From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A medieval depiction of the
Ecumene (1482, Johannes Schnitzer, engraver), constructed after the coordinates in Ptolemy's
Geography and using his second map projection. The translation into Latin and dissemination of
Geography
in Europe, in the beginning of the 15th century, marked the rebirth of
scientific cartography, after more than a millennium of stagnation.
Cartography (; from Greek χάρτης chartēs, "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and γράφειν graphein, "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics
and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an
imagined reality) can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial
information effectively.
The fundamental objectives of traditional cartography are to:
- Set the map's agenda and select traits of the object to be
mapped. This is the concern of map editing. Traits may be physical, such
as roads or land masses, or may be abstract, such as toponyms or political boundaries.
- Represent the terrain of the mapped object on flat media. This is the concern of map projections.
- Eliminate characteristics of the mapped object that are not relevant to the map's purpose. This is the concern of generalization.
- Reduce the complexity of the characteristics that will be mapped. This is also the concern of generalization.
- Orchestrate the elements of the map to best convey its message to its audience. This is the concern of map design.
Modern cartography constitutes many theoretical and practical foundations of geographic information systems (GIS) and geographic information science (GISc).
History
Ancient times
What
is the earliest known map is a matter of some debate, both because the
term "map" is not well-defined and because some artifacts that might be
maps might actually be something else. A wall painting that might depict
the ancient Anatolian city of Çatalhöyük (previously known as Catal Huyuk or Çatal Hüyük) has been dated to the late 7th millennium BCE. Among the prehistoric alpine rock carvings of Mount Bego (France) and Valcamonica (Italy), dated to the 4th millennium BCE, geometric patterns consisting of dotted rectangles and lines are widely interpreted in archaeological literature as a depiction of cultivated plots. Other known maps of the ancient world include the Minoan
"House of the Admiral" wall painting from c. 1600 BCE, showing a
seaside community in an oblique perspective, and an engraved map of the
holy Babylonian city of Nippur, from the Kassite period (14th – 12th centuries BCE). The oldest surviving world maps are from 9th century BCE Babylonia. One shows Babylon on the Euphrates, surrounded by Assyria, Urartu and several cities, all, in turn, surrounded by a "bitter river" (Oceanus). Another depicts Babylon as being north of the center of the world.
The ancient Greeks and Romans created maps from the time of Anaximander in the 6th century BCE.[10] In the 2nd century CE, Ptolemy wrote his treatise on cartography, Geographia. This contained Ptolemy's world map – the world then known to Western society (Ecumene). As early as the 8th century, Arab scholars were translating the works of the Greek geographers into Arabic.
In ancient China, geographical literature dates to the 5th century BCE. The oldest extant Chinese maps come from the State of Qin, dated back to the 4th century BCE, during the Warring States period. In the book of the Xin Yi Xiang Fa Yao, published in 1092 by the Chinese scientist Su Song, a star map on the equidistant cylindrical projection.
Although this method of charting seems to have existed in China even
before this publication and scientist, the greatest significance of the
star maps by Su Song is that they represent the oldest existent star
maps in printed form.
Early forms of cartography of India included depictions of the pole star and surrounding constellations. These charts may have been used for navigation.
Middle Ages and Renaissance
Mappae mundi
("maps of the world") are the medieval European maps of the world.
About 1,100 of these are known to have survived: of these, some 900 are
found illustrating manuscripts and the remainder exist as stand-alone
documents.
The Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi produced his medieval atlas Tabula Rogeriana (Book of Roger) in 1154. By combining the knowledge of Africa, the Indian Ocean, Europe, and the Far East
(which he learned through contemporary accounts from Arab merchants and
explorers) with the information he inherited from the classical
geographers, he was able to write detailed descriptions of a multitude
of countries. Along with the substantial text he had written, he created
a world map influenced mostly by the Ptolemaic conception of the world,
but with significant influence from multiple Arab geographers. It
remained the most accurate world map for the next three centuries. The map was divided into seven climatic
zones, with detailed descriptions of each zone. As part of this work, a
smaller, circular map was made depicting the south on top and Arabia in
the center. Al-Idrisi also made an estimate of the circumference of the
world, accurate to within 10%.
In the Age of Exploration,
from the 15th century to the 17th century, European cartographers both
copied earlier maps (some of which had been passed down for centuries)
and drew their own, based on explorers' observations and new surveying techniques. The invention of the magnetic compass, telescope and sextant enabled increasing accuracy. In 1492, Martin Behaim, a German cartographer, made the oldest extant globe of the Earth.
In 1507, Martin Waldseemüller produced a globular world map and a large 12-panel world wall map (Universalis Cosmographia) bearing the first use of the name "America". Portuguese cartographer Diego Ribero was the author of the first known planisphere with a graduated Equator (1527). Italian cartographer Battista Agnese produced at least 71 manuscript atlases of sea charts. Johannes Werner refined and promoted the Werner projection.
This was an equal-area, heart-shaped world map projection (generally
called a cordiform projection) which was used in the 16th and 17th
centuries. Over time, other iterations of this map type arose; most
notable are the sinusoidal projection and the Bonne projection.
The Werner projection places its standard parallel at the North Pole; a
sinusoidal projection places its standard parallel at the equator; and
the Bonne projection is intermediate between the two.
In 1569, mapmaker Gerardus Mercator first published a map based on his Mercator projection,
which uses equally-spaced parallel vertical lines of longitude and
parallel latitude lines spaced farther apart as they get farther away
from the equator. By this construction, courses of constant bearing are
conveniently represented as straight lines for navigation. The same
property limits its value as a general-purpose world map because regions
are shown as increasingly larger than they actually are the further
from the equator they are. Mercator is also credited as the first to use
the word "atlas" to describe a collection of maps. In the later years
of his life, Mercator resolved to create his Atlas, a book filled with
many maps of different regions of the world, as well as a chronological
history of the world from the Earth's creation by God until 1568. He was
unable to complete it to his satisfaction before he died. Still, some
additions were made to the Atlas after his death and new editions were
published after his death.
In the Renaissance,
maps were used to impress viewers and establish the owner's reputation
as sophisticated, educated, and worldly. Because of this, towards the
end of the Renaissance, maps were displayed with equal importance of
painting, sculptures, and other pieces of art.
In the sixteenth century, maps were becoming increasingly available to
consumers through the introduction of printmaking, with about 10% of
Venetian homes having some sort of map by the late 1500s.
There were three main functions of maps in the Renaissance:
- General descriptions of the world
- Navigation and wayfinding
- Land surveying and property management
In medieval times, written directions of how to get somewhere were
more common than the use of maps. With the Renaissance, cartography
began to be seen as a metaphor for power.
Political leaders could lay claim on territories through the use of
maps and this was greatly aided by the religious and colonial expansion
of Europe. The most commonly mapped places during the Renaissance were
the Holy Land and other religious places.
In the late 1400s to the late 1500s, Rome, Florence, and Venice
dominated map making and trade. It started in Florence in the mid to
late 1400s. Map trade quickly shifted to Rome and Venice but then was
overtaken by atlas makers in the late 16th century. Map publishing in Venice was completed with humanities and book publishing in mind, rather than just informational use.
Printing technology
There were two main printmaking technologies in the Renaissance: woodcut and copper-plate intaglio, referring to the medium used to transfer the image onto paper.
In woodcut, the map image is created as a relief chiseled from
medium-grain hardwood. The areas intended to be printed are inked and
pressed against the sheet. Being raised from the rest of the block, the
map lines cause indentations in the paper that can often be felt on the
back of the map. There are advantages to using relief to make maps. For
one, a printmaker doesn't need a press because the maps could be
developed as rubbings. Woodblock is durable enough to be used many times
before defects appear. Existing printing presses can be used to create
the prints rather than having to create a new one. On the other hand, it
is hard to achieve fine detail with the relief technique.
Inconsistencies in linework are more apparent in woodcut than in
intaglio. To improve quality in the late fifteenth century, a style of
relief craftsmanship developed using fine chisels to carve the wood,
rather than the more commonly used knife.
In intaglio, lines are engraved into workable metals, typically
copper but sometimes brass. The engraver spreads a thin sheet of wax
over the metal plate and uses ink to draw the details. Then, the
engraver traces the lines with a stylus to etch them into the plate
beneath.
The engraver can also use styli to prick holes along the drawn lines,
trace along them with colored chalk, and then engrave the map. Lines
going in the same direction are carved at the same time, and then the
plate is turned to carve lines going in a different direction. To print
from the finished plate, ink is spread over the metal surface and
scraped off such that it remains only in the etched channels. Then the
plate is pressed forcibly against the paper so that the ink in the
channels is transferred to the paper. The pressing is so forceful that
it leaves a "plate mark" around the border of the map at the edge of the
plate, within which the paper is depressed compared to the margins.
Copper and other metals were expensive at the time, so the plate was
often reused for new maps or melted down for other purposes.
Whether woodcut or intaglio, the printed map is hung out to dry.
Once dry, it is usually placed in another press to flatten the paper.
Any type of paper that was available at the time could be used to print
the map on, but thicker paper was more durable.
Both relief and intaglio were used about equally by the end of the fifteenth century.
Lettering
Lettering
in mapmaking is important for denoting information. Fine lettering is
difficult in woodcut, where it often turned out square and blocky,
contrary to the stylized, rounded writing style popular in Italy at the
time.
To improve quality, mapmakers developed fine chisels to carve the
relief. Intaglio lettering did not suffer the troubles of a coarse
medium and so was able to express the looping cursive that came to be
known as cancellaresca. There were custom-made reverse punches that were also used in metal engraving alongside freehand lettering.
Color
The first
use of color in map-making cannot be narrowed down to one reason. There
are arguments that color started as a way to indicate information on the
map, with aesthetics coming second. There are also arguments that color
was first used on maps for aesthetics but then evolved into conveying
information.
Either way, many maps of the Renaissance left the publisher without
being colored, a practice that continued all the way into the 1800s.
However, most publishers accepted orders from their patrons to have
their maps or atlases colored if they wished. Because all coloring was
done by hand, the patron could request simple, cheap color, or more
expensive, elaborate color, even going so far as silver or gold gilding.
The simplest coloring was merely outlines, such as of borders and along
rivers. Wash color meant painting regions with inks or watercolors.
Limning meant adding silver and gold leaf to the map to illuminate
lettering, heraldic arms, or other decorative elements.
Early-Modern Period
The Early Modern Period saw the convergence of cartographical
techniques across Eurasia and the exchange of mercantile mapping
techniques via the Indian Ocean.
In the early seventeenth century, the Selden map
was created by a Chinese cartographer. Historians have put its date of
creation around 1620, but there is debate in this regard. This map's
significance draws from historical misconceptions of East Asian
cartography, the main one being that East Asians didn't do cartography
until Europeans arrived. The map's depiction of trading routes, a
compass rose, and scale bar points to the culmination of many map-making
techniques incorporated into Chinese mercantile cartography.
In 1689, representatives of the Russian tsar and Qing Dynasty met
near the border town of Nerchinsk, which was near the disputed border
of the two powers, in eastern Siberia. The two parties, with the Qing negotiation party bringing Jesuits
as intermediaries, managed to work a treaty which placed the Amur River
as the border between the Eurasian powers, and opened up trading
relations between the two. This treaty's significance draws from the
interaction between the two sides, and the intermediaries who were drawn
from a wide variety of nationalities.
The Enlightenment
Maps of the Enlightenment
period practically universally used copper plate intaglio, having
abandoned the fragile, coarse woodcut technology. Use of map projections
evolved, with the double hemisphere being very common and Mercator's
prestigious navigational projection gradually making more appearances.
Due to the paucity of information and the immense difficulty of
surveying during the period, mapmakers frequently plagiarized material
without giving credit to the original cartographer. For example, a
famous map of North America known as the "Beaver Map" was published in
1715 by Herman Moll. This map is a close reproduction of a 1698 work by Nicolas de Fer. De Fer, in turn, had copied images that were first printed in books by Louis Hennepin, published in 1697, and François Du Creux,
in 1664. By the late 18th century, mapmakers often credited the
original publisher with something along the lines of, "After [the
original cartographer]" in the map's title or cartouche.
Modern period
A pre-Mercator nautical chart of 1571, from Portuguese cartographer
Fernão Vaz Dourado (c. 1520–c. 1580). It belongs to the so-called
plane chart
model, where observed latitudes and magnetic directions are plotted
directly into the plane, with a constant scale, as if the Earth were a
plane (Portuguese National Archives of Torre do Tombo, Lisbon).
Mapping can be done with
GPS and
laser rangefinder directly in the field. Image shows mapping of forest structure (position of trees, dead wood and canopy).
In cartography, technology has continually changed in order to meet
the demands of new generations of mapmakers and map users. The first
maps were produced manually, with brushes and parchment; so they varied
in quality and were limited in distribution. The advent of magnetic
devices, such as the compass and much later, magnetic storage devices, allowed for the creation of far more accurate maps and the ability to store and manipulate them digitally.
Advances in mechanical devices such as the printing press, quadrant, and vernier allowed the mass production of maps and the creation of accurate reproductions from more accurate data. Hartmann Schedel
was one of the first cartographers to use the printing press to make
maps more widely available. Optical technology, such as the telescope, sextant, and other devices that use telescopes, allowed accurate land surveys and allowed mapmakers and navigators to find their latitude by measuring angles to the North Star at night or the Sun at noon.
Advances in photochemical technology, such as the lithographic and photochemical processes,
make possible maps with fine details, which do not distort in shape and
which resist moisture and wear. This also eliminated the need for
engraving, which further speeded up map production.
In the 20th century, aerial photography, satellite imagery, and remote sensing
provided efficient, precise methods for mapping physical features, such
as coastlines, roads, buildings, watersheds, and topography. The United
States Geological Survey has devised multiple new map projections,
notably the Space Oblique Mercator for interpreting satellite ground tracks
for mapping the surface. The use of satellites and space telescopes now
allows researchers to map other planets and moons in outer space. Advances in electronic technology ushered in another revolution in cartography: ready availability of computers and peripherals
such as monitors, plotters, printers, scanners (remote and document)
and analytic stereo plotters, along with computer programs for
visualization, image processing, spatial analysis, and database
management, have democratized and greatly expanded the making of maps.
The ability to superimpose spatially located variables onto existing
maps has created new uses for maps and new industries to explore and
exploit these potentials. See also digital raster graphic.
In the early years of the new millennium, three key technological advances transformed cartography: the removal of Selective Availability in the Global Positioning System
(GPS) in May 2000, which improved locational accuracy for
consumer-grade GPS receivers to within a few metres; the invention of OpenStreetMap
in 2004, a global digital counter-map that allowed anyone to contribute
and use new spatial data without complex licensing agreements; and the
launch of Google Earth
in 2005 as a development of the virtual globe EarthViewer 3D (2004),
which revolutionised access to satellite and aerial imagery. These
advances brought more accuracy to geographical and location-based data
and widened the range of applications for cartography, for example in
the development of satnav devices.
Today most commercial-quality maps are made using software of three main types: CAD, GIS and specialized illustration software. Spatial information can be stored in a database,
from which it can be extracted on demand. These tools lead to
increasingly dynamic, interactive maps that can be manipulated
digitally.
Field-rugged computers, GPS, and laser rangefinders make it possible to create maps directly from measurements made on site.
Deconstruction
There are technical and cultural aspects to producing maps. In this
sense, maps can sometimes be said to be biased. The study of bias,
influence, and agenda in making a map is what comprise a map's deconstruction.
A central tenet of deconstructionism is that maps have power. Other
assertions are that maps are inherently biased and that we search for
metaphor and rhetoric in maps.
It is claimed that the Europeans promoted an "epistemological" understanding of the map as early as the 17th century.
An example of this understanding is that "[European reproduction of
terrain on maps] reality can be expressed in mathematical terms; that
systematic observation and measurement offer the only route to
cartographic truth…".
17th-century map-makers were careful and precise in their strategic
approaches to maps based on a scientific model of knowledge. Popular
belief at the time was that this scientific approach to cartography was
immune to the social atmosphere.
A common belief is that science heads in a direction of progress,
and thus leads to more accurate representations of maps. In this belief
European maps must be superior to others, which necessarily employed
different map-making skills. "There was a 'not cartography' land where
lurked an army of inaccurate, heretical, subjective, valuative, and
ideologically distorted images. Cartographers developed a 'sense of the
other' in relation to nonconforming maps."
Although cartography has been a target of much criticism in recent decades, a cartographer's 'black box' always seemed to be naturally defended to the point where it overcame the criticism. However, to later scholars in the field, it was evident that cultural influences dominate map-making.
For instance, certain abstracts on maps and the map-making society
itself describe the social influences on the production of maps. This
social play on cartographic knowledge "…produces the 'order' of [maps']
features and the 'hierarchies of its practices.'"
Depictions of Africa are a common target of deconstructionism.
According to deconstructionist models, cartography was used for
strategic purposes associated with imperialism and as instruments and
representations of power during the conquest of Africa. The depiction of Africa and the low latitudes in general on the Mercator projection
has been interpreted as imperialistic and as symbolic of subjugation
due to the diminished proportions of those regions compared to higher
latitudes where the European powers were concentrated.
Maps furthered imperialism and colonization of Africa in
practical ways by showing basic information like roads, terrain, natural
resources, settlements, and communities. Through this, maps made
European commerce in Africa possible by showing potential commercial
routes and made natural resource extraction possible by depicting
locations of resources. Such maps also enabled military conquests and
made them more efficient, and imperial nations further used them to put
their conquests on display. These same maps were then used to cement
territorial claims, such as at the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885.
Before 1749, maps of the African continent had African kingdoms
drawn with assumed or contrived boundaries, with unknown or unexplored
areas having drawings of animals, imaginary physical geographic
features, and descriptive texts. In 1748, Jean B. B. d'Anville created
the first map of the African continent that had blank spaces to
represent the unknown territory. This was revolutionary in cartography and the representation of power associated with map making.
Map types
General vs. thematic cartography
Small section of an orienteering map.
In understanding basic maps, the field of cartography can be divided
into two general categories: general cartography and thematic
cartography. General cartography involves those maps that are
constructed for a general audience and thus contain a variety of
features. General maps exhibit many reference and location systems and
often are produced in a series. For example, the 1:24,000 scale
topographic maps of the United States Geological Survey
(USGS) are a standard as compared to the 1:50,000 scale Canadian maps.
The government of the UK produces the classic 1:50,000 (replacing the
older 1 inch to 1 mile) "Ordnance Survey"
maps of the entire UK and with a range of correlated larger- and
smaller-scale maps of great detail. Many private mapping companies have
also produced thematic map series.
Thematic cartography involves maps of specific geographic themes, oriented toward specific audiences. A couple of examples might be a dot map showing corn production in Indiana or a shaded area map of Ohio counties, divided into numerical choropleth
classes. As the volume of geographic data has exploded over the last
century, thematic cartography has become increasingly useful and
necessary to interpret spatial, cultural and social data.
A third type of map is known as an "orienteering," or special
purpose map. This type of map falls somewhere between thematic and
general maps. They combine general map elements with thematic attributes
in order to design a map with a specific audience in mind. Oftentimes,
the type of audience an orienteering map is made for is in a particular
industry or occupation. An example of this kind of map would be a
municipal utility map.
Topographic vs. topological
A topographic map is primarily concerned with the topographic description of a place, including (especially in the 20th and 21st centuries) the use of contour lines showing elevation. Terrain or relief can be shown in a variety of ways (see Cartographic relief depiction).
In the present era, one of the most widespread and advanced methods
used to form topographic maps is to use computer software to generate digital elevation models
which show shaded relief. Before such software existed, cartographers
had to draw shaded relief by hand. One cartographer who is respected as a
master of hand-drawn shaded relief is the Swiss professor Eduard Imhof
whose efforts in hill shading were so influential that his method became
used around the world despite it being so labor-intensive.
A topological map
is a very general type of map, the kind one might sketch on a napkin.
It often disregards scale and detail in the interest of clarity of
communicating specific route or relational information. Beck's London Underground map
is an iconic example. Although the most widely used map of "The Tube,"
it preserves little of reality: it varies scale constantly and abruptly,
it straightens curved tracks, and it contorts directions. The only
topography on it is the River Thames,
letting the reader know whether a station is north or south of the
river. That and the topology of station order and interchanges between
train lines are all that is left of the geographic space. Yet those are all a typical passenger wishes to know, so the map fulfills its purpose.
Map design
Modern technology, including advances in printing, the advent of Geographic information systems and Graphics software, and the Internet,
has vastly simplified the process of map creation and increased the
palette of design options available to cartographers. This has led to a
decreased focus on production skill, and an increased focus on quality design, the attempt to craft maps that are both aesthetically pleasing and practically useful for their intended purposes.
Map purpose and audience
A
map has a purpose and an audience. Its purpose may be as broad as
teaching the major physical and political features of the entire world,
or as narrow as convincing a neighbor to move a fence. The audience may
be as broad as the general public or as narrow as a single person.
Mapmakers use design principles to guide them in constructing a map that
is effective for its purpose and audience.
Cartographic process
The cartographic process spans many stages, starting from conceiving
the need for a map and extending all the way through its consumption by
an audience. Conception begins with a real or imagined environment. As
the cartographer gathers information about the subject, they consider
how that information is structured and how that structure should inform
the map's design. Next, the cartographers experiment with generalization, symbolization, typography,
and other map elements to find ways to portray the information so that
the map reader can interpret the map as intended. Guided by these
experiments, the cartographer settles on a design and creates the map,
whether in physical or electronic form. Once finished, the map is
delivered to its audience. The map reader interprets the symbols and
patterns on the map to draw conclusions and perhaps to take action. By
the spatial perspectives they provide, maps help shape how we view the
world.
Aspects of map design
Designing
a map involves bringing together a number of elements and making a
large number of decisions. The elements of design fall into several
broad topics, each of which has its own theory, its own research agenda,
and its own best practices. That said, there are synergistic effects
between these elements, meaning that the overall design process is not
just working on each element one at a time, but an iterative feedback
process of adjusting each to achieve the desired gestalt.
- Map projections:
The foundation of the map is the plane on which it rests (whether paper
or screen), but projections are required to flatten the surface of the
earth. All projections distort this surface, but the cartographer can be
strategic about how and where distortion occurs.
- Generalization:
All maps must be drawn at a smaller scale than reality, requiring that
the information included on a map be a very small sample of the wealth
of information about a place. Generalization is the process of adjusting
the level of detail in geographic information to be appropriate for the
scale and purpose of a map, through procedures such as selection,
simplification, and classification.
- Symbology:
Any map visually represents the location and properties of geographic
phenomena using map symbols, graphical depictions composed of several visual variables, such as size, shape, color, and pattern.
- Composition: As all of the symbols are brought together, their interactions have major effects on map reading, such as grouping and Visual hierarchy.
- Typography or Labeling:
Text serves a number of purposes on the map, especially aiding the
recognition of features, but labels must be designed and positioned well
to be effective.
- Layout:
The map image must be placed on the page (whether paper, web, or other
media), along with related elements, such as the title, legend,
additional maps, text, images, and so on. Each of these elements have
their own design considerations, as does their integration, which
largely follows the principles of Graphic design.
- Map type-specific design: Different kinds of maps, especially thematic maps, have their own design needs and best practices.
Cartographic errors
Some maps contain deliberate errors or distortions, either as propaganda or as a "watermark"
to help the copyright owner identify infringement if the error appears
in competitors' maps. The latter often come in the form of nonexistent,
misnamed, or misspelled "trap streets". Other names and forms for this are paper towns, fictitious entries, and copyright easter eggs.
Another motive for deliberate errors is cartographic "vandalism":
a mapmaker wishing to leave their mark on the work. Mount Richard, for
example, was a fictitious peak on the Rocky Mountains' continental divide that appeared on a Boulder County, Colorado
map in the early 1970s. It is believed to be the work of draftsman
Richard Ciacci. The fiction was not discovered until two years later.
Sandy Island
in New Caledonia is an example of a fictitious location that stubbornly
survives, reappearing on new maps copied from older maps while being
deleted from other new editions.
Professional and learned societies
Professional and learned societies include:
- International Cartographic Association (ICA), the world body for mapping and GIScience professionals, as well as the ICA member organizations
- British Cartographic Society (BCS) a registered charity in the UK dedicated to exploring and developing the world of maps
- Society of Cartographers supports in the UK the practising cartographer and encourages and maintains a high standard of cartographic illustration
- Cartography and Geographic Information Society
(CaGIS), promotes in the U.S. research, education, and practice to
improve the understanding, creation, analysis, and use of maps and
geographic information. The society serves as a forum for the exchange
of original concepts, techniques, approaches, and experiences by those
who design, implement, and use cartography, geographical information
systems, and related geospatial technologies.
- North American Cartographic Information Society
(NACIS), A North American-based cartography society that is aimed at
improving communication, coordination and cooperation among the
producers, disseminators, curators, and users of cartographic
information. Their members are located worldwide and the meetings are on
an annual basis
- Canadian Cartographic Association (CCA)
