WHAT DOES CARTOGRAPHY STUDY? MAIN FEATURES - SCIENCE - 2024

The mapping studies mapping representing different areas of the Earth, or even other planets, as the data will allow.

This job has become easier thanks to technological advances. For centuries cartography had a lot of art and imagination, since there were vast unexplored lands.

According to the International Cartographic Association, cartography is also responsible for studying existing maps, both from a scientific and an artistic point of view.

The word cartography comes from the Greek. It is made up of the ancient words khartēs (map) and graphein (write), which perfectly defines its function.

Human beings have always tried to produce these documents, which help them to better understand their lands and those they are trying to explore.

Features

Cartography refers to the study that is made of the physical characteristics of a territory to be able to capture them on a map.

For this, cartographers need to have knowledge about various subjects such as geography, geometry, statistics and, of course, the ability to reflect all this in a document.

Since the planet is spherical, professionals in this field must use various tools to translate the measurements of this sphere into a flat model.

They also have to take into account that the poles are flattened, so that the scale of the map is adequate. Scale is called the mathematical proportion between reality and what is drawn on the plane.

History

The beginnings

There is no clear consensus on which was the first existing map. It seems clear that the first ones must have been small, only representing the lands surrounding human populations.

Yes, a wall painting is known that could be a plan of the Turkish city of Çatalhöyük, dated in the VII millennium BC. C.

The Greeks are believed to have introduced the scientific method to map making.

Authors like Herodotus or Eratosthenes (who measured the surface of the Earth) made maps, but it was Ptolemy who applied mathematical rules to his. In fact, their world maps were used until the Renaissance.

From the Middle Ages to the present

Centuries later, during the Middle Ages, the maps created used to introduce religious elements.

For example, in many of these Jerusalem appeared as the center of the planet. Of course, only Europe, Asia and Africa, the three continents known to date, appeared.

The printing press and the discovery of America revolutionized this art. A multitude of explorers set out to investigate those unknown territories to include them on the maps.

However, the current degree of accuracy was never reached. The use of airplanes, satellites, radars and other techniques has made the entire land surface and part of the marina perfectly mapped.

Map types

- Political maps

They are those that reflect the different countries, cities and other types of administrative divisions.

- Physical maps

They are those that show the natural elements of each area.

- Climate maps

They are the ones that indicate the different climatic zones.

- Topographic maps

Apart from showing landforms, these maps give data on those features. For example, they can mark the elevation of mountains, hills, or valleys using contour lines.

- Geological maps

In these maps appear the diverse minerals of each zone, the volcanoes and the faults.

References

1. Geoenccyclopedia. What is Cartography? Obtained from geoenciclopedia.com
2. Editors of the Encyclopædia Britannica. Cartography (January 16, 2017). Retrieved from britannica.com
3. Canadian Cartographic Association. What is Cartography ?. Retrieved from cca-acc.org
4. Environmental Science. Cartography: More Than a View From Above. Retrieved from environmentalscience.org
5. Wikipedia. Erastosthenes. Obtained from es.wikipedia.org