What is "maps"

List modern maps:

• Google Maps
• List of online map services
• Mapquest
• Maps of the United Kingdom and Ireland
• Map of the United States
• NASA World Wind

Many maps are two-dimensional, geometrically accurate (or roughly accurate) static representations of three-dimensional space, while others are dynamic or interactive, even three-dimensional.

Although most commonly used to describe geography, maps can represent any space, real or imagined, without regard to context or scale; for example. brain mapping, DNA mapping, and extraterrestrial mapping.

Many, but not all, maps are drawn to scale, expressed as a ratio, such as 1:10,000, meaning that one of any measuring unit on the map corresponds exactly or approximately to 10,000 of the same device on the ground.

World maps or large areas are often either "political" or "physical". topographic maps show elevations and relief with contour lines or shading. geological maps show not only the physical surface, but features of the underlying rock, line faults, and subsurface structures.

Maps that describe the surface of the Earth also use a projection, a way to translate the real three-dimensional surface of the Geoidal to a two-dimensional image. Perhaps the best known projection map of the world is the Mercator projection, originally conceived as a form of nautical chart.

Aircraft pilots use aeronautical charts based on a Lambert-conforming conical projection, in which a cone is placed over the section of the earth to be mapped.

From the last quarter of the 20th century, the cartographer’s indispensable tool has been the computer. Much of the cartography, especially at the level of data collection research, was incorporated by the Geographic Information Systems (GIS).