Geography Essay on Maps and the Essence of Cartography

Maps are of particular importance because they effectively convey geographic and spatial information. Compared to tabular data and textual descriptions, maps are more efficient in representing spatial relationships. As Krygler and Wood (2011) point out, compared to writing or even talking, maps are a very useful component for people to convey locations and they are developing very quickly. As Lemmens (2011) notes, the development of maps has contributed to the age of discovering a lot and also highlights that a map has become a useful tool that can be applied in numerous sectors, including transportation, military, and spatial planning. However, to make good use of maps and make the map readers satisfied with them, map makers or cartographers should try to design informative maps. Even so, it should be noted that maps do not have absolute authority because, at times, they can be limited or in some instances convey wrongful information.

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The purpose of this research paper is to highlight the importance maps in describing the spatial concepts more effectively compared to textual information and tabular data. In addition, since maps makers are usually limited or susceptible to representation of wrongful information, the paper will also highlight some situations in which map readers can be misled by inaccurate cartographic information and give various examples of the misuse of maps in certain scenarios, including zoning disputes and faulty census reports, as well as covering any possible distortion of information from misleading use of color and deliberate oversimplification.

Part A: Importance of Maps over Textual and Tabular data

Historically, information could be represented using textual descriptions and tabular data efficiently. Even so, as the information era quickly evolved and developed, it became difficult for textual descriptions and tabular data to meet the needs of different users. It is for this reason that maps and the cartography, which is the art of creating maps begun gaining preference. According to Crampton (2011), tabular data can present information in a systems way, but the information is not always brief and can be quite lengthy at times, making it tough to describe and establish the spatial relationships. Besides, textual descriptions cost much room, and in some occasions, map readers cannot get and understand the information easily to some extent. Turner (2008) highlights that geographic technology develops quickly and researchers attempt to find avenues to present the various kinds of information using maps. For instance, it can be used in meteorology in representing weather patterns for other purposes.

According to Tversky (2000), even though the worlds that maps represent are 3-dimensional, maps are particularly important because they are 2-dimensional. For this reason, they can cover much information compared to textual or tabular information. Besides, it is easier to portray two-dimensional spaces on a piece of paper compared to 3-dimensional space. In essence, since maps are two-dimensional, it is simpler than portraying spatial information as text or tables, because it is easier to understand. For instance, people readily conceive three-dimensional environments as two-dimensional overviews, which is a remarkable cognitive achievement. Besides, as Tvester (2000) articulates, maps are more permanent that thoughts, tables, textual descriptions, or speech primarily because they are visible to a community. Even though written language, such as texts and tables is prominent among useful cognitive tools, maps can serve the same purpose with great simplicity. Also, they stick to the minds of map users compared to the textual description or tables. Furthermore, what renders the maps more privileged is because maps incorporate space and space elements in space to express the meanings and relations directly. Representing such information in tables or text is cumbersome, and difficult to remember or understand.

Furthermore, maps help convey geographic relationships that can subsequently be analyzed and interpreted by the map readers. Through maps, it is easier to identify geographic or spatial features that connect, adjacent, near, overlap, contained in a particular area, rise above, or along with others, through a simple glance (Kimerling et al., 2010). When explaining such information through text or tables is cumbersome. For this reason, maps make it easier for map readers to establish the spatial connections of features on the ground.

Textual descriptions, as Egenhofer and Kuhn (1999) point out, are ambiguous, and in most instances, they express spatial data, such as how to find certain routes, and this can also incorporate some misinterpretation to users. For this reason, textual descriptions can be limited because they provide an explanation based on the perception of the author. However, the reader can misinterpret such information. However, for maps, such data is accurate, and the map reader just has to visualize the information. In most occasions, the map is not biased, making it an easier means of providing spatial information.

Map elements are also easier to understand. According to Monmoinier (1996), no map user can safely and more efficiently use maps without accurately recognizing and deducing the spatial elements. For this reason, a person can be able to use a map just by comprehending the spatial features, but in some instances, cannot understand such information when textual descriptions or tables are used.

The map frame is the portion that represents the map layers and encompasses aspects, such as roads, elevation, land use, boundaries, the image base, as well as the elevation (ESRI, n.d). For this reason, it is the map element that provides the spatial information. It provides simplicity in viewing the map features primarily because it would be difficult explain the map layers using either text or tables. However, it should be accompanied by the scale. In fact, almost all maps should be accompanied by a scale. The scale is very convenient in predicting the distance when compared to the textual description or tabular data. The scale is representative of the relationship between the map distance and the ground distance (Robinson et al., 1995). However, there are three types of scales: verbal, graphic, and ratio. The ratio scale is mainly a fraction, for example, 1:100,000, as shown in Figure 2.

Map makers use 1 for the left number, which is the distance on the map, and the value on the right, in this case, 100,000, being the actual distance on the ground. In other words, it is the real distance and reveals how small the map is compared to the real ground distance. For large scales, for example, 1:1,500, much detail is encompassed, such as the name of each street and their shape, for example, the scale in Figure 3. However, tiny detail is provided in smaller scale maps, for example, that of Figure 4.

As such, the spatial representations showcased in a map are controlled by the scale. The advantage of scale is that it helps map makers and map readers to provide distance prediction and measurements for planned paths. However, this kind of information is difficult to represent using textual description or tabular data primarily because it might not be possible to transfer all the distances in a map to text or tables. Ideally, if cartographers decide on selecting tables or text, it might take a couple of pages to present it, and this, in consequence, might make it difficult for users of the map to derive meaningful information. In essence, users might get confused finding the distance even if the map maker can use a page of providing the data on a single page. As such, it can be derived that scales are vital in conveying spatial concepts compared to text or tables. Inset maps are vital as the show the location of the map, which is easier compared to explaining where the place is using text or tables.

All maps should have titles, which highlights the succinct description about the maps subject matter, and instantly allows the map user to obtain information about the location of the data (Robinson et al., 1995). The north arrow provides the orientation of the map, thereby allowing the map user to know the direction of the map as it relates to due north direction. The legend is the decoding mechanism of the various symbols used in the data frame and is also referred to as the key. The symbols used in the map are covered in this element, and therefore, this makes maps more effective compared to when tables and textual descriptions were used instead. In essence, symbolization saves the cartographer time to explain the map using text (Robinson et al., 1995). In essence, the symbols are used to describe the map objects, so that map users are not confused. It also allows the map user to instantly decode the map, which can also save time that would have been used reading through textual description or tabular data. Symbols are not restricted to graphics, color, lines, or points; areas can also be represented using them. Besides, it can also be used in representing qualitative or quantitative data of different themes in a map (Robinson et al., 1995). While qualitative data is descriptive information, for example gender which encompasses males and females or racial data, such as African American, Chinese, White, Hindus, or African from a particular study, quantitative information is measurable information, for example income of Hong Kong or Chinese people, which is usually described using statistical map. In essence, the map symbols serve as a graphic code for providing descriptions and differentiating places and features as well as showing the brief idea of the places. For example, figure 5 shows red cross on the map to represent hospital and P on the map to represent car park.

On the other hand, map projections are essential and enable cartographers to show spatial concepts and relationships graphically. In essence, the earth is an oblate spheroid, and projections enable map makers to present the three-dimensional earth. In essence, according to, Monmoiner (1996), map projections is the process of transforming the earth from a three-dimensional earth to a two-dimensional plane. Similarly, it is the transformation of longitudes and latitudes of a position on the earths spherical surface to the map. The are various map projections. An example is an azimuthal projection. In essence, the earths coordinates are projected directly on a flat plane surface, which is usually best for circular areas, for example, the poles (Figure 5.). In essence, with map projections, map users can view the global landforms of the earths surface on a plane at the same time. In effect, the regions, such as lands and seas can be found easily on the map, and thus, the users can conveniently recognize the spatial size, direction, as well as distance for a variety of uses. For instance, tourists can plan their trips without getting lost. Therefore, from maps, people can accurately deduce spatial information, but when such information is presented through tables and text, the clarity is compromised (Smith, 1997). Even so, the test and tables can act as complimentary in presenting explanations, but they cannot effectively depict the spatial concept. For this reason, maps are the most effective tools in providing spatial information.

Cartographic maps, part...