Map

A map of the Earth made in 1656

Map Media

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  Nautical charts – such as this one of the seas around Culebra – are essential tools for mariners.

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  Robots can sense their environment (the "metric-schematic mesh", bottom) and convert that data to a digital map (upper layers) for use in navigation.

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  Tabula Rogerianacode: la is deprecated , an early world map, by Muhammad al-Idrisi, 1154 (north is down)

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  The Cantino planisphere, created ten years after Columbus's first voyage, included the Americas.

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  Gerardus Mercator created the influential Mercator projection in 1569.

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  This 20th-century map produced by the government of Spain is a general reference map depicting terrain topography, buildings, transportation networks, and water features.

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  On some small-scale maps, the scale varies widely based on latitude. In such maps, a graphic that shows multiple scales (such as the one shown here) can be useful.

• Error creating thumbnail: About to transcode 1 SVG file(s)

  Converting Map_Generalization_simplification_cartography.svg to /var/www/html/w/images/temp/transform_0dccb29f9e76.png ... org.w3c.dom.DOMException: file:/var/www/html/w/images/temp/svg_90484f1797efb2cc7f885e3c/Map_Generalization_simplification_cartography.svg: The attribute "style" represents an invalid CSS declaration ("fill:context-stroke;fill-rule:evenodd;stroke:none"). Original message: The "context-stroke" identifier is not a valid value for the "fill" property. at org.apache.batik.css.engine.CSSEngine.getCascadedStyleMap(CSSEngine.java:824) at org.apache.batik.css.engine.CSSEngine.getComputedStyle(CSSEngine.java:867) at org.apache.batik.bridge.CSSUtilities.getComputedStyle(CSSUtilities.java:81) at org.apache.batik.bridge.CSSUtilities.convertDisplay(CSSUtilities.java:563) at org.apache.batik.bridge.AbstractGraphicsNodeBridge.getDisplay(AbstractGraphicsNodeBridge.java:158) at org.apache.batik.bridge.GVTBuilder.build(GVTBuilder.java:134) at org.apache.batik.bridge.SVGMarkerElementBridge.createMarker(SVGMarkerElementBridge.java:83) at org.apache.batik.bridge.PaintServer.convertMarker(PaintServer.java:137) at org.apache.batik.bridge.PaintServer.convertMarkers(PaintServer.java:94) at org.apache.batik.bridge.SVGDecoratedShapeElementBridge.createMarkerPainter(SVGDecoratedShapeElementBridge.java:67) at org.apache.batik.bridge.SVGDecoratedShapeElementBridge.createShapePainter(SVGDecoratedShapeElementBridge.java:86) at org.apache.batik.bridge.SVGShapeElementBridge.buildGraphicsNode(SVGShapeElementBridge.java:91) at org.apache.batik.bridge.GVTBuilder.buildGraphicsNode(GVTBuilder.java:224) at org.apache.batik.bridge.GVTBuilder.buildComposite(GVTBuilder.java:171) at org.apache.batik.bridge.GVTBuilder.buildGraphicsNode(GVTBuilder.java:219) at org.apache.batik.bridge.GVTBuilder.buildComposite(GVTBuilder.java:171) at org.apache.batik.bridge.GVTBuilder.build(GVTBuilder.java:82) at org.apache.batik.transcoder.SVGAbstractTranscoder.transcode(SVGAbstractTranscoder.java:210) at org.apache.batik.transcoder.image.ImageTranscoder.transcode(ImageTranscoder.java:92) at org.apache.batik.transcoder.XMLAbstractTranscoder.transcode(XMLAbstractTranscoder.java:142) at org.apache.batik.transcoder.SVGAbstractTranscoder.transcode(SVGAbstractTranscoder.java:158) at org.apache.batik.apps.rasterizer.SVGConverter.transcode(SVGConverter.java:1008) at org.apache.batik.apps.rasterizer.SVGConverter.execute(SVGConverter.java:719) at org.apache.batik.apps.rasterizer.Main.execute(Main.java:956) at org.apache.batik.apps.rasterizer.Main.main(Main.java:1009) ERROR: null Enclosed Exception: file:/var/www/html/w/images/temp/svg_90484f1797efb2cc7f885e3c/Map_Generalization_simplification_cartography.svg: The attribute "style" represents an invalid CSS declaration ("fill:context-stroke;fill-rule:evenodd;stroke:none"). Original message: The "context-stroke" identifier is not a valid value for the "fill" property. org.apache.batik.transcoder.TranscoderException: null Enclosed Exception: For input string: "auto-start-reverse" at org.apache.batik.transcoder.SVGAbstractTranscoder.transcode(SVGAbstractTranscoder.java:228) at org.apache.batik.transcoder.image.ImageTranscoder.transcode(ImageTranscoder.java:92) at org.apache.batik.transcoder.XMLAbstractTranscoder.transcode(XMLAbstractTranscoder.java:142) at org.apache.batik.transcoder.SVGAbstractTranscoder.transcode(SVGAbstractTranscoder.java:158) at org.apache.batik.apps.rasterizer.SVGConverter.transcode(SVGConverter.java:1008) at org.apache.batik.apps.rasterizer.SVGConverter.execute(SVGConverter.java:719) at org.apache.batik.apps.rasterizer.Main.execute(Main.java:956) at org.apache.batik.apps.rasterizer.Main.main(Main.java:1009) Caused by: org.apache.batik.bridge.BridgeException: For input string: "auto-start-reverse" at org.apache.batik.bridge.SVGMarkerElementBridge.createMarker(SVGMarkerElementBridge.java:134) at org.apache.batik.bridge.PaintServer.convertMarker(PaintServer.java:137) at org.apache.batik.bridge.PaintServer.convertMarkers(PaintServer.java:94) at org.apache.batik.bridge.SVGDecoratedShapeElementBridge.createMarkerPainter(SVGDecoratedShapeElementBridge.java:67) at org.apache.batik.bridge.SVGDecoratedShapeElementBridge.createShapePainter(SVGDecoratedShapeElementBridge.java:86) at org.apache.batik.bridge.SVGShapeElementBridge.buildGraphicsNode(SVGShapeElementBridge.java:91) at org.apache.batik.bridge.GVTBuilder.buildGraphicsNode(GVTBuilder.java:224) at org.apache.batik.bridge.GVTBuilder.buildComposite(GVTBuilder.java:171) at org.apache.batik.bridge.GVTBuilder.buildGraphicsNode(GVTBuilder.java:219) at org.apache.batik.bridge.GVTBuilder.buildComposite(GVTBuilder.java:171) at org.apache.batik.bridge.GVTBuilder.build(GVTBuilder.java:82) at org.apache.batik.transcoder.SVGAbstractTranscoder.transcode(SVGAbstractTranscoder.java:210) ... 7 more ... error (SVGConverter.error.while.rasterizing.file)

  Examples of the generalization process

A map is an image of the Earth or part of the Earth. A map is different from an aerial photograph because it includes interpretation. Many maps are called "charts" such as star charts and nautical charts. Some maps are of distant worlds. Before the late 20th century almost all maps were on paper. Today, many maps are digital, and can be seen on smartphones and computers. However, physical items such as paper maps, charts, or drawings are still used.

The word "map" can also be used to talk about or show relationships between ideas, people, events, data, and many other subjects. This is why web developers call a list of web pages on a web site a site map.

A Modern Topographic map of a town (Marburg) in a valley. Map symbols: Green Colour is forest in this map, a blue line is a river. Meaning of a ▲ Triangle: Summit of a mountain or hill with its Elevation in m (meter) and the name of the mountain

Many maps today are made using GIS computer systems. These are database systems that are organized by location instead of named records. People who make maps are cartographers.

If a map is on a piece of paper or a computer screen, it has to be projected. This is because the Earth is round and paper and screens are flat. There are a lot of ways that use mathematics to make map projections. The only kind of map of the Earth that is not projected is one drawn on a sphere. This is called a globe.