CG::Remote Sensing

Cartography is much more than map-making. I define cartography as the art and science of the map-making process. The process involves many different aspects, however, so my simplistic definition does not do complete justice to the field. Therefore, I provide two additional definitions:

"Cartography is the art, science and technology of making maps together with their study as scientific documents and works of art"
- British Cartographic Society

"Cartography is the discipline dealing with the conception, production, dissemination and study of maps."
-International Cartographic Association, 10th General Assembly, 1995.

Cartography, and its more familiar technical aspect, map-making, is arguably as old as culture itself. Imagine yourself as a Mesolithic (8500BC-4000BC) hunter/gatherer, and perhaps scratching in the dirt or mud the location of food, water, or shelter for your fellow tribesmen. No archaeological evidence survives that event actually happened, though it is easy to imagine that the event did.

The earliest map forms that have survived to present day come from the region of Mesopotamia and are Babylonian clay tablets. The Chinese and Greeks simultaneously began to develop more sophisticated maps. The Han dynasty began producing maps on silk. The Greeks receive most of the credit for early efforts in mapping, however. Eratosthenes accurately calculated the circumference of the earth about 200BC. Ptolemy, about 300 years later, defined the elements of cartography and proposed map projections and coordinate systems that are still used today.

The religious ferver of the Middle Ages was a setback for cartography, in general, as maps became less accurate and more ecclesiastic. Maps tended to reflect a religious bias rather than achieving locational accuracy. A variety of map, the T-O map, illustrates the bias, with the world divided into Europe, Africa, and Asia, and centered on either Rome or Jerusalem. On the other hand, Islam was in its Golden Age, and muslim cartographers, such as Al-Idrisi, continued the Greek cartographic traditions.

A new map projection, developed by Mercator, emerged from the Middle Ages and allowed seafarers a means of traveling from place to place using a rhumb line, a line of constant bearing. The shape of the earth was further defined, laying the foundations for a common reference system in the 17th Century. In the 19th Century, the Greenwich Prime Meridian helped finalize the latitude & longitude coordinate system.

The 20th Century gave birth to a multitude of range-finding instruments, such as radar, sonar, and laser. The advanced devices further defined the size and shape of the earth. Satellite technology has allowed for greater locational precision and accuracy. The synergy created through integration of satellite technology, computers, software, and people have completely transformed cartography. The Internet has brought cartography fully into the domain of the individual, whether they realize it or not.

"Cartography is the art, science and technology of making maps together with their study as scientific documents and works of art"
- British Cartographic Society

"Cartography is the discipline dealing with the conception, production, dissemination and study of maps."
-International Cartographic Association, 10th General Assembly, 1995.