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Map Reading & Cartography Basics

40 cards · 🇺🇸 English

The history and fundamentals of cartography and map reading.

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What is cartography?

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1What is cartography?
The study and practice of making and using maps, combining science, aesthetics, and technique
2What are the fundamental objectives of traditional cartography?
Set the map's agenda, represent terrain on flat media, eliminate irrelevant characteristics, reduce complexity, and orchestrate elements to convey the message
3What is the earliest known map?
A wall painting that might depict Çatalhöyük, dated to the late 7th millennium BCE, though this is debated
4What ancient maps have been found from Valcamonica?
Prehistoric alpine rock carvings dated to the 4th millennium BCE, showing geometric patterns interpreted as cultivated plots
5What are the oldest surviving world maps?
From 9th century BCE Babylonia, showing Babylon on the Euphrates surrounded by cities and a 'bitter river' (Oceanus)
6Who created the first surviving globe of the Earth?
Martin Behaim, a German cartographer, in 1492
7Who wrote the treatise Geographia on cartography in the 2nd century CE?
Ptolemy, which contained Ptolemy's world map showing the Ecumene (world known to Western society)
8What was the Tabula Peutingeriana?
The only surviving example of Roman itinerarium maps, which portrayed the world as experienced via roads
9What is a Mappa Mundi?
Medieval European maps of the world; about 1,100 are known to have survived
10Who produced the medieval atlas Tabula Rogeriana in 1154?
Muhammad al-Idrisi, an Arab geographer, for Roger II of Sicily
11What was significant about the Tabula Rogeriana?
It remained the most accurate world map for the next three centuries and was divided into seven climatic zones
12Who produced the first map bearing the name 'America' in 1507?
Martin Waldseemüller, with his Universalis Cosmographia, a large 12-panel world wall map
13What is the Mercator projection?
A map projection first published by Gerardus Mercator in 1569 that uses equally-spaced parallel vertical lines of longitude and latitude lines spaced farther apart as they get farther from the equator
14What is the advantage of the Mercator projection?
Courses of constant bearing are conveniently represented as straight lines for navigation
15What is the disadvantage of the Mercator projection?
Regions are shown as increasingly larger than they actually are the further from the equator they are
16Who was the first to use the word 'atlas' to describe a collection of maps?
Gerardus Mercator
17Who created the first true modern atlas in 1570?
Abraham Ortelius, with the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum
18What were the three main functions of maps in the Renaissance?
General descriptions of the world, navigation and wayfinding, and land surveying and property management
19What were the two main printmaking technologies in the Renaissance?
Woodcut (relief) and copper-plate intaglio (engraving)
20How does woodcut printing work for maps?
The map image is created as a relief chiseled from wood; raised areas are inked and pressed against paper
21How does intaglio printing work for maps?
Lines are engraved into metal plates (usually copper); ink is spread and scraped off so it remains only in etched channels, then pressed onto paper
22What technological advances transformed cartography in the early 2000s?
Removal of Selective Availability in GPS (2000), invention of OpenStreetMap (2004), and launch of Google Earth (2005)
23What are the three main types of software used for commercial-quality maps today?
CAD (computer-aided design), GIS (geographic information systems), and specialized illustration software
24What is the difference between general and thematic cartography?
General cartography creates maps for a general audience with a variety of features; thematic cartography creates maps of specific geographic themes for specific audiences
25What is a topographic map?
A map primarily concerned with topographic description of a place, often using contour lines showing elevation
26What is a topological map?
A very general type of map that often disregards scale and detail in favor of communicating specific route or relational information (e.g., London Underground map)
27Who is respected as a master of hand-drawn shaded relief?
Swiss professor Eduard Imhof, whose hill shading method became used around the world
28What is map projection?
A method to flatten the surface of the Earth (or other celestial bodies) onto a plane for mapping
29What is cartographic generalization?
The process of adjusting the level of detail in geographic information to be appropriate for the scale and purpose of a map
30What are map symbols?
Graphical depictions composed of visual variables (size, shape, color, pattern) that represent the location and properties of geographic phenomena