Portal:Maps
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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 parallel to the -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...)General images -
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“ | Typical Englishman John Smith is more concerned about David Beckham's fitness than his own wife's. Typical Chinese man Som Young Guy is not trying to grow the population of his country for over one month. Typical German Jurgen wants to check from the map that where about in Europe the cheating Uruguay is located. | ” |
— Aki Riihilahti |
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![Kamianets-Podilskyi map](https://cdn.statically.io/img/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/Kamianets-Podilskyi_map_1691.jpg/500px-Kamianets-Podilskyi_map_1691.jpg)
Did you know
- ... that the 100 gecs tree was listed as a "place of worship" on Google Maps?
- ... that actress Agnes Mapes had to improvise a complex choreographed dance from basic poses for the 1907 play The Holy City?
- ... that DeepStateMap.Live, an interactive map of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, received up to 120,000 visitors in 30 minutes during the Battle of Izium in the 2022 Kharkiv counteroffensive?
- ... that the actress Lottie Williams was one of the cakewalk dancers depicted on the front cover of the sheet music for Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag"?
- ... that in 2007, Arthur Gray's £2 Kangaroo and Map stamp sold for a world record price for a single Australian stamp?
- ... that the Canadian League for Peace and Democracy organized a 10,000-person rally at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto to protest a 2,500-person fascist rally?
Topics
Map - Atlas - Geography - Topography
Cartography: Cartographers - History of cartography - Ancient world maps - World maps - Compass rose - Generalization - Geographic coordinate system - Geovisualization - Relief depiction - Scale - Terra incognita - Planetary cartography
Map projection: Azimuthal equidistant - "Butterfly" - Dymaxion - Gall–Peters - General Perspective - Goode homolosine - Mercator - Mollweide - Orthographic - Peirce quincuncial - Robinson - Sinusoidal - Stereographic
Maps: Animated mapping - Cartogram - Choropleth map - Estate map - Geologic map - Linguistic map - Nautical chart - Pictorial map - Reversed map - Road atlas - Thematic map - Topographic map - Weather map - Web mapping - World map
Map examples
World
Historical
![Nova totius terrarum orbis geographica ac hydrographica tabula, 1635](https://cdn.statically.io/img/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/Willem_Blaeu_-_Nova_totius_terrarum_orbis_geographica_ac_hydrographica_tabula.png/550px-Willem_Blaeu_-_Nova_totius_terrarum_orbis_geographica_ac_hydrographica_tabula.png)
Thematic
![Tornado Alley](https://cdn.statically.io/img/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Tornado_Alley.gif/300px-Tornado_Alley.gif)
Geographic
![Yellowstone's calderas](https://cdn.statically.io/img/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/Yellowstone_Caldera_map2.jpg/300px-Yellowstone_Caldera_map2.jpg)
Political
![Political map of Oceania](https://cdn.statically.io/img/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f0/Oceania_ISO_3166-1.svg/300px-Oceania_ISO_3166-1.svg.png)
Nautical
![Ocean currents in the north Atlantic](https://cdn.statically.io/img/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c4/Ocean_currents_1943_Gulf_Stream.png/300px-Ocean_currents_1943_Gulf_Stream.png)
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Atlases and maps of the world at Wikimedia Commons
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