Jada

The Cartographer (map maker).

Cartography (from Greek χάρτης khartēs, "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and γράφειν graphein, "write") is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.

The fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to:

Set the map's agenda and select traits of the object to be mapped. This is the concern of map editing. Traits may be physical, such as roads or land masses, or may be abstract, such as toponyms or political boundaries.

Represent the terrain of the mapped object on flat media. This is the concern of map projections.

Eliminate characteristics of the mapped object that are not relevant to the map's purpose. This is the concern of generalization.

Reduce the complexity of the characteristics that will be mapped. This is also the concern of generalization.

Orchestrate the elements of the map to best convey its message to its audience. This is the concern of map design.

cartography as the discipline dealing with the conception, production, dissemination and study of maps. Cartography is also about representation – the map. This means that cartography is the whole process of mapping.

Cartography is a complex, an ever-changing field, but at the center of it is the map-making process. Viewed in the broadest sense, this process includes everything from the gathering, evaluation and processing of source data, through the intellectual and graphical design of the map, to the drawing and reproduction of the final document. As such, it is a unique mixture of science, art and technology and calls for a variety of in-depth knowledge and skills on the part of the cartographer. Sometimes one person directs this entire sequence of cartographic activities, but this occurs only in relatively simple cases. In the creation of a map, it is much more common for the various tasks to be split up and accomplished by several individuals.

Cartography is much more than just map-making, however. It is also an academic discipline in its own right. It has its own professional associations (regional, national and international), journals, conferences, educational programs and its own identity. As a discipline, it embraces not only cartographers who make maps, but also cartographers who teach about maps and cartographers who do research on maps. Once seen as the products of a relatively straightforward practical exercise, maps are now viewed as complex intellectual images offering a rich potential for scientific investigation. Whether the thrust of the research is cognitive, mathematical, historical, perceptual or technological, cartographers are exploiting this potential to the fullest.