The flat cards

They are those that are built assuming that the surface of the Earth is flat, so the course and distance are consistent with this. They were widely used in the Mediterranean until the beginning of the century.[18]​.

Changes in map production run parallel to changes in technology. The biggest leap occurred from the Middle Ages when instruments such as the quadrant "Quadrant (instrument)") and the compass were invented, which allow measuring the angles with respect to the polar star and the Sun. These instruments made it possible to determine latitude to finally capture it on maps.[19]​.

In so-called flat charts, the observed latitudes and magnetic directions are represented directly on the map, with a constant scale, as if the Earth were flat.

Later evolution

In cartography, technology has continually changed to meet the demands of new generations of map makers and map readers. The first maps were made manually with quills on parchment; therefore, they varied in quality and their distribution was very limited. The introduction of magnetic devices, such as the compass, allowed the creation of maps of different scales that were more accurate and easier to store and manipulate.

Advances in mechanical devices such as the printing press, the quadrant (instrument) and the vernier, used to enable mass production of maps and the ability to make more accurate reproductions of data. Optical technology, such as the telescope, sextant, and other devices, allowed more accurate examination of the Earth and increased the ability of map makers and navigators to find its latitude by measuring angles with the North Star at night or at noon.

Advances in photochemical technology, such as lithographic and photomechanical processes, have allowed for the creation of maps that have fine detail, do not warp in shape, and are resistant to moisture and wear. This also eliminated the need for engraving, which in the future shortened the time it took to make and reproduce maps.

Advances in electronic technology in the century led to another revolution in cartography. The availability of advances in computing, hardware, and its peripherals, such as monitors, plotters, printers, scanners (remote and document), and analytical stereo plotters, together with computer programs for visualization, image processing, spatial analysis, and database management, have contributed to what has been called neogeography, popularizing its knowledge and expanding map making.

The spatial ability to locate variables on existing maps, together with the creation of new applications for map management, have enabled the emergence of new industries exploring these potentials. The use of current techniques such as satellite photography has, in recent times, facilitated the creation of more precise cartographic maps. This has immediate consequences for other sciences and studies that depend on cartography for their development.

In addition, currently we can develop 3D maps using software intended for this, which takes the visualization of these maps one step further.[20]​.

Currently most commercial quality maps are made using software, which is grouped into three main types:.

Spatial information can be stored in a database, from which it can be extracted on demand. These tools increasingly lead to dynamic maps and interactive maps, which can be manipulated digitally.

General and thematic cartography

According to basic maps, the field of cartography can be divided or separated 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 display many references and location systems are often produced in series. For example, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) 1:24,000 scale topographic maps are a standard over 1:50,000 scale Canadian maps. The UK government produces the classic "Ordnance Survey" 1:63,360 (1 inch per mile) maps of the entire United Kingdom along with a range of larger, very small scale maps correlated in great detail.

Thematic Cartography involves maps of specific geographic themes, oriented towards specific audiences. A couple of examples might be the dot map showing corn production in Indiana or a shaded area map of Ohio counties, divided into numerical classes. While the volume of geographic data has evolved enormously over the last century, thematic mapping has become increasingly useful and necessary to interpret spatial, cultural and social data.[21] For example, social networks are mapped georeferentially, maps are also made that show distance between people (in number of links or steps that separate them). The timeline can also be considered a map or chart. From its use in navigation, techniques have been perfected that are recovered to guide web navigation. In sociology and communication, the cartographer's job is also cited as a strategy to stay on track in a fluid world.

The orienteering sport map combines general and thematic cartography, designed for a very specific user community. The most prominent thematic element is shaded, which indicates degrees of difficulty of the route due to the vegetation. The vegetation itself is not identified, being classified simply by the difficulty (“struggle”) that it presents.

Geometrization crossed a large part of the visual culture of modern sciences,[22]​ it affected the images themselves and also the ways of seeing. Man created methods that made phenomena that could not be known except through the sense of touch, taste or smell, now be visualized. This rationalization of the gaze rested on the productions of the classics of modernity, and the maps of modernity were not alien to that gaze, representing isomorphisms and proportionality, inventing a new geometry of geographical representations. This proportionality is what seeks to define the geographical miniature. The French philosopher Gaston Bachelard maintained that miniatures are objects lacking real psychological objectivity, and that miniaturizing the world implied possessing it.[23]​.

Topographic and topological

The topographic map is above all the topographic description of a place (provincial area, region, a country or the world), including (especially in the Century) the use of isolines to demonstrate the altimetry (hypsometry) or bathymetry of the relief. Land relief in cartography can be demonstrated in a variety of ways. These maps use colors, symbols and different types of lines for different types of landscapes and reliefs such as mountains, valleys, plains, lakes, depressions in the terrain and many more features. In addition, different types of signs that refer to man-made constructions are also usually added, such as: transportation routes, energy production areas or different types of crops.[24]​.

The topological map is a very general type of map or plane. It often neglects scale and detail in the interest of clarity of related information. The Caracas Metro map is an example. However, the map used preserves little of reality. It varies the scale constantly and precipitously, and the directions of the casual contours. The only important features of the map are the easy location of stations and crossings along tracks and whether a station or crossing is north or south of the Guaire River. They satisfy all the typical desires that a passenger requires information, satisfying the cartographic purpose.[25]​.

La cartografía determina el poder de cada Estado. La ubicación, los tamaños y la forma en que cada Estado es representado, le otorga un poder que, aunque no explícito, se puede inducir en cada una de sus representaciones.

Mercator

This is one of the most important cartographic representations of the Earth's surface, and was very important for navigation in the 19th century. It helped, thanks to the axes provided by the meridians and parallels, so that ships could follow their routes more easily.

But we can also observe that at the center of that representation is the European continent. This representation gave this continent greater power, compared to others. Not only because of the actual size of its territories, which look larger than they really are, but also the position in which it is represented (the center).

"For this reason, cartography is presented as a mechanism that bridges distances, an instrument that serves the monarch to confront space and time, and which, therefore, had to be produced in the most reliable way possible."[26]​.

The flat cards

They are those that are built assuming that the surface of the Earth is flat, so the course and distance are consistent with this. They were widely used in the Mediterranean until the beginning of the century.[18]​.

Changes in map production run parallel to changes in technology. The biggest leap occurred from the Middle Ages when instruments such as the quadrant "Quadrant (instrument)") and the compass were invented, which allow measuring the angles with respect to the polar star and the Sun. These instruments made it possible to determine latitude to finally capture it on maps.[19]​.

In so-called flat charts, the observed latitudes and magnetic directions are represented directly on the map, with a constant scale, as if the Earth were flat.

Later evolution

In cartography, technology has continually changed to meet the demands of new generations of map makers and map readers. The first maps were made manually with quills on parchment; therefore, they varied in quality and their distribution was very limited. The introduction of magnetic devices, such as the compass, allowed the creation of maps of different scales that were more accurate and easier to store and manipulate.

Advances in mechanical devices such as the printing press, the quadrant (instrument) and the vernier, used to enable mass production of maps and the ability to make more accurate reproductions of data. Optical technology, such as the telescope, sextant, and other devices, allowed more accurate examination of the Earth and increased the ability of map makers and navigators to find its latitude by measuring angles with the North Star at night or at noon.

Advances in photochemical technology, such as lithographic and photomechanical processes, have allowed for the creation of maps that have fine detail, do not warp in shape, and are resistant to moisture and wear. This also eliminated the need for engraving, which in the future shortened the time it took to make and reproduce maps.

Advances in electronic technology in the century led to another revolution in cartography. The availability of advances in computing, hardware, and its peripherals, such as monitors, plotters, printers, scanners (remote and document), and analytical stereo plotters, together with computer programs for visualization, image processing, spatial analysis, and database management, have contributed to what has been called neogeography, popularizing its knowledge and expanding map making.

The spatial ability to locate variables on existing maps, together with the creation of new applications for map management, have enabled the emergence of new industries exploring these potentials. The use of current techniques such as satellite photography has, in recent times, facilitated the creation of more precise cartographic maps. This has immediate consequences for other sciences and studies that depend on cartography for their development.

In addition, currently we can develop 3D maps using software intended for this, which takes the visualization of these maps one step further.[20]​.

Currently most commercial quality maps are made using software, which is grouped into three main types:.

Spatial information can be stored in a database, from which it can be extracted on demand. These tools increasingly lead to dynamic maps and interactive maps, which can be manipulated digitally.

General and thematic cartography

According to basic maps, the field of cartography can be divided or separated 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 display many references and location systems are often produced in series. For example, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) 1:24,000 scale topographic maps are a standard over 1:50,000 scale Canadian maps. The UK government produces the classic "Ordnance Survey" 1:63,360 (1 inch per mile) maps of the entire United Kingdom along with a range of larger, very small scale maps correlated in great detail.

Thematic Cartography involves maps of specific geographic themes, oriented towards specific audiences. A couple of examples might be the dot map showing corn production in Indiana or a shaded area map of Ohio counties, divided into numerical classes. While the volume of geographic data has evolved enormously over the last century, thematic mapping has become increasingly useful and necessary to interpret spatial, cultural and social data.[21] For example, social networks are mapped georeferentially, maps are also made that show distance between people (in number of links or steps that separate them). The timeline can also be considered a map or chart. From its use in navigation, techniques have been perfected that are recovered to guide web navigation. In sociology and communication, the cartographer's job is also cited as a strategy to stay on track in a fluid world.

The orienteering sport map combines general and thematic cartography, designed for a very specific user community. The most prominent thematic element is shaded, which indicates degrees of difficulty of the route due to the vegetation. The vegetation itself is not identified, being classified simply by the difficulty (“struggle”) that it presents.

Geometrization crossed a large part of the visual culture of modern sciences,[22]​ it affected the images themselves and also the ways of seeing. Man created methods that made phenomena that could not be known except through the sense of touch, taste or smell, now be visualized. This rationalization of the gaze rested on the productions of the classics of modernity, and the maps of modernity were not alien to that gaze, representing isomorphisms and proportionality, inventing a new geometry of geographical representations. This proportionality is what seeks to define the geographical miniature. The French philosopher Gaston Bachelard maintained that miniatures are objects lacking real psychological objectivity, and that miniaturizing the world implied possessing it.[23]​.

Topographic and topological

The topographic map is above all the topographic description of a place (provincial area, region, a country or the world), including (especially in the Century) the use of isolines to demonstrate the altimetry (hypsometry) or bathymetry of the relief. Land relief in cartography can be demonstrated in a variety of ways. These maps use colors, symbols and different types of lines for different types of landscapes and reliefs such as mountains, valleys, plains, lakes, depressions in the terrain and many more features. In addition, different types of signs that refer to man-made constructions are also usually added, such as: transportation routes, energy production areas or different types of crops.[24]​.

The topological map is a very general type of map or plane. It often neglects scale and detail in the interest of clarity of related information. The Caracas Metro map is an example. However, the map used preserves little of reality. It varies the scale constantly and precipitously, and the directions of the casual contours. The only important features of the map are the easy location of stations and crossings along tracks and whether a station or crossing is north or south of the Guaire River. They satisfy all the typical desires that a passenger requires information, satisfying the cartographic purpose.[25]​.

La cartografía determina el poder de cada Estado. La ubicación, los tamaños y la forma en que cada Estado es representado, le otorga un poder que, aunque no explícito, se puede inducir en cada una de sus representaciones.

Mercator

This is one of the most important cartographic representations of the Earth's surface, and was very important for navigation in the 19th century. It helped, thanks to the axes provided by the meridians and parallels, so that ships could follow their routes more easily.

But we can also observe that at the center of that representation is the European continent. This representation gave this continent greater power, compared to others. Not only because of the actual size of its territories, which look larger than they really are, but also the position in which it is represented (the center).

"For this reason, cartography is presented as a mechanism that bridges distances, an instrument that serves the monarch to confront space and time, and which, therefore, had to be produced in the most reliable way possible."[26]​.