Oct 7
What is a Map? What is It Used For? All Its Features and Areas of Use
- Hakan GÜNGÖR
- Oct 7
- 8 min read
We learn about our destination, the climate , the upcoming weather, and various other factors from maps. While we don't often use them on paper these days, it's a fact that we use maps daily or frequently. After all, if a new cafe has opened, we're going to a new job interview, or if your friends have already arrived, it's natural to glance at its location. So, generally speaking, what is a map? While it's a fundamental question, the answer isn't the map shown on Google Maps; it's much more. Enough chatter, let's take a general look at what a map is for and how to create it!
Contents
What is a Map?
A map is a bird's-eye view of the entire Earth, or a specific portion of it, rendered on a plane at a specific scale. While this definition may seem simple at first glance, maps play a critical role in many areas, from navigation and analysis to planning and decision-making.
What is the Use of a Map?
Maps visualize the geological, physical, political, or human characteristics of a specific geographic area, providing readers with spatial data. This allows maps to be used in location finding, orientation, planning, analysis, and decision-making.
What are the Map Elements?
The question "What are the map elements?" can be answered as follows:
Title: Where the map is showing.
Scale: The scale of the map.
Legend (Notation Key): Meaning explanations of symbols.
Directional Arrow: Generally points north.
Geographic Coordinate: Latitude and longitude of the map.
What is the synonym for Map?
Instead of map, you might say: sketch, outline, route, chart, plan, diagram, sketch, drawing, graph, blueprint, or atlas. These words refer to various ways of visually representing geographic or spatial information.
Why Use a Map?
We primarily use maps to understand, navigate, and plan activities in the physical world. Maps are symbolic representations of areas, using symbols, lines, and colors to show features such as rivers, roads, cities, mountains, and distances at scale. This helps us visualize what places actually look like and estimate distances between different locations, facilitating planning and decision-making.
Maps serve many practical purposes:
They help plan walking, driving or cycling routes by showing terrain, elevation and landmarks.
They help navigate unfamiliar areas and locate certain features such as hills, rivers, or historical sites.
Professionals such as urban planners use maps to decide where to build infrastructure or how to design communities.
They provide valuable information for outdoor activities such as hiking or cycling, showing the slope of the terrain and approximate travel times.
Maps are also important in legal and territorial contexts, such as property lines and international borders.
It enables analysis to improve communities, prepare for emergencies, and plan for the future.
Map Scales
Map scale is the relationship or ratio between a distance on a map and the corresponding real-world distance on the ground. It indicates how much the real world is reduced to fit on the map. There are three common ways to express this scale:
Fractional or Ratio Scale: Expressed as a fraction or ratio, such as 1:50,000, meaning that 1 unit on the map equals 50,000 units in reality. This is an exact way to indicate scale.
Linear (Bar) Scale: A graphical representation shown as a bar with distances marked corresponding to real-world lengths, useful for directly measuring distances on a map.
Verbal Scale: Explains the scale with words like “one inch equals one mile” and expresses the distance between the map and the ground in an easy-to-understand way.
Large Scale Map
A large-scale map is a map that shows a smaller geographic area in greater detail. It has a larger representation ratio, or proportion, meaning the denominator in the scale (for example, 1:10,000) is smaller than that of a small-scale map. This higher scale ratio means that objects on the map are shown larger and more accurately than their actual size.
Large-scale map features include:
They cover smaller areas such as towns, neighborhoods, parks, or campuses.
They provide more detailed information such as street names, building outlines, parks, and other features.
Typical large-scale maps have a scale ratio of around 1:250,000 or greater, and often go down to 1:10,000 or even more detailed for things like city plans or walking maps.
Useful for detailed navigation, urban planning, engineering, and activities where precision is important.
Small Scale Map
A small-scale map is a map that represents a very large geographic area but contains less detail. It has a small representation ratio or proportion, meaning the denominator on the scale is large (for example, 1:1,000,000), so one unit on the map corresponds to many units on the ground.
Small-scale map features include:
They cover large areas such as countries, continents, or the entire world.
The scale is usually less than 1:250,000, often around 1:1,000,000 or smaller.
Because the area they cover is large, these maps show general features rather than precise details.
They are useful for illustrating large-scale geographic patterns, climate zones, transportation networks, and regional or global planning.
It is often used in atlases, textbooks, and to understand spatial relationships across large regions.
Differences Between Small-Scale Maps and Large-Scale Maps
A scale map tells you a lot about the area, but it's always better to examine the map based on its scale. So, we've prepared a quick comparison table to help you better understand the difference between large and small scales:
Large Scale Map | Small Scale Map |
Provides more detail in smaller spaces. | It gives less detail over larger areas. |
It covers smaller geographic areas such as towns, neighborhoods, or parks. | It covers large areas such as countries, continents, or the entire world. |
It contains high detail; buildings, streets, specific structures and details are shown. | It contains low detail; cities are shown as dots and natural elements are simplified. |
Used in urban planning, engineering, detailed orientation, walking or city street maps. | Atlases are used for global or regional overview maps, climate and broad spatial pattern maps. |
Features appear larger and more realistic. | Features are shown smaller and more generalized, with less detail. |
Usually a scale of 1:25,000 or larger (small denominator). | Usually a scale of 1:250,000 or smaller (large denominator). |
How to Make a Map?
Modern mapmaking begins with the collection and integration of diverse location data from numerous sources, including aerial imagery, satellite data , lidar scans , and ground surveys. These sources provide a wealth of information about the Earth's surface, including topography , infrastructure, and natural features. The data is then processed and analyzed before being cleaned, aligned, and combined, creating the comprehensive datasets that form the basis of today's maps.
The map created varies depending on the techniques and methods used to collect data.
Projection Methods
These are mathematical methods used to transfer the Earth's curved surface onto flat map paper. Each type of projection results in varying degrees of distortion in features such as shape, area, distance, or angle. The appropriate method is selected based on the map's purpose, scale, and area covered.
Cylindrical Projection
The Earth's surface is depicted as if it were wrapped around the equator in a cylinder. While accurate results are obtained near the equator, significant distortions occur at the poles. It is frequently used in nautical charts and world maps.
Conical Projection
The Earth's surface is transferred to a cone, which is then expanded and spread out onto a plane. It is suitable for mid-latitude countries because distortion is minimal in these regions. It is often preferred for regional maps.
Plane Projection
Surface information is drawn by projecting it from the center onto a single plane. Directional and distance accuracy is high in small areas. It is used in maps for special purposes, such as polar regions or air transportation.
Isohyps Method
Landforms are represented using contour lines. Each line corresponds to a specific elevation. The frequency of the contour lines indicates the steepness of the slope. This is the most common method of topographic representation.
Coloring Method
Elevation differences are represented by different shades of color. Lowlands are shown in green, while high mountainous areas are shown in brown. This provides a quick visual understanding of the terrain. It is frequently used in educational maps. Elevations are displayed in different colors from 0 to 2500 meters and above.
Embossing Method
Surface features are physically elevated or depressed, making them accessible to the touch. They are used in education and in maps designed for the visually impaired. They provide a realistic perception of topography.
Scanning Method
Elevation differences are expressed as line densities. Lines are denser in steep areas and sparser in flat areas. Black-and-white maps are preferred.
Shading Method
Surface features are shaded by assuming sunlight is coming from a specific angle. This enhances the three-dimensional perception of the terrain, creating maps that are highly visual and easy to interpret. It is often used in physical maps .
Photogrammetric Method
Three-dimensional modeling of the land surface using photographs taken from the air or space Measurements are made using images taken from vehicles such as aircraft or drones. It is frequently used in topographic map production and provides detailed, precise data.
Geodetic Method
It is the drawing of a map using direct measurements on the ground. Points are determined using trilateration (distance) and trigonometry. Large-scale maps (detailed plans), in particular, are prepared using this method. It provides real-time location measurements on the ground .
Digital Map Methods (Digital Methods)
Maps are produced by processing digital data in a computer environment. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are the primary tool in this method. They work in integration with technologies such as satellite imagery, GPS, and lidar. Today, the most common and up-to-date maps are produced using this method.
Satellite Image Based Drawing
Land details are transferred to the digital environment using high-resolution satellite imagery. Elements such as buildings, roads, and agricultural fields are drawn using vectors. It integrates with geographic information systems (GIS) software and is used to produce up-to-date, highly accurate maps covering large areas. It is particularly effective in urban planning, environmental management, and natural disaster analysis .
Hand Drawing
It's a manual drawing on paper using technical tools. Maps are drawn using tools such as rulers, compasses, and pencils. While this was once the primary method, it's now preferred for educational purposes, preliminary sketches, or nostalgic drawings.
What is Cartography?
Cartography primarily refers to cartography, the study and practice of making and using maps. It combines science, art, and technology to effectively represent spatial information on flat surfaces by modeling real or imaginary environments. Cartography involves selecting features to map, representing terrain through map projections, simplifying details through generalization, and designing maps for specific purposes and audiences.
In a broader scientific context, cartography involves using maps as tools to analyze relationships between different phenomena; essentially, the creation and study of maps is a scientific process. Scientists from various fields create and use maps to visualize and interpret data, facilitating spatial understanding in disciplines such as geology, geography, and environmental science.
What is the Oldest Map?
The mammoth tusk map found in the village of Pavlov, Czech Republic, is thought to be the world's oldest known map, dating back to 25,000 BC. The map also shows the foothills where the river meets the clay slopes, represented by a double circle.
Speaking of Turkey, according to an article , the world's oldest map was made on a cave wall in Çatalköyük, south of Konya, in 6200 B.C. The discovered map, measuring 3 meters long and 90 centimeters wide, features a bird's-eye view of Çatalhöyük and Mount Hasan.
Who Drawn the First Map?
Anaximander (610–546 BC), the visionary philosopher of ancient Greece, is known for creating one of the earliest known world maps, marking a significant turning point in the development of cartography. A particularly striking aspect of this achievement is its circular design, with the Aegean Sea at its center and the world's known land masses radiating outward, surrounded by a vast ocean.
Comments