Cartography

Cartography: the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively. Cartography is a complex, ever-changing field, but at the center of it is the map-making process. Viewed in the broadest sense, this process includes everything from the gathering, evaluation and processing of source data, through the intellectual and graphical design of the map, to the drawing and reproduction of the final document.