Finding the Right Map for the Job
Anyone who has ever spent time in a map store or archive will quickly realize that there is so much more to the art of cartography than they ever imagined. The commonality of the standard wall map and atlas are augmented by the existence of maps of all shapes, sizes, and purposes.
Unless you have hours to spend browsing through map inventories, it is best to identify the type of map you need before you ever set foot in a map store or visit one online. Each function has its own map and by narrowing down the function, you can begin to weed out the maps that won’t suit your stated purpose.
Government officials and agencies rely heavily on political maps that show legal borders between countries, states, counties, and other government entities.
Maps that highlight geographical features are used by everyone from hikers and hunters to forest rangers, developers, and scientists conducting research and studies on a given area. Topographical maps fall into this category along with geological maps, wildlife tracking maps, and anything charting the natural world.
Geography students are likely to need world and country maps that combine both political and geographical features.
Urban planners, administrators, businesses, and even residents will find many uses for city maps as they will include valuable local data.
Demographic maps can be used by any number of different social scientists as well as governments, news media, developers, and anyone else wanting to understand the relationships between people and place.
Transportation maps, including road maps, bus routes, highway systems and even nautical maps are all about navigating through space. At some time or other everyone uses these, even if it’s just through the GPS system in their car or cell phone.
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