Orchestrate the elements of the map to best convey its message to its audience. This is the concern of map design.<\/ul>\n<\/li>\nModern cartography is closely integrated with geographic information science (GIScience) and constitutes many theoretical and practical foundations of geographic information systems.<\/p>\n
The earliest known map is a matter of some debate, both because the definition of “map” is not sharp and because some artifacts speculated to be maps might actually be something else. A wall painting, which may depict the ancient Anatolian city of \u00c3\u2021atalh\u00c3\u00b6y\u00c3\u00bck (previously known as Catal Huyuk or \u00c3\u2021atal H\u00c3\u00bcy\u00c3\u00bck), has been dated to the late 7th millennium BCE. Other known maps of the ancient world include the Minoan “House of the Admiral” wall painting from c. 1600 BCE, showing a seaside community in an oblique perspective and an engraved map of the holy Babylonian city of Nippur, from the Kassite period (14th \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 12th centuries BCE). The oldest surviving world maps are the Babylonian world maps from the 9th century BCE. One shows Babylon on the Euphrates, surrounded by a circular landmass showing Assyria, Urartu and several cities, in turn surrounded by a “bitter river” (Oceanus), with seven islands arranged around it. Another depicts Babylon as being further north from the center of the world.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
So there is no surprise that maps are super old and have been around for quite a while – but the fascinating thing is how map making has changed over the centuries. Today we don’t just map out land, we map out man made objects – like train tracks, subways, roads – heck even planes follow some type of invisible course. Don’t forget though that the earth isn’t the only thing that can be mapped, we can map the universe! Check out this awesome video of the largest map of the universe we have yet (as of aug 2012)<\/p>\n