Talk:Map/Archive 1

Archive 1

WikiProject Maps

For map resources for use within Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Maps.

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Free maps

Does anyone know where I can find free/uncopyrighted maps? They must exist as a number of articles have maps. Any suggestions? - Montréalais

See Map wiki User:Mac

Virtually all maps created by the US Government are copyright-free. User:Natcase

This might be the wrong place to say this, but the Atlas Portal is currently claiming that the world is round. Would somebody like to fix it?

Wikimap project

What I want to see is a World wide Wiki map project. Where wiki-pedians can share there GIS / LUK information with meta data. Where also historical maps can be placed along and meta data created/edited for them. A place for spatial data. A possible vision is where a user can look at an old map, and place new map/information or projection to that map, and as such create his/her map. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.220.81.156 (talk) 12:46, 25 January 2008 (UTC)

Did you hear about OpenStreetMap? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.123.176.204 (talk) 14:52, 21 January 2013 (UTC)

Professional maps by wikipedians

What I want to see in wikipedia is proffesinal maps made by wikipedians. I pray for the day a proffesional cartographic maker-artist comes and makes us our own wikipedia maps. -fonzy

I agree completely. But the great thing about the generic map syntax at the above link is that it would be a simple matter to change map services. Hm. There is a lot of free data from the US Federal government out there. I wonder if GRASS could be used to serve map data via the web? US streets would be available through the feds but these data would not be available for every country for free. But a political map of the world is freely available. Just thinking out loud. --mav

Yep. It looks like GRASS is already set-up for serving the web. See http://grass.itc.it/start.html . --mav

This professional maps would be great, specially to use them in GPS-navigation (cars). But upto them (perhaps, upto money comes), we can use what we only have, the map service.

Better yet would be a GIS that had satelite imagery of every point on the planet. Then specifying a lat long and scale will serve up the corresponding satelite image... --mav

This would be another service, a sky (satellite) image service. But the coordinates would be important for this. Introducing the coordinates in the find query (specific) page, one could receive the satellite image.

Add bus routes, trails, glaciers, topographical details and sometimes, historical maps --Pumpie, 17:24 (UTC)

Image

I've added an image (Image:Kepler-world.jpg) to liven up this article. There is no particular reason for the image I've chosen, but it does follow two guidelines that I deem important: (a) it is not related to any particular region, and (b) it is historical, which gives it some extra value. (On an unrelated note, the article could also do with examples of different kinds of maps.) Of course, there are a number of maps available that answer to these criteria, and alternative suggestions are always welcome. – Itai 14:32, 8 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Gave it an overhaul

I've given this a complete overhaul tonight, trying to improve the flow of the article, tightening up its accuracy, deleting some bits which lacked relevance and adding bits which needed to be there.

For example, the opening definition was misleading: a map is not necessarily geometric (say the tube map, which I elaborated on), and not necessarily of a 3D space (I am thinking here of 'maps' that are made of computer games, something that still isn't incorporated into the article but seems to me should be mentioned).

After some deliberation, I replaced a section that Patrick wrote with a broader one about orienting a map and mentioned orienteering. This dispenses with maps viewed on the ceiling, which I felt (ignorantly, probably) was a bit confusing and not really important at this stage. I also removed a lot of stuff about electronic maps that applied to graphics in general and had no relevance to maps in particular, but added a bit about satellite navigation. Other than that I mainly re-ordered the paragraphs and added a couple of section titles to give it some cohesion. Vinoir 04:13, 2 Feb 2005 (UTC)

History

Surely this article could do with a History-section. I wanted to place a link to Waldseemüller in the Graphics article, but there isn't one and he isn't even mentioned in this article. DirkvdM 09:23, 26 July 2005 (UTC)

Agree! Also mention of things like (for instance) the first atlas, first road maps (by country?), & fakes (such as the Vinland map). Also, I'd suggest the secrecy factor: in Saudi, national maps are secret docs, & in early ocean nav, they were state secrets in Portugal & Spain (in particular), while navigator's "rutters" were prized docs worth stealing. (See Shogun for instance...) Trekphiler 10:52, 16 December 2005 (UTC)

I'd imagine that cartography is the place for that - map, atlas or globe might have separate articles, but their history is so intertwined as to suggest one discussion.flux.books 13:21, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

There is now an history of cartography article (which links from this article). HMAccount 00:15, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Improvement drive

Graphics is currently nominated to be improved by WP:IDRIVE. Vote for it if you want to contribute.--Fenice 20:10, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

Links

It seems there are far too many links and that some are of dubious quality. I believe it would be beneficial to evaluate their value and place the more comprehensive, higher-quality links towards the top. Eliminating lower quality, redundant links would seem to be in order.

- A number of them also seem to be commercial links, placed as free advertising. The whole section is definitely bloated. Pjrich 20:44, 9 January 2006 (UTC)

I agree, I've reorganized them to add categories; emphasized the better links; removed the pet links added for personal reasons. I've also put all the generic mapping/directions engines at the bottom; this still needs work. flux.books flux.books 17:10, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

There seems to be a problem of mission creep here; one map site leads to another. Perhaps a note for a conservative links policy and a major cull of sites. Specifically: links only to general pages about maps, i.e. references pages/external links pages like Oddens. Do not reference googlemaps (except to a general page about GoogleMaps and GoogleEarth?), or Yahoo, or National Geographic MapMachine directly. Whaddya think?--Natcase 23:56, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Legend

Suggestion: It'd be nice to mention what a Legend is somewhere in this article. Meekohi 20:14, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

Suggestion: I agree that adding a section on Legends would be valuable. I navigated to this article hoping to learn what the convention was for documenting scale in the legend, only to find legend isn't even mentioned. DaveB1010 (talk) 16:59, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

maps

I need a plain old map of rome.

Ok Reyaoleboga (talk) 14:59, 26 May 2022 (UTC)

Place Maps... Anyone?????

No information about place maps?? There's no article for it either. Perhaps they are more commonly known by a different name? These are the cartoon-like maps that you sometimes get in towns and cities. They typically have advertisements for local businesses around the edges and are notable for having illustrated buildings, landmarks, and other prominant landscape features not often portrated on road and street maps. They also have other nice details like showing the locations of stop lights, one-way streets, etc. I never knew what they were called, until someone informed me that they were called "place maps". Anyone know anything? Anyone want to compile an article for these?

Here's an example: http://www.hotspotstoursandmaps.com/bingmap.htm

'About the question above on place maps. These are usually called pictorial maps and I,ve included a link to a new page I just created. I'd appreciate any feedbackJLR-mapman 07:28, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

Well, it made me laugh... --Benplaut 07:17, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

cartograph?

If it makes any sense, is "cartograph" a word and if it is is it a synonym of "map"? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.109.186.127 (talk) 06:30, 6 December 2006 (UTC).

probably the entymology of the word cartographer is based on something similar to the french word 'carte' which means 'map' (similar root to the word 'chart' in english) and 'grapher' which would be similar in root to 'engraver' or 'graphist' meaning someone who draws. So if the word cartograph exists it would seem to be a 'drawn map' which I suppose might differ from an imagined map, but mostly just 'chart' (or even 'map') would (I think) be better. EdwardLane (talk) 09:15, 25 June 2012 (UTC)

Orientation and projection

"Azimuthal or Gnomonic projections are often used in planning air routes, centered on specific origin points." What is being said here? Are maps used to plan air routes similar to "route and channel" maps which are oriented to the road or waterway? Or is the projection centered on specific origin points? The same question arises with the "bird's eye" projections map mentioned, is projection being discussed or Orientation? KAM 14:27, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

Added links and a bit of text that hopefully makes it clearer. Still not crystal clear, but the pages linked to explain it pretty well I think. Pfly 07:45, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

Yes, I would say what is being said is much more clear. I also think that you are correct to say the the links have good explanations. This article hits on the high points without being too detailed which I think makes it a good article. I do think however, that orientation is a general term, in the case of non-conformal maps, even though the directions are not consistent over the map, orientation would be determined by some reference line. For example a map of North America that shows Canada on the top and Mexico at the bottom has a "north up" orientation even if it uses a non-conformal projection and it is not strictly true that north is exactly up over the entire map. In the section "Orientation of maps" examples 2 and 3 are using the term orientation in a different (and I think too narrow) way then the other examples. KAM 14:09, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

I think I agree. I just saw your first comment and realized wikilinks might be a good thing, and recalled seeing azimuthal type maps that were not north-up. But these maps can be north-up, and often are. Any map projection could be used with a non-north-up orientation. Plus there are plenty of projections in which north is not directly up throughout the entire map. What you say makes sense to me. I'm not defending the content so feel free to make changes, remove those examples, etc. Pfly 17:54, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

Mappa

Map is an english which had got from Greek language, Mappa. Shall we add it into the main article?  Calvin Ho Jiang Lim  ^Talk 14:06, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Map is derived from Latin Mappa (=Napkin). The near-synonym Chart, which is used for sea and air navigation maps, derives from greek Chartes (Χάρτης) (=Paper). Sv1xv (talk) 14:38, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

contour lines on maps!

i need to know what contour lines are for my homework!!

what map has physical boundries?

Does anybody know?

nothing —Preceding unsigned comment added by 112.201.101.39 (talk) 10:45, 25 February 2010 (UTC)

Complicated Maps!!

Maps are very complicated unless you know how to read them. (Especially Satellite Images!) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.132.88.96 (talk) 21:27, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Removal of nonfree image

I removed the nonfree image because it failed multiple nonfree content criteria, most importantly NFCC1. This map is being used to illustrate the concept of scale. Pretty much any map can be used to illustrate this concept. There are plenty of free maps (of many different countries! pick one) at the commons. See http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Maps . Calliopejen1 (talk) 14:36, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

Scale factors

I have rewritten the section on scale . The main change is to stress that scales on projections are not constant. E.g 1:50,000 maps attain this scale only on certain lines. I have introduced the concept of point scale and the scale (maps) page will be rewritten with the details. -- Peter Mercator (talk) 15:00, 6 April 2009 (UTC)

Interesting historical maps

The last edit by Mainemap removed a link to a historical map. I agree that the previous text introducing the link was inappropriate bit it might be interesting to have a new section called "Interesting historical maps" which could have either links to web sites (or copies of their maps). This would be the place for the Mercator chart, Ptolemy's map, Mappa Mundi etc. This could be a big section so how about a new page on the topic? -- Peter Mercator (talk) 21:06, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

Top Importance, but start class

I changed the template to be {{WikiProject Geography|class=start|importance=top}}. Knowing anything about geography requires looking at maps, and therefore this article must be of top importance in geography, but unfortunately this article has only two inline citations, and both are in the same short section. More information is needed, but far more specific references are needed. --DThomsen8 (talk) 21:39, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

"interactive map" -- adding non-geographic info to a geographic context

Interactive Map redirects here. It may be appropriate to incorporate more information about non-geographic information. Or perhaps it's time for a separate article. For instance Data_driven_journalism#Usage points to this example. Other examples might come from the 2007 California wildfires. Jodi.a.schneider (talk) 12:34, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Suggestions of articles and/or sections to be created

• Map types
• Land use map
• Land cover map
  • Vegetation map (normally, it's a map of the original vegetation cover, but literally, can be a map of any kind of vegetation, including crops)
  • Current vegetation map (map of the extant and restored original vegetation cover)
• Land use and land cover map (sic)
• Mineral resources map
• Political map (there is only a redirect)
• Physical Map (idem)
• Population density map
• Climate map
• Temperature map
• Humidity map
• Isochron map (it's different from isochrone map)
• Isochore map — Preceding unsigned comment added by 187.56.12.163 (talk) 02:54, 9 July 2012 (UTC)

maps on people

i think that who ever made this link page should add in where people have travelled over the years e.g.: Francisco Pelsart i tried looking up where he travelled and it said that it wasn't found. Please add this page community of map — Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.87.152.19 (talk) 05:42, 17 January 2013 (UTC)

Anachronous map

"Anachronous map" redirects here, but that phrase is not in the article. What gives, fellow editors? Mang (talk) 17:31, 23 February 2013 (UTC)

Just a *fancy name* for outdated/out-of-date
— | Gareth Griffith-Jones | The Welsh Buzzard | — 11:16, 14 September 2013 (UTC)

Yes. See Anachronous on Wiktionary. SV1XV (talk) 13:45, 14 September 2013 (UTC)

It is fancy, but it is also not for outdated.

anachronism [noun]

1- An error in computing time or fixing dates; the relating of an event, custom, or circumstance to a wrong period of time.

2- Something or someone out of harmony with the time.

anachronous or anachronistic [adjective] of the nature of or involving anachronism.

anachronistically [adverb]

(Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, 2007)

An anachronous map shows a total-area (e.g. pertaining to an Empire) throughout a certain period of time (e.g. 600 years); it isn't only outdated (i.e. old), but it also combines a number of different statuses at different instances in time (e.g. many forms of control exercised by an empire over the designated total-land throughout a period of time), and therefore it is chronologically misplaced or inharmonious (hence anachronous or anachronistic). For example, an anachronous map of the Spanish Empire at various times over a period exceeding 400 years; the timeline may be embedded by color-coding different areas depending on the chronology, or it may be left out by filling the whole area with the same colour, although the empire didn't acquire all of the designated land at once, and I think some maps also include territories that belonged to the empire at one time or another within the specified period even though it didn't at the time the empire reached the largest territorial extent.

WaveWhirler (talk) 13:44, 12 June 2016 (UTC)

Anyone have a "Russian" world map?

Most of us are probably pretty familiar with world maps showing places like Taiwan and Kosovo as independent countries. Any one got an official (not Wiki) world map doing likewise for Abkhazia and South Ossetia? Source / Internet link sought. Frenchmalawi (talk) 03:41, 6 September 2013 (UTC)

Mercator's Projection.

One map projection that we see all the time, even on classroom walls, is the Mercator's Projection. Mercator's Projection shows maps as a rectangle. This type of Projection distorts the area near the poles. Greenland, in reality, is 1/8 the size of South America. However, in Mercator's Projection, both nearly looked the same size. One may also notice that in the Mercator's Projection, poles of the Earth are not just 2 points but equal in length to the equator. That is why, this map is generally used to show such places which are closer to the equator. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Emad95104 (talk • contribs) 12:02, 31 December 2013 (UTC)

Cartophilia

In an article which comprehensively informs readers about maps, it would be nice to acknowledge that there are people who are passionate about maps, and that there is a word for this. I would consider this needs no more than,

The love of maps is called cartophilia.

In my view this should go at the end of the introduction; this does not interrupt the 'flow' of the article. It does not really fit into any other section, and does not warrant its own section. Cheers. 111.220.224.61 (talk) 08:22, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

Map laws

I'm pretty sure Turkey has some law regarding maps that has something to do with Kurdistan, and I'm pretty sure Pakistan has a law regarding the Indo-Pakistani border, but I'm having trouble finding sources that support that. Some of the articles I read mention the Cambodian–Thai border dispute and don't say anything about laws there, but I suspect there may be some. Any help you can give tracking down sources and details would be appreciated. -- Beland (talk) 02:29, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

Criticism

This is a strong, very well-developed article that I believe would easily be considered a B-class article were it not for one omission: a surprising lack of references. Anyone who would like to improve this level-3 vital article to a B-class or better should start with adding inline references & verifying numerous statements in this article. (Nothing written here appears to be incorrect, but citations never hurt & will always comfort the skeptical.) -- llywrch (talk) 23:56, 10 April 2015 (UTC)

I need the definition of wall map, atlas map.

I cannot find the definition, uses and significance of wall map, atlas map, cultural map and guide map on the Internet. Please help me. Shashwat Srivastava 06 (talk) 03:36, 24 May 2017 (UTC)

External links modified

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Map external links

This discussion copied from User talk:Strebe by User:Tony Holkham

I thought the external links on Map were particularly useful, and your deletions a retrograde step. Can we discuss? Cheers, Tony Holkham (Talk) 08:29, 10 August 2018 (UTC)

Hello User:Tony Holkham. Thanks for your note. My concern is that there is no end to sites hosting map collections. It was growing into a haphazard collection of links to things people could easily find themselves doing a Web search. Wikipedia guidelines are not rigid in this regard, but some things to consider about these map collection sites are:

• How important is the site in the universe of sites hosting map collections?
• How was that importance assessed?
• How much duplication of useful information does linking to Site B yield when compared to Site A?
• Is the site reliable?
• Does the site require third-party extensions to view it, in violation of WP:LINKSTOAVOID #8?

None of these questions were addressed in the haphazard inclusion into the external links section. Some of the sites clearly require extensions to view. Also consider this, from WP:External links: Some external links are welcome, but it is not Wikipedia's purpose to include a lengthy or comprehensive list of external links related to each topic. No page should be linked from a Wikipedia article unless its inclusion is justifiable according to this guideline and common sense. The burden of providing this justification is on the person who wants to include an external link. WP:NOTLINKFARM also contains relevant notes. I think a better method here would be to provide a link to a reliable, curated site that provides links to active map collections. Thoughts? Strebe (talk) 19:15, 10 August 2018 (UTC)

I didn't consider any other links when I added the National Library of Scotland, and your points are well-made. However, I (not everyone, I know) support WP as THE primary source for information, and external links are a fundamental part of this. I think the NLS is worthy of inclusion, as least as much as the Library of Congress, because it is a reliable and helpful source to historians and geographers alike. Yes, the link is available in the NLS article, but who would look there when searching for links to old maps of England or Wales? I don't feel THAT strongly about this (neither a slave to guidelines), but would like to see that link, and that for the British Library, reinstated. Both are reliable and neither requires extensions. Regards, Tony Holkham (Talk) 20:12, 10 August 2018 (UTC)

@Tony Holkham:Perhaps this conversation should get moved to Talk:Map, since we seem to be actively debating what belongs in the article. For my own part, I do not see enough benefit in including every country’s (or any arbitrary subset thereof) national archives to justify overriding the guidelines on external links (or their usability). The Library of Congress houses the largest collection of maps in the world, which argues for it being the representative sample. The British Library collection is a substantial fraction of LOC’s count, but few other institutions come close. The overlap between the British Library and the LOC must be enormous, and the LOC probably contains most of the material of practically any other library. Not that I am arguing there must be only one link. Rather, I am arguing that, once we deviate from “most complete”, then whatever criteria we use to keep the list short will be arbitrary, subject to endless haggling, and probably not terribly useful to the typical reader. One thing we should do is link to the Map collection article, which I just now discovered. Strebe (talk) 20:41, 10 August 2018 (UTC)

I wasn't aware of Map collection either. That changes things. Tony Holkham (Talk) 21:52, 10 August 2018 (UTC)