What is a map and what is it for?

The article tells about what a map is, what it is for, what types of maps there are, in particular, about the map of Russia and the world.

Ancient times

The wide development of the continents and the discovery of new lands began in the Middle Ages and continued until the beginning of the 20th century. The last "gave up" to people Antarctica, which became a grave for many researchers. But with the development of navigation and travel in general, an acute need for maps gradually emerged. After all, new lands or the path traveled had to be noted for followers. The first maps presented with themselves a very approximate and sketchy images. Due to the poor development of navigation equipment and, as a consequence, the low accuracy of the cards, their compilers, compensating for the latter, competed in the decoration. But fortunately, in our time cartography has reached its heights, especially with the launch of thousands of satellites into orbit. So what is a map? What are they and why are they needed? In this we will understand.

Definition

According to the dictionary, a geographical map is an image of the Earth's surface with a grid, observing proportions relative to its scale and applying conventional signs.

If we take this definition as a general one, we can call a map a generalized, smaller image of the Earth's surface, another planet, a celestial body or a space in general, which shows all the objects in this or that system of conventional signs. What is the map we have figured out, but what is it for?

The answer is very simple - for orientation. Having found on the ground some specific objects or their array and doing the same on the map, you can accurately determine your location. In fact, without cards in our time, it's completely impossible to do, even the abundance of pointers will not help, besides, they are not everywhere.

The cards are used by tourists and geologists, captains of sea vessels, military and civil pilots, after all, in a big city there can not be no guidebooks, as anyone can get lost in the interlacing of streets. Now we know what cards are. But what kinds of them are there?

Kinds

The first and most basic is geographical. It accurately shows the outlines of the continents, all proportions are observed on one or another scale, and natural objects are designated - rivers, seas, mountains, lakes, forests, etc. But such people can not be met so often, and more in the course of general geographic, which also shows roads, cities and other settlements.

The second kind is thematic maps. They are dedicated to a single object - a natural park, a forest or a tourist route. This kind can be attributed to socio-political. Their goal is not just to accurately show the terrain, but to map this or that state - maps of states, their natural wealth, political system or population.

Map of Russia

The territory of this country ranks first in the world in terms of area. And its map is also very large, and on all scales. It includes many natural and climatic mountains. Over the past centuries, it has been repeatedly changed due to wars and political regimes, and the map with the largest scale was created in the Soviet Union. Of course, it includes those territories that do not apply to Russia today, but it is suitable for orientation.

World map

The final and complete image of the globe was obtained only with the discovery of all continents. But for a long time it was supplemented by new objects, such as islands. Now everyone can familiarize themselves with the map of the world, and for this you do not need to look for an atlas - all Internet users have access to high-quality satellite images.

So now we know what a card is, and what it's for.