Unit 2
Unit 2
Unit 2
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UNIT 2
MAPS
Structure
2.1 Introduction 2.6 Map Drawing Equipments
Expected Learning Outcomes 2.7 Summary
2.2 Definition and Types of Maps 2.8 Terminal Questions
2.3 History of Maps 2.9 Answers
2.4 Basic Elements of Maps 2.10 References and Suggested
2.5 Importance and Usage of Maps Further Reading
2.1 INTRODUCTION
You have already studied the basic concepts of cartography in the previous
Unit-1. In this unit, you will study about maps including their types, history,
basic elements, and usage of maps. Map is a pictorial representation of the
whole earth or a part of the earth on plane surface to scale. From the ancient
periods to the present, it is considered as one of the important and effective
tools. You will study about the maps and their history in Sections 2.2 & 2.3.
Basic elements of maps and usage of maps are discussed in Section 2.4 &
2.5. In Section 2.6, we will explain about the various equipments generally
used in the process of map making.
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A map is a pictorial depiction of whole earth or its part into two dimensional
surface involving geometrical objects, colours, symbols and texts. The term
map has been derived from the Latin term ‘mappa’ meaning the cloth-paper on
which early maps were inscribed. It has been defined by various geographers
and scholars from time to time. The most important definitions are as given
below:
It may be understood that maps have been very useful tools from ancient
times concerned with the demarcation of territory, expansion of territory,
exploration of new continents/lands, navigation, resource locations, etc. Now
the maps are useful in day to day life. It begins with the record of property as
every land owner, be it geographer or non-geographer, literate or illiterate, tries
to keep the map record of his or her property. It goes very advanced and
sophisticated way in public navigation and strategic usage. Maps represent the
locations and features of earth surface and their attributes or properties
attached to them. The advantage is that it presents in visual form the reality of
an area, large or small, in terms of its objects, features and phenomena in
spatially arranged relationships. It helps in viewing and reading the topographic
features and properties of them on the earth surface drawn on simple small
paper. In turn, it also helps in locating distance, direction and bearing,
connectivity and contiguity/neighbourhood and proximity, etc. Besides, it also
helps in observing and understanding the spatial relationships among all
features and their properties on the earth surface and its environment. “A map
lets us see the broader spatial relations that exist over large areas or the
details of microscopic particles. It is said that a map saves thousand words by
its own symbolic language or communication efficiency (Robinson, p. 10). Let
us now discuss various types of maps.
Types of Maps
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1 Basic Concepts
Maps
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1. Scale
The maps drawn on or larger than 1:10,000 scale are considered as large
scale maps. It goes to as high as very large scale maps to a scale of 1:500.
Such kind of maps includes cadastral or land parcel maps, settlement maps,
etc. and topographical maps (Fig. 2.1).
Cadastral maps: Cadastral maps are the maps of land properties or land
parcels/plots. The term cadastral has been derived from the French term
‘Cadestre’ meaning the ‘register of territorial property.’ There are various terms
of these maps used in India like Khasra/Jamabandi/Girdwari/Khatauni Map, etc.
where the term Khasra number denotes the plot or parcel number. These
maps are drawn to demarcate the parcel or plot boundaries or houses by the
government agencies mainly the department of Revenue and Land Records
for taxes and other revenue and development purposes accompanied with the
tabular information called khatian or khatauni. These both- Cadastral Maps and
Khatian make the record of property rights, where the records match in both
documents- map and khatian. The map contains the parcel/plot wise khasra
number and the khatian keeps the record of size, location, extent, type, uses
and ownership details. The scale of cadastral maps are generally 1:3990 or 1:
4000 scale and the settlement maps go upto as large as 16, 32 and 64 inches
to one mile. These may be called very large scale maps.
Wall maps: Wall maps are drawn on a smaller scale to show the whole world,
a hemisphere, a continent or a country. The scale also varies depending on the
area of interest.
Atlas maps: These are very small scale highly generalized maps of the world
or different regions of the world. These map show major physical features,
settlements, transport networks and important landmarks. In India, various
types of atlases are prepared by various government agencies like National
Thematic Mapping Organization (NATMO), National Bureau of Soil Survey
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(NBSS), All India Land Use & Soil Survey (AILU&SS), National Remote
Sensing Centre (NRSC), Census of India, etc.
(a)
(b)
(b)
Fig. 2.1: Examples of large scale map a) cadastral map and b) topographical
map.
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2. Theme and Purpose
The maps are also classified based on their themes and functions or
purposes. These may further be divided as natural and cultural maps based on
broad themes (Fig. 2.2).
Physical maps: Physical maps are those maps which represent different
physical features. The example of this category of maps are the astronomical
maps showing astronomical or heavenly features, orographic or relief maps
showing relief features of the earth surface (comprising lowest and highest
surfaces, slope, drainage, waterbodies, etc.), geological maps showing
geological features (interior of the earth, fold, fault, structure, etc.), weather or
climatic maps showing temperature, pressure, wind direction, rainfall, diurnal
maps, seasonal maps etc.), vegetation maps showing forest species, type
and boundaries, soil map showing soil type, boundaries and land development
plan, hydrological maps, slope map, etc. These maps are also prepared in 3D
models on paper, plastic or clay.
Cultural maps: Cultural maps are those which represent the cultural
landscapes of the earth surface. The human beings have modified the pristine
natural landscape by building their settlements, industries, transport networks,
health and education facilities, dams and bridges, etc. The features created by
humans are categorised as cultural features. Depending on the purpose, these
are further subdivided as thematic maps. These are historical maps, political
maps, administrative maps, military or strategic maps, population maps,
socio-cultural maps, land use maps, transport and communication maps, etc.
Historical maps show historical events and reigns through boundaries and
locations, political maps show political boundaries, administrative maps show
various administrative boundaries, military or strategic maps show various
strategic points, routes and battle plans etc., population maps show various
aspects of population like population size, distribution, density, sex ratio,
literacy and education, employment, fertility, etc., socio-cultural maps show
ethnicity or races, tribes, castes, religion, languages, etc., under relevant
titles, land use maps show the utilizations of land parcel by parcel or in a
regionalized way, transport and communication maps show transport and
communication, resource maps show various resources, economic maps
show economic activities and development over the space, etc.
3. Techniques of Representation
(a)
(b)
Fig. 2.2: Examples of a) physical and b) cultural maps.
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SAQ 1
What is map? What are the bases for classification of maps?
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
Fig. 2.3: Representation of maps a) choropleth, b) chorochromatic, c) choro-schematic, and d) dot.
(Source: Baraik, V.K. (2020): “Languages”, Space and Society in Human Geography, IGNOU: New Delhi).
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very notional kind without proper measurements. Egyptians have been the
pioneers in making systematic maps for the purpose of revenue. However,
Greek geographers prepared the early modern cartographic maps after 16th
Century. The oldest maps were from Babylonian civilization engraved on the
clay in about 2300 B.C.
The Greek geographers like Hecataeus (500 BC), Aristotle (384–322 BC),
Eratosthenes (276-194 BC), Ptolemy (98-168 AD), etc. in early times
discovered the earth’s shape and size, poles, equator, tropics, climatic zones,
graticules and projections. Various maps including that of world drawn by
Ptolemy in his great work ‘Geographia’ is the landmark of Greek cartography.
He has tried to show the entire world using mathematical aspects of
geography, though, the maps were not refined ones. The Romans prepared
the disc maps for administrative and military purposes. They prepared
‘Peutinger Table’ showing major roads with military posts. The Arab
geographers also prepared maps after publication of Geographia with world
map in 15th Century AD (1482).
“The discovery of Geographia during 15th Century, the invention of printing and
engraving, and the age of discoveries, all these exerted a great force in ushering
towards the renaissance of map-making. The Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese,
the Germans and the Dutch with their successive efforts perfected the art of
drawing maps to such an extent that map publishing became a very lucrative
business during 16th Century.” Till this time, a great influence on map making
was from Ptolemy’s Geographia. Followed by this, Mercator also contributed
with greater accuracy than Ptolemy to make the maps.
In the medieval period a map called T-O or T and O Map was also popular with
religious importance where Jerusalem was placed at the Centre of the world.
The world was shown as divided into three schematic parts: Asia, Europe, and
Africa. You may see some of these early maps in Fig 2.4.
During 19th and 20th Centuries, the map-making techniques further got
accelerated due to remarkable advancements in science and technology,
representation techniques of the earth and also the printing technology. Mono
colour maps have been replaced by the multicolour maps. A number of
national atlases were prepared during this phase. These were further
accentuated by the aerial photography during the First World War, which kept
progressing with the refinement of computing, computer graphics and printing
technology. All these are supported by the rapid advancements in the satellite
26 remote sensing and other surveying tools and technologies. Now also with the
Unit 2
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advancements of GIS technologies, the maps have got transformed into smart
maps. These maps have the ability to answer end number of spatial questions.
The geo-database has enabled maps to retain the behavioural properties of a
geographical feature in the maps and respond to the questions accordingly.
In India, the survey of Raja Todarmal for revenue collection has been regarded
as the early beginning in the field of survey and mapping. The Survey of India
was established in 1767 by the East India Company and carried forward by the
Government of India from the Imperial Government after independence for
survey and mapping of the country. First modern survey was started in 1802
with the beginning of Geographical and Mathematical Survey in India by
Colonel William Lambton, a Geographer and Geodesist. This survey was later
on designated as Great Trigonometrical Survey (GTS) in 1818 and led by Albert
Everest after Lambton.
SAQ 2
How has the map evolved historically? Explain.
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Scale
Scale is the ratio between the distance on map and the actual distance on the
ground. The representation of earth or even a piece of area cannot be done on
a piece of paper practically without fixing a proportional geometric shape or
symbols representing the features on the earth as paper cannot always be of
the same size of the area under representation. For this reason, the maps are
drawn on small piece of papers of varying sizes using some representative
proportions where certain distance or size of representing features on the
paper is true to the fixed proportionate size on the ground. For example one
centimetre line on paper may represent one kilometre distance on the actual
ground. This is exactly called ‘Scale.’ The formal or scientific definition of scale
is the ratio between the distance on map and the actual distance on the
ground. It is expressed as:
Map distanace between two points
Scale =
Ground distance between the same points
The map scales are of three types: statement, numeric and graphic. You will
study the same in details in the next unit 3.
Title
North
Arrow
Neatline
Symbol
Colour
Text
Legend
Scale
Map
Source
Reference Grid
Though references to the spatial locations are of different types, these may
include pin code, distance and direction from a known point, house number
(alpha-numeric). Grid reference defines location of any spatial features on the
map. It may be latitude and longitude and also in the form of alpha-numerical
grids for reference.
Different symbols are used in the map to represent spatial features and
phenomena along with their properties. Legend presents the index of the
symbols used in a map with self explanatory description of relevant line,
polygon, point, colour, pattern, texture, intensity, alpha-numeric letters or tags,
etc.
Neatline
Neatline is the line bordering the geographical data (outline) of the area of
representation. It may be called the outer boundary of the map having various
designs of lines.
Titles
Titles and sub-titles are the identities of any map written normally on the top of
a map. It consists of region name, theme and year/time period, etc.
Accuracy
SAQ 3
What is the importance of conventional signs, symbols and colours?
SAQ 4
What is the importance of map?
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2.6 MAP DRAWING EQUIPMENTS
There are two modes of cartography and therefore two types of map drawing
equipments-Traditional and Digital. The traditional map drawing equipments
are less in practice now after the rapid revolution in survey, computing,
graphics and printing technologies in the digital formats. However, the modern
or digital technologies are primarily based on the traditional techniques only.
Therefore, it is inevitable to know the traditional techniques and equipments for
understanding the modern tools and techniques. The list of equipments given
below is generally used for map making.
Softwares:
Map Making
Web Mapping
Since last one decade, the rapid technological developments are gradually
replacing the traditional map making equipments.
SAQ 5
What are the map drawing equipments?
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2.7 SUMMARY
In this unit, you have studied so far:
Definition of maps and map types based on scale, projection and purpose
or usage.
History and evolution of maps from ancient time to the modern period
characterized by sophisticated technologies.
Importance and usage of maps which have become the inevitable part of
our everyday lives in some form or the other.
2.9 ANSWERS
Self-Assessment Questions
1. A map is a pictorial depiction of whole earth or its part into two dimensional
surface involving geometrical objects, colour, symbols and texts. The
bases of classification of maps are scale, projection and purpose or usage
of maps.
2. Map has evolved from rudimentary to conventional, then to digital and now
smart maps in the digital category.
4. Maps have become the part of everyday life in deciding what is located
where and what has to be done where.
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Terminal Questions
1. Give definitions of map and discuss the importance and types of various
maps. Refer to the Section 2.2.
2. Write about the evolution of maps since early period to the contemporary
time period. Refer to the Section 2.3.
3. List and explain the basic elements of maps and also write about their
importance in a map. Refer to the Section 2.4.
4. Discuss why maps are important and useful. Refer to the Section 2.5.
Robinson, A., Morrison, J.L., Muehrcke, P.C., Kimerling, A.J. and Guptill,
S.C. (2011). Elements of Cartography, 6th edition. New York: Wiley.
https://www.insa.nic.in/writereaddata/UpLoadedFiles/IJHS/
Vol21_1_4_RDRoy.pdf.
https://etc.usf.edu/maps/pages/10400/10489/10489.html
https://www.britannica.com/science/map/Maps-and-geography-in-the-
ancient-world
https://www.princeton.edu/~his291/T-O_Map.htmll
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