Map

A map is a simplified depiction of a space, a navigational aid which highlights relations between objects within that space. Most usually a map is a two-dimensional, geometrically accurate representation of a three-dimensional space. The science and art of map-making is cartography.

Electronic maps

From the last quarter of the 20th century, the indispensable tool of the cartographer has been the computer. Much of cartography, especially at the data-gathering survey level, has been subsumed by Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Even when GIS is not involved, most cartographers now use a variety of computer graphics programs to generate new maps. Interactive, computerised maps are commercially available, allowing users to zoom in or zoom out (respectively meaning to increase or decrease the scale), sometimes by replacing one map with another of different scale, centred where possible on the same point. In-car satellite navigation systems are computerised maps with route-planning and advice facilities which monitor by satellite the position of the user.

Related Topics:
Geographic Information Systems - Satellite navigation systems

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From the computer scientist's standpoint, zooming in entails one or a combination of:

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• replacing the map by a more detailed one
• enlarging the same map without enlarging the pixels, hence show more detail
• enlarging the same map with the pixels enlarged (replaced by rectangles of pixels); no additional detail is shown, but, depending on the quality of one's vision, possibly more detail can be seen; if a computer display does not show adjacent pixels really separate, but overlapping instead (this does not apply for an LCD, but may apply for a cathode ray tube), then replacing a pixel by a rectangle of pixels does show more detail. A variation of this method is that interpolation is performed.

For example:

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• Typically (2) applies to a Portable Document Format (PDF) file. The increase in detail is, of course, limited to the information contained in the file: enlargement of a curve may eventually result in a series of standard geometric figures such as straight lines or arcs of circles.
• (2) may apply to text and (3) to the outline of a map feature such as a forest or building.
• (1) may apply to the text (displaying labels for more features), while (2) applies to the rest of the image. Text is not necessarily enlarged when zooming in. Similarly, a road represented by a double line may or may not become wider when one zooms in.
• The map may also have layers which are partly raster graphics and partly vector graphics. For a single raster graphics image (2) applies until the pixels in the image file correspond to the pixels of the display, thereafter (3) applies.

The word "map" has also been used to describe places within video games, such as and Counter-Strike, that players choose to compete on, as a synonym for level.

Related Topics:
Video games - Counter-Strike - Synonym - Level

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See also Webpage (Graphics), PDF (Layers), Mapquest, or Yahoo! Maps.

Related Topics:
Webpage (Graphics) - PDF (Layers) - Mapquest - Yahoo! Maps

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