explain and navigate their way through the world.
  • Anaximander, is often considered the father of ancient cartography. 
  • Anaximander was a 6th century BCE Greek scientist and geographer who created the first known world map.
  • Whereas, some consider Gerardus Mercator as father of Modern Cartography. Mercator was a 16th century Flemish cartographer, geographer and cosmographer.
  • He is also known as the founder of Netherlandish school of cartography and geography.
  • The earliest maps ignored the Curvature of Earth's surface, both because the shape of Earth was uncertain and because the curvature was not important across small areas being mapped.
  • However, since the age of Classical Greece, maps of large regions, and especially of the world, have used projection from a model globe to control how the inevitable distortion gets apportioned on the map.
  • Modern methods of transportation, use of surveillance aircraft and more recently the availability of satellite imageries have made documentation of many areas possible that were previously inaccessible.
  • Free online services such as Google Earth has made accurate maps of the world more accessible than ever before.




Types of Cartographic Maps:

1. General Reference Maps: Geographical location details such as highways, rivers, lakes, seas, political borders, cities and mountains all are displayed on a general- referenced map. The main purpose of these maps is to summarize the landscape to aid the discovery of locations. These maps often enlarge some features for the aid users. For example, road maps show roads boldly and may use road widths and colors, to distinguish between major and minor roads. Street and Tourist Maps are also good examples of general reference maps.


2. Thematic Maps: These Maps focus on specific theme or topic, such as population density, climate or economic activities. They are used to communicate information and patterns in a visually appealing way. The detail portrayed on a thematic map may be physical, statistical, measured or interpreted and sometimes requires a specialist knowledge by a map user. Weather assessment and Geological Maps are also some of the examples of thematic maps.