Cartography
http://designorati.com/articles/t1/cartography/

Klein, Samuel John
Designorati
2005

Abstract:

Maps take many forms, many themes, and many expressions, ranging from the straightforward city street map to the specialized terrain and statistical displays used by scientists and sports affectionados to highly sophisticated cartograms used by researchers and thesis-writers. All this work stands upon the shoulders of giants. Without hundreds of years of work and refinement, without the maps of Ptolemy and the projections of Mercator, there could never have been the common gas-station street map, and neither could there have been the highly technological GIS systems of today. Designorati:Cartography aims to explore the origins, view the state of the art, and guess at the future of the common (and uncommon) map. Maps abstract the world so we may comprehend it better. Maps also speak thier own language, but it’s one we can all learn. Maps are sometimes made with an agenda and a message, and sometimes just to inform. And maps, in an indirect way, reflect our own image. It is, in and of itself, an exploration. Designorati:Cartography hopes to become an explorers guide to that realm.