The subject dealing with making maps is called cartography. With the gradual development of science and technology importance of detailed maps have become prominent. Therefore thematic maps have emerged in the recent days. Thematic maps are subject based. They concentrate on some special aspect of a country or a continent. Generally there are two main types of thematic maps and they are known as physical maps and political maps. Apart from these there are road maps and other special maps too.
As far as it is known, the first thematic maps evolved in the middle of the 17th century. Quality of these maps were sketchy. The map makers did not have any help from the satellites as they do now a days. John Snow, a London resident and a physician by profession is believed to be the first person who first developed a thematic map based on cholera cases taking place in the city. This idea of his gradually gave birth to GIS or Geographic Information System.
There are various types of symbols with special attributes that are used for the understanding of the thematic maps. Use of regional colors is also one of the popular methods for these maps. They are technically known as Dasymetric Maps. Dot Maps are some of the first designed thematic maps. The first thematic map made by Mr. Snow belonged to this category.

While flipping through the pages of an article on geographic history, I came across the term GIS which stands for Geographic Information System. Out of curiosity I searched about it on the web and got huge information on different sites. I never knew that many things that we come across on daily basis are directly related to this system.

GIS or Geographic Information System is an information system that stores, analyzes, manages and presents data that are related with a given location. This geographical information system allows the users to make interactive searches, edit data and maps and present the result. The system is widely used in different fields including scientific investigation, asset management, resource management, urban planning, marketing, and logistics. The information system is also used in criminology and environmental impact. This information system is also used for cartography and in emergencies like natural disasters.

After learning all these interesting facts about GIS I was astonished. It is great to know about such an information system which helps us in different spheres of life.

World maps are the main parts of all the atlases which are made across the globe. Today, with the huge development in the digital printing technology, the electronic detailed maps of the world have become very popular. These maps are mainly known for their accuracy and detailing. Geographic Information System which is known as GIS in short performs this task to prepare maps of this kind. There are many websites where you will come across these updated maps. Starting from environmentalists to the military persons – all take help of these maps only because of the authenticity and the perfection.
One most important feature about these electronic maps is that an older version can be easily replaced by a newly detailed map. This has helped the workers of GIS to always retain the maps updated. Enlarging the map scale by increasing the pixel in the digital photograph is also possible. This task is known as Interpolation. Therefore even more details can be easily included. On the other hand, all these electronic maps are clickable and you can go into all the details by clicking any certain point in the map. Electronic maps have become very popular among the school students too. They have increased their interest in geography.

Searching for a map of India yesterday, I came to know a lot about cartography – the art of map making. I was amazed to find that cartography includes so many things – aesthetics, science as well as technical ability. Moreover, the cartographers have to represent a three dimensional curved surface into a two dimensional flat surface. So much just to make a map!

I was surprised to know the fact that cartography was an integral part of the human civilization since last 8,000 years. Earlier maps of various scales were drawn by hand. In the present times, however, computers have been of great help. CAD, GIS and illustration softwares are of great help for map making in the recent times. A large number of symbols and lines are used in order to depict geographic information on the maps.  A cartographer has to know all these symbols and lines.

Cartography also has two categories – thematic and general. General cartography is done for general users whereas the thematic cartography is meant for specific audience. Apart from this, there is also an orienteering map which is a combination of thematic and general cartography.  Topographic (contour lines) map and topological maps are also available. Most importantly all these maps are available online.