Just Maps

Maps Online

What is a map?

It seems like a relatively simple question to ask "What is a map?"  Often drawn or printed on paper, a geographical map is a representation of an area, or part of an area.  A map shows the relationship of one place to another, such as the distance between towns.  Maps may also indicate height above or below sea level, whether an area is a desert or a forest, or average temperatures and rainfall.  Printed maps may be bound together into a book called an atlas.  You can buy a map in a filling station or draw one on a scrap of paper to show someone the way to the beach. 

The scale of a map will determine how much information can be shown and many map use symbols to indicate places such as camp sites, churches, historic buildings and railway stations. The symbols are explained in a key at the side of the map, avoiding the need to show too much text which could hide features. Sometimes scale is distorted for the purpose of making the map easier to understand.  A famous example of this is the map of the London Underground (the tube).  It is a schematic diagram and shows the relative positions of stations and where passengers can change to different lines.  The only geographical feature on the tube map is the River Thames and even that has been smoothed out for the mapmaker's purpose.

A geographical map is essentially a snapshot of a place in time and old maps are a valuable resource for historians.  Our towns and cities change all the time: roads are widened, buildings are demolished and new ones rise up in their place.  Compare any two maps of the same town, drawn some years apart, as a measure of how much change has been achieved.

Maps may be drawn of the earth, the stars, or the sea, but what about brain mapping, or DNA mapping?  DNA maps may give valuable clues to potential health issues and many genealogists are interested in DNA as a means to help reconstruct family histories.

In recent years, online maps and satellite navigation systems have become readily available.  Most computer users will be familiar with Google Maps and Google Earth among many others and in-car and handheld devices are becoming commonplace.  Fewer paper maps are now printed for sale, but publishers are fighting back with specialist maps for groups of enthusiasts such as cyclists or walkers.