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A map is a symbolic depiction emphasizing relationships between elements of some space, such as objects, regions, or themes.

Many maps are static, fixed to paper or some other durable medium, while others are dynamic or interactive. Although most commonly used to depict geography, maps may represent any space, real or fictional, without regard to context or scale, such as in brain mapping, DNA mapping, or computer network topology mapping. The space being mapped may be two dimensional, such as the surface of the Earth, three dimensional, such as the interior of the Earth, or even more abstract spaces of any dimension, such as arise in modeling phenomena having many independent variables.

Although the earliest maps known are of the heavens, geographic maps of territory have a very long tradition and exist from ancient times. The word "map" comes from the medieval Latin: Mappa mundi, wherein mappa meant 'napkin' or 'cloth' and mundi 'the world'. Thus, "map" became a shortened term referring to a two-dimensional representation of the surface of the world. (Full article...)

Cartography (/kɑːrˈtɒɡrəfi/; from Ancient Greek: χάρτης chartēs, 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and γράφειν graphein, 'write') is the study and practice of making and using 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. (Full article...)

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A contour line (also isoline, isopleth, isoquant or isarithm) of a function of two variables is a curve along which the function has a constant value, so that the curve joins points of equal value. It is a plane section of the three-dimensional graph of the function $f(x,y)$ parallel to the $(x,y)$ -plane. More generally, a contour line for a function of two variables is a curve connecting points where the function has the same particular value.

In cartography, a contour line (often just called a "contour") joins points of equal elevation (height) above a given level, such as mean sea level. A contour map is a map illustrated with contour lines, for example a topographic map, which thus shows valleys and hills, and the steepness or gentleness of slopes. The contour interval of a contour map is the difference in elevation between successive contour lines. (Full article...)

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The following are images from various map-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1A well-composed transit map of Istanbul, with a high degree of contrast between the symbols, creating a strong visual hierarchy (transit lines are and look most important), figure-ground, and selectivity (the green national rail line can be isolated when necessary). Also note the harmonizing subdued tones of green and blue in the background. (from Cartographic design)
Image 2The equidistant projection with Tissot's indicatrix of deformation (from Scale (map))
Image 3Lambert's normal cylindrical equal-area projection with Tissot's indicatrix of deformation (from Scale (map))
Image 4The world according to Anaximenes, c. 500 BC (from History of cartography)
Image 5Clay tablet with map of the Babylonian city of Nippur (c. 1400 BC) (from History of cartography)
Image 6Reconstruction of Pomponius Mela's world map. (from History of cartography)
Image 7The Propaganda Map, a 1529 version of the Padrón Real now held by the Vatican Library. (from History of cartography)
Image 8A graphical or bar scale. A map would also usually give its scale numerically ("1:50,000", for instance, means that one cm on the map represents 50,000cm of real space, which is 500 meters) (from Scale (map))
Image 9Surviving fragment of the first World Map of Piri Reis (1513) showing parts of the Americas. (from History of cartography)
Image 10The Mercator 1569 world map (from History of cartography)
Image 11Map of Biscayne National Park, Florida, using a variety of point symbols, along with line and area symbols. Note the use of coordinated fill and stroke symbols for the national park area to solve the challenge of a water boundary. (from Cartographic design)
Image 12"Mapa de los Estados Unidos de Méjico by John Distrunell, the 1847 map used during the negotiations of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ending the Mexican–American War. (from History of cartography)
Image 13A chorochromatic map of world land cover, using hue, value, and saturation to differentiate nominal values (from Cartographic design)
Image 14Illustrated map (from Cartographic design)
Image 15A portrait of a mapmaker looking up intently from his charts and holding a caliper, 1714. (from History of cartography)
Image 163D cartography of Washington State, Mount Rainier National Park, Pinnacle Peak trail. (from Cartographic design)
Image 17World Map by Juan de la Cosa (1500), the first map showing the Americas. (from History of cartography)
Image 18A US civil war hachure paper map made in 1867 by Cartographer Nathaniel Michler vs. modern aerial photos over Chancellorsville, Virginia (from History of cartography)
Image 19Charles Joseph Minard's map of Napoleon's Russian campaign of 1812 (1844) has been long recognized as a masterwork of cartographic design at a time when such was difficult and rare. (from Cartographic design)
Image 20The pundit (explorer) cartographer Nain Singh Rawat (19th century) received a Royal Geographical Society gold medal in 1876. (from History of cartography)
Image 21A chart of an unidentified area (from History of cartography)
Image 22The Fra Mauro map, a medieval European map, was made around 1450 by the Italian monk Fra Mauro. It is a circular world map drawn on parchment and set in a wooden frame, about two meters in diameter. (from History of cartography)
Image 23The world according to Hekatæus, 500 BC (from History of cartography)
Image 24The Winkel tripel projection with Tissot's indicatrix of deformation (from Scale (map))
Image 25World map Theatrum Orbis Terrarum by Ortelius (1570) (from History of cartography)
Image 26Blaeu's world map, originally prepared by Joan Blaeu for his Atlas Maior, published in the first book of the Atlas Van Loon (1664) (from History of cartography)
Image 27A survey of Boston Harbor from Atlantic Neptune. (from History of cartography)
Image 28Nautical chart by Pedro Reinel (c. 1504), one of the first based on astronomical observations and to depict a scale of latitudes. (from History of cartography)
Image 29Martin Behaim's Erdapfel (1492) is considered to be the oldest surviving terrestrial globe. (from History of cartography)
Image 30Al-Masudi's world map (10th century) (from History of cartography)
Image 31The Da Ming Hun Yi Tu map, dating c. 1390, exists in multicolour format. (from History of cartography)
Image 32Map of the Holy Land, Pietro Vesconte, 1321. Described by Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld as "the first non-Ptolemaic map of a definite country". (from History of cartography)
Image 33The Yu Ji Tu, or Map of the Tracks of Yu Gong, carved into stone in 1137, located in the Stele Forest of Xi'an. This 3 ft (0.91 m) squared map features a graduated scale of 100 li for each rectangular grid. China's coastline and river systems are clearly defined and precisely pinpointed on the map. Yu Gong is in reference to the Chinese deity described in the geographical chapter of the Classic of History, dated 5th century BC. (from History of cartography)
Image 34The Equal Earth projection (2018), an increasingly popular equal-area pseudocylindrical projection for world maps (from Cartographic design)
Image 35Possibly the oldest surviving map has been engraved on this mammoth tusk, dated to 25,000 BC, found from Pavlov in the Czech Republic. (from History of cartography)
Image 36The world according to Herodotus, 440 BC (from History of cartography)
Image 37CIA map of Iraq, following typical labeling guidelines to maximize legibility and association (from Cartographic design)
Image 38The Mercator projection with Tissot's indicatrix of deformation. (The distortion increases without limit at higher latitudes) (from Scale (map))
Image 39The Gough Map, a road map of 14th-century Britain (from History of cartography)
Image 40Modern version of the Roman Tabula Peutingeriana (5th century). (from History of cartography)
Image 41A map of Sikkim, India using shaded relief and hypsometric tints (a form of isarithm) to visualize terrain (from Cartographic design)
Image 42An early Western Han dynasty (202 BC – 9 AD) silk map found in tomb 3 of Mawangdui Han tombs site, depicting the Kingdom of Changsha and Kingdom of Nanyue in southern China (note: the south direction is oriented at the top, north at the bottom). (from History of cartography)
Image 43The first Japanese printed map to depict the world, including Europe and America. Printed by woodblock in 1710, composed by the Buddhist monk Rokashi Hotan. (from History of cartography)
Image 44A bar scale with the nominal scale expressed as "1:600 000", meaning 1 cm on the map corresponds to 600,000 cm=6 km on the ground. (from Scale (map))
Image 45Infinitesimal elements on the sphere and a normal cylindrical projection (from Scale (map))
Image 46Scale variation near the equator for the tangent (red) and secant (green) Mercator projections. (from Scale (map))
Image 47The Tabula Rogeriana, drawn by Muhammad al-Idrisi for Roger II of Sicily in 1154. Note that the north is at the bottom, and so the map appears "upside down" compared to modern cartographic conventions. (from History of cartography)
Image 48The Salviati Planisphere, a 1526 version of the Padrón Real provided by Charles V to the cardinal who officiated his wedding to Isabella of Portugal. (from History of cartography)
Image 49Map of the “Inhabited Quarter” by Sadiq Isfahani from Jaunpur c.1647. This was one of the only surviving Indian made maps. (from History of cartography)
Image 50A general map of the world by Samuel Dunn, 1794, containing star chart, map of the Solar System, map of the Moon and other features along with Earth's both hemispheres. (from History of cartography)
Image 51The cartographic process (from Cartographic design)
Image 52Scale variation for the Lambert (green) and Gall (red) equal area projections. (from Scale (map))
Image 53Infinitesimal elements on the sphere and a normal cylindrical projection (from Scale (map))
Image 54Universalis Cosmographia, the Waldseemüller wall map dated 1507, depicts the Americas, Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific Ocean separating Asia from the Americas, by the Italian Amerigo Vespucci. (from History of cartography)

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“

The map is not the territory ... The only usefulness of a map depends on similarity of structure between the empirical world and the map...

”

— Alfred Korzybski

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WikiProject Atlas at Wikimedia Commons

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John Paul Goode (21 November 1862 – 5 August 1932), a geographer and cartographer, was one of the key geographers in American geography’s Incipient Period from 1900 to 1940 (McMaster and McMaster 306). Goode was born in Stewartville, Minnesota on November 21, 1862. Goode received his bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota 1889 and his doctorate in economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1903. In 1901-1902, Goode was a member of the faculty at Eastern Illinois State Normal School (now Eastern Illinois University), where he taught physics and geography (Eastern Illinois University iv). Later on in 1903, he was offered a position as a professor in the Geography Department at the University of Chicago (Haas and Ward 241, 243). (Full article...)

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Credit: Abraham Ortelius

The Maris Pacifici is believed to be the first printed map of the Pacific. It was published in Abraham Ortelius' 1589 Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, considered to be the first true modern atlas.

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