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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The Waldseemüller map or Universalis Cosmographia ("Universal Cosmography") is a printed wall map of the world by German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller, originally published in April 1507. It is known as the first map to use the name "America". The name America is placed on South America on the main map. As explained in Cosmographiae Introductio, the name was bestowed in honor of the Italian Amerigo Vespucci.
The map is drafted on a modification of Ptolemy's second projection, expanded to accommodate the Americas and the high latitudes. A single copy of the map survives, presently housed at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. (Full article...)General images -
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“ | Thinking is an experimental dealing with small quantities of energy, just as a general moves miniature figures over a map before setting his troops in action. | ” |
— Sigmund Freud, Anxiety and Instinctual Life |
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![Oceans map](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Oceans.png/500px-Oceans.png)
Did you know
- ... that two My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episodes are said to discuss Marxism and Stalinism?
- ... that the 100 gecs tree was listed as a "place of worship" on Google Maps?
- ... that in 2007, Arthur Gray's £2 Kangaroo and Map stamp sold for a world record price for a single Australian stamp?
- ... 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 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 actress Agnes Mapes had to improvise a complex choreographed dance from basic poses for the 1907 play The Holy City?
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
![HIV per country](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d7/HIV_Epidem.png/550px-HIV_Epidem.png)
Historical
![Early map of North America](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Claude_Bernou_Carte_de_lAmerique_septentrionale.jpg/550px-Claude_Bernou_Carte_de_lAmerique_septentrionale.jpg)
Thematic
![Voyages of Christopher Columbus](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/09/Christopher_Columbus_voyages.gif/300px-Christopher_Columbus_voyages.gif)
Geographic
![Topographic map of the Isle of Man](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/Isle_of_Man_topographic_map-en.svg/300px-Isle_of_Man_topographic_map-en.svg.png)
Political
![Soviet Union administrative divisions](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a1/Soviet_Union_Administrative_Divisions_1989.jpg/300px-Soviet_Union_Administrative_Divisions_1989.jpg)
Nautical
![The Strait of Hormuz](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Strait_of_hormuz.jpg/300px-Strait_of_hormuz.jpg)
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Things you can do
Here are some Geography related tasks you can do:
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Atlases and maps of the world at Wikimedia Commons
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